Nasty Lube

[LaqueRatt]

Knew had a leak in the lower unit, but only ran this guy about an hour last year before getting my Fastwin. Quick question and pardon me if this is the wrong forum, but it's not motor specific. I drained the grease and man what a yucky mess. Milky and kinda clinging to everything. Is it OK to just refill it with fresh lube after replacing the bad gasket? Thinking about warming it up with a heat gun to see if can get more to drain out. Also was thinking about spraying the gears with something like engine degreaser but don't know if this is safe. Or maybe overkill. Motor is a '66 McCulloch 14 if that makes any difference.

 

[Grub54891]

Flush it as best you can. Best thing to do is re-seal it otherwise it will eat the gears up. I had an old Elgin years back that was dang near impossible to find a seal set for back then. I’d drain it after every outing and refill before I went out again. Two years and I finally found a seal kit. Surprisingly the drive was ok. Your results may vary.

 

[airshot]

By all means flush it out, then fill and run for a short period of time...if you can use muffs then water wont get in the gear case. Drain once again and keep filling and draining until lube is not changing color!! If you cant replace the seals, then drain and flush after every outing.

 

[LaqueRatt]

It was just the paper gasket that went bad. Cut a new a new one so it shouldn't leak. Hate to waste the grease with the run and drain. This is just my spare motor. Won't see a lot of use. Would it really hurt it to just refill with fresh grease? Will it push the crap out the top maybe? Can I just refill it until it's clear?

 

[airshot]

You can....but if any water remains, then you will have a rust issue.