Winterizing - Stern Drive

[lcochrane]

Was wondering opinions on what on should do with the stern drive oil over the winter..I know I am supposed to check to see if there is any water in it, but do I drain it and put new oil in when I winterize or do I wait till the spring and just change it no matter what.

 

[bspeth]

I do it during layup.I drain it into a clear container to see if it separates.You will want to pull the drive and service the Ujoints and and lubricate the drive shaft splines.Go ahead and pressure test it also.

 

[Fun Times]

Hi there, welcome to iboats!

Mercruiser recommends doing it now in order to catch any problems early on and have them repaired in time for next year especially if your boating season is short and your servicing dealer is super busy should you use one.

Don't forget to clean the inside of your gear lube reservoir as it has a tendency to get an oil sludge build up clogging the oil flow to the drive.

http://boatinfo.no/lib/mercruiser/manuals/mercruiser14.html#/28

 

[redneck joe]

Hi there, welcome to iboats!

Mercruiser recommends doing it now in order to catch any problems early on and have them repaired in time for next year especially if your boating season is short and your servicing dealer is super busy should you use one.

Don't forget to clean the inside of your gear lube reservoir as it has a tendency to get an oil sludge build up clogging the oil flow to the drive.

http://boatinfo.no/lib/mercruiser/manuals/mercruiser14.html#/28

link not working

 

[GA_Boater]

It goes to manual #14 for me, RNJ. Not a fast loader, but once it's loaded, paging is OK.

 

[Fun Times]

It goes to manual #14 for me, RNJ. Not a fast loader, but once it's loaded, paging is OK.

That's due to I fixed it earlier. When I way typing out the post, somehow my cursor ended up in the link text and a few extra letters got mixed up and I forgot to recheck the link till RNJ mentioned it.

 

[lcochrane]

Thank you for the link..I have a 1990 sea ray with an 5.0 and a Alpha one drive..will manual in the link be appropriate for my stern drive? What do you mean by do it during layup? during the winter months:

 

[lcochrane]

How can I find out if I had a lower unit gear lube monitor? Where would it be?

 

[lcochrane]

Whoops have?

 

[Starcraft5834]

drain the lower unit drive oil now and put fresh in... if there is water mixed with that oil now, leaving it in there over the winter could cause it to freeze, expand and blow up your lower unit... as to the engine,, run it, get it warm, shut it down, change the engine oil, start it up again to circulate the new engine oil, shut it down, then just drain all the water out of it,, leave the stern plug out, put it to bed for the winter... air dont freeze.

 

[Fun Times]

Thank you for the link..I have a 1990 sea ray with an 5.0 and a Alpha one drive..will manual in the link be appropriate for my stern drive? What do you mean by do it during layup? during the winter months:

How can I find out if I had a lower unit gear lube monitor? Where would it be?

My apologies lcochrane, For some reason I just assumed you would have a had a mercruiser Gen 2 (1991 +) drive that would have had a gear lube monitor, also the link above would of been for the Gen 2 drive as well so please disregard that information as it doesn't totally apply to your drive model.

One of the important things I wanted you and others to know and see is.......where all the drain holes are located on the stern drive itself since it's just as important that the drain holes on the drive are clear of any debris to avoid freeze damage as well as the engine.

See page 1B-15 for your alpha drive model drain hole locations, http://boatinfo.no/lib/mercruiser/manuals/mercruiser6.html#/212

The term "layup" is often used as "out of season storage".