Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

[ccave04]

Hello,

New boat owner as of last fall, when winterizing my boat (20' Marada 185 Ske 5L V8 Merc) I changed the outdrive oil. I drained and filled from the bottom until oil came out of top and sealed up. Oil was not milky at all.

This is my first boat and I didn't realize that there was a drive oil monitor inside of the engine compartment as well. When putting my batteries back in yesterday to start the summerization process I noticed the lube monitor and that it was empty. I filled it back up to the fill line.

Is this ok, or do I have to drain and start over because of air pocketing or anything?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[QC]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

Moving to I/O section.

I think you accidentally did it right if you got her full by filling from the bottom you should be good. I think Merc says to fill until you see lube coming into the reservoir, but your method should be OK too.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

The only thing that you might want to do is pump a little more oil from the bottom of the outdrive (keeping top vent closed) so it burps any air into the reservoir bottle.

 

[MarkSee]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

How about takeing a few minutes and doing a couple things in between "complete start over" and 'nothing'? Remove the reservoir cap and exercise the drive several times full up/down to get the oil moving around maybe filling in some gaps. Put the drive all the way down then loosen the top fill plug and see if a little starts draining out without removing it completely; see if the reservoir level went down much. Then put it all the way up then loosen the bottom fill plug until some starts to come out just like what we do when checking for water; see if the reservoir went down much. Add if needed then monitor the level as you start to use the boat. Even if you wanted to be safe, you should be able to quickly remove the bottom drain plug and insert the refill tube (will lose a little oil but should not be too much), loosen (but not remove) the top fill plug then pump/fill and tighten the top plug when you seem assured oil is flowing from the bottom up into the reservoir.
Mark

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

How about takeing a few minutes and doing a couple things in between "complete start over" and 'nothing'? Remove the reservoir cap and exercise the drive several times full up/down to get the oil moving around maybe filling in some gaps. Put the drive all the way down then loosen the top fill plug and see if a little starts draining out without removing it completely; see if the reservoir level went down much. Then put it all the way up then loosen the bottom fill plug until some starts to come out just like what we do when checking for water; see if the reservoir went down much. Add if needed then monitor the level as you start to use the boat. Even if you wanted to be safe, you should be able to quickly remove the bottom drain plug and insert the refill tube (will lose a little oil but should not be too much), loosen (but not remove) the top fill plug then pump/fill and tighten the top plug when you seem assured oil is flowing from the bottom up into the reservoir.
Mark

He is talking about outdrive oil, not the trim cyl. Moving drive up and down doesn't do anything for drive oil.

 

[Don S]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

I'm curious as to what drive you have? Does it have a year?

If it's 95 or newer, here is the instructions from a 2001 owners manual, same for Alpha or Bravo models.

 

[Tahoe215]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

Dumb question: How do I know if I have the Premium or High Performance gear lube? Its a 2006 4.3L Alpha One.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Don S]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

You need to start a thread of your own, this thread is ccave04's question.

 

[MarkSee]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

He is talking about outdrive oil, not the trim cyl. Moving drive up and down doesn't do anything for drive oil.

Thalasso:
I fully understand what he was talking about and the fact that it is recommended to drain the drive oil when fully 'out' and fill when fully 'in' tells you right there positioning makes a difference. By my suggesting he exercise the drive is to move the gear oil around that may fill in some air pockets that could have been created. He's looking for possibilities so he does not have to do a full drain/fill again.
Mark

 

[ccave04]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

Thanks for the responses guys! When I got home from work I just opened up the fill hole and put the pump on quickly and added some more till I saw a change in the monitor. I think I should be good, I'll bring the drive oil with me when she gets her first splash just in case.

Thanks again. More issues have already arisen so you will see more topics coming soon under new threads

 

[QC]

Re: Mercruiser Drive Lube Monitor Refill

I always keep a bottle of drive oil under the engine cover. Top off monitor/reservoir if necessary.