oil frothy just from flushing...

[benjiman]

84' mercruiser 898 5.7 with Alpha I...
I changed the gear oil in the outdrive yesterday and ran it on the trailer for maybe 30 seconds and took the cap off to find that the oil was frothy, thinner and discolored. The level was exactly the same, though. If water was getting in, wouldn't this change the level? I had the outdrive off to check the bellows so there wasn't any water that might have been in the bellows sneaking back past the upper shaft seals into the gear housing. The water has to be coming from the lower, right?

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: oil frothy just from flushing...

Leave it alone for the night,and recheck tommorrow.Sometimes the oil does get aerated.

Looking again,what cap are you pulling off ? The drive has a drain plug and a level plug.

Oil should be pumped into the bottom plug until it comes out the top plug.

DHP

 

[benjiman]

Re: oil frothy just from flushing...

I was just checking the oil visually from the cap. I will try looking tomorrow. Thanks...

 

[Don S]

Re: oil frothy just from flushing...

Like DHP asked, what CAP are you talking about. There is no CAP used for checking the gear lube.
If you are removing the 4 bolts on the top bearing cap, you now need a new oring before going back in the water, and that is NOT how you check the oil.
Read the Merc service manual on that drive before you really screw something up.
In case you don't have one, here is a link to a downloadable/free one.

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6covr3.pdf

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: oil frothy just from flushing...

Like DHP asked, what CAP are you talking about. There is no CAP used for checking the gear lube.
If you are removing the 4 bolts on the top bearing cap, you now need a new oring before going back in the water, and that is NOT how you check the oil.
Read the Merc service manual on that drive before you really screw something up.
In case you don't have one, here is a link to a downloadable/free one.

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6covr3.pdf

If id had just followed advice like that and took it to heart id be 1300 dollar's richer today or better said have that much more to lavish on my restore............. Very sound advice given