Lower unit drain plug sealed

[inthedirtagain]

New owner of grandpa's 1969 Silverline with the original Merc 1000. Got it home and everything cleaned up after sitting in storage for 5yrs. Just prior to taking it out last week, I went to drain/fill the lower unit oil and saw that the drain plug has been sealed up. Don't know why my grandfather would have done this, nor what he used, but its solid (like JB weld). I removed the fill plug to see if anything unusual would gush out, like milky oil from a bad seal, but was glad to see nothing out of the ordinary. As far as I can tell, my options are to find a small diameter siphon tube or to drill/tap for a new plug. I think a new plug would have a hard time sealing flush, so I'm thinking a siphon tube is going to be my best bet. Your thoughts?

 

[iggyw1]

New owner of grandpa's 1969 Silverline with the original Merc 1000. Got it home and everything cleaned up after sitting in storage for 5yrs. Just prior to taking it out last week, I went to drain/fill the lower unit oil and saw that the drain plug has been sealed up. Don't know why my grandfather would have done this, nor what he used, but its solid (like JB weld). I removed the fill plug to see if anything unusual would gush out, like milky oil from a bad seal, but was glad to see nothing out of the ordinary. As far as I can tell, my options are to find a small diameter siphon tube or to drill/tap for a new plug. I think a new plug would have a hard time sealing flush, so I'm thinking a siphon tube is going to be my best bet. Your thoughts?

I think your best bet is to re-drill and tap the material used to seal the hole and use a new threaded plug. If you use a syphon tube, you may have a hard time to get the new oil in the motor at the proper level. Too little, and you may have a problem. Too much, and you could blow an internal seal. If the new plug will not go flush as you indicated that it may not, grind the material flush then drill and tap it. You need to put oil into the drain hole 'til it comes out of the top hole.

 

[inthedirtagain]

There are 3 holes: lower drain, upper fill, and a vent hole (slightly above the fill). The fill and vent holes have the same diameter of threaded plug, so I could technically add fluid through the vent hole until it comes out of the "fill." I hope that made sense.....