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Member
Posts: 163
Location: Oshkosh | Hi everyone,
Today I came across a problem I'm sure many of you have experienced before. While draining my lower unit's gear lube I noticed an quite a bit of water (mixed with oil...) come out really fast, and then it came out normally, but the oil was milky in color (denoting water present in the oil). I know that there could be numerous culprits to this problem- cracked lower unit, a prop shaft seal that is either failing or has failed, etc. I took the prop off, and as far as I can tell there was no fishing line wrapped around the shaft. I usually have a very reputable boat technician winterize the motor for me (it's a 1991 Mariner 175 Magnum EFI), but I was unable to do so this year because I waited too long and it got too cold for him to do it. Last winter when he did this for me, the gear lube was fine. What bothers me is I don't know how long it has been this way and if it was this bad when I was fishing a lot (and therefore running the motor a lot).
What I would like to know is this- tell me what your experiences were and about how much it cost to fix. I realize that different situations will result in a variety of answers, but it will give me an idea of what to expect. I wish I could spring for a new outboard, but after just buying my first home, that is absolutely out of the question. I appreciate all of your help.
Mark Ostrowski
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Member
Posts: 2300
Location: Berlin | Great question. I had the exact same thing happpen to me a week ago. My seals are perfect and I can only assume the water got in because of condensation. I filled it up and ran it for a day. There seemed to be excess oil on the water around the motor. It does not look like it is cracked anywhere. Hopefully one of these guys can point us in the right direction. |
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Member
Posts: 39
Location: Mt Prospect, IL | Brother Otis, Have you had your boat in the water this year? One thing you didn't mention is the drain and vent plug gaskets. If one or both are bad, water can get in this way as well as oil seep out, which sounds like your problem Rich S.--seerad
Edited by seerad 3/9/2004 9:37 PM
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Member
Posts: 163
Location: Oshkosh | I haven't had it in the water this year yet... but yeah, I thought the vent plug gasket looked a little odd. I plan to take it today to my dealer and have him go over it thoroughly. Might as well replace the impeller while he's at it.
Mark |
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Member
Posts: 244
| The best thing to do is have the gearcase pressure and vacuum tested for leaks.
At the price of a gearset or new lower unit I would not mess around.
Take boat to your dealer ask him to change the gearlube and preform a P and V test, and please tell him why you want him to do the test.
You will be money ahead in the long run.
Schmitty
Edited by Schmitty 3/10/2004 8:23 AM
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Member
Posts: 39
Location: Mt Prospect, IL | Brother Otis,
Chances are that this is your problem. Reason being, this is the only thing tampered with when it is serviced. Now, the real concern you should have is that the water was in there all winter, which can freeze and potentially foul things up. Not to mention the corrosion factor. And if it did freeze, that doesn't mean that it cracked anything, only that the potential is there. A thorough inspection is required under these circumstances. Let me know how things pan out.----seerad |
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Member
Posts: 163
Location: Oshkosh | Thanks for the advice, guys. I took it to the dealer I bought the boat from, and he figured that it was one of the seals. He is going to do a vacuum and pressure test, and do the necessary repairs. Best of all, he's gonna do it this week, hopefully insuring an early arrival of myself on some river run walleye fishing. Thanks again.
MArk |
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| Mark, this does not realate to your problem, but I was wondering if your brother worked at Jelley Stone in Fremont last year at the bait shop. I worked there last year with Tony and was just wondering how he was doing. I remember him saying that he had a brother with a boat similar to yours and you both have the same last name. |
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