Water in lower unit? What is acceptable and when?

[Manoj77]

A few days ago I had the lower unit oil in my Tohatsu 3.5HP 4 Stroke (year 2008) changed. I had been using the motor just before (less than 15minutes) before we began draining the lower unit oil. When we were draining the oil we noticed n water was also coming out. This concerned me but a friend said 'maybe' I shouldn't worry because if I had just used the motor that it would not be abnormal for some water to be in there. Today I drained the lower unit oil again (after a few days of the motor not being used) and there was no apparent water coming out (maybe a ml or 2ml no exaggeration). What gives here? Do I have a lower unit seal problem or am I worrying too much. I plan on selling the motor and I don't want to misrepresent the motors condition to a prospective buyer.
Thanks!

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Water in lower unit? What is acceptable and when?

Your Tohatsu needs lower unit seals. There should be NO water mixed in with the oil. Also think of it like this for your friend - If you would have waited a month after using it, where would the water go? Water in the oil 15 minutes or any amount of time,after use means it will remain until you drain it. It doesn't magically come and go. Seals might not be too hard a job to do (no idea about Tohatsus) and will give you warm fuzzies when selling the motor.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Water in lower unit? What is acceptable and when?

Take advantage to check water pump condition, change just impeller if engine has low hours or complete WP kit if with high hours use.

Happy Boating

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Water in lower unit? What is acceptable and when?

Your friend is an idiot and should never offer you any advice in the future. However, depending on the interval between the last oil change and this one, it is possible to get condensation inside of a gear case that was just too low on oil. Refill it, run it for at least two hours and check it again. Anything other than pure clean gear oil indicates an issue.