Milky oil in trim reservoir?

[Fishingaddict88]

I'm dealing with milky oil in my trim reservoir. I guess my question is what's the best/worst case senario here? I got the boat running great for the most part this is one of my final issues.

 

[enginesilo]

The outdrive oil reservoir? Sounds like you have water leaking into your outdrive and it's made its way all the way up to the reservoir. I would suggest pulling the outdrive drain plug and see if you get milky oil there as well, if yes, it's time to pull the drive off and do a simple leak test to find where the water is coming in.

 

[alldodge]

I'm dealing with milky oil in my trim reservoir. I guess my question is what's the best/worst case senario here? I got the boat running great for the most part this is one of my final issues.

This is a leak from the hydraulic trim rams and is not connected to the outdrive gear lube. You either need to rebuild the rams or replace them. Rebuilding is easy and can be done in an afternoon.

What drive and what year is it?

 

[Bondo]

I'm dealing with milky oil in my trim reservoir. I guess my question is what's the best/worst case senario here? I got the boat running great for the most part this is one of my final issues.

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,..... Whatcha workin' on,..??

Has the bilge ever been flooded in this boat,..??

 

[Fishingaddict88]

This is a leak from the hydraulic trim rams and is not connected to the outdrive gear lube. You either need to rebuild the rams or replace them. Rebuilding is easy and can be done in an afternoon.

What drive and what year is it?

Thanks for your reply I'm including pictures of the trim reservoir and drive unit serial number. I tried to look up the number and couldn't find anything on it. Although the previous owner said it had been replaced idk if he updated the stickers or not but they look newer. This may be a stupid question but what are the rams? Are those the hydraulic arms? You just figure bad seals? Approximate cost? I appreciate your response!

 

[Fishingaddict88]

 

[Fishingaddict88]

 

[Fishingaddict88]

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,..... Whatcha workin' on,..??

Has the bilge ever been flooded in this boat,..??

Thanks, this is a nice community. Glad I found it. I am working on an 1988 17' stingray with a 4 cyl 3.0 140hp motor.

To my knowledge the bilge has not been flooded but can't confirm that. The last owner only had it a couple years and I've only had it since February. Don't know much more about the history of the boat.

 

[alldodge]

You have an Alpha drive and would use seal kit 25-87400A2 ($30 per cylinder) to reseal.
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/87400a2-o-ring-kit

The rams are the hydraulic cylinders on the side of the drive, and here is a link to them.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/30870/2203/220

There are several folks here which have threads showing the rebuild process. The hardest part is getting the end cap off and that is easy with the right tool

 

[Fishingaddict88]

You have an Alpha drive and would use seal kit 25-87400A2 ($30 per cylinder) to reseal.
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/87400a2-o-ring-kit

The rams are the hydraulic cylinders on the side of the drive, and here is a link to them.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/30870/2203/220

There are several folks here which have threads showing the rebuild process. The hardest part is getting the end cap off and that is easy with the right tool

Awesome thanks!

 

[QBhoy]

May be wrong, but it sure looks like there has. Even water in there. Just looking at the photo of the trim pump.

 

[QBhoy]

Should read...
"....it sure looks like there has been water in there..."

 

[Fishingaddict88]

Should read...
"....it sure looks like there has been water in there..."

Yeah I kind of suspected it after I thought about it. It was all covered in black stuff until I wiped it off. Not entirely sure if it just got some sea water or was rain or completely sank. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of details on the history of the boat. I know the previous owner was pretty much clueless on the mechanics of anything. I've been considering gutting the entire boat and replacing a lot of the interior and doing preventive maintenance. Then again I imagine it's not gonna be cheap. Most likely I'll fix it up a little bit and sell it in a couple years for something big enough to handle Lake Erie that's nearby me.

 

[QBhoy]

Good stuff.
Get the mechanics sorted...then the cosmetic stuff

 

[Fishingaddict88]

I've been doing some thinking... If the boat has been flooded, it's possible the water got in the reservoir through the cap. I would like to flush my reservoir and refill it before I go through the trouble of replacing the seals in the rams. What's the best way to go about doing this? I plan on sucking the majority of the tainted fluid out with a turkey baster and refill with fresh in order to flush it out. The flushing it out part is not very clear in my research.

I copied this from another post on this site actually. The part I don't understand is the lift and lower the drive by hand? Im assuming once the lines are unhooked I will be able to move it manually?


"best way to remove and flush oil is to remove line(s) from the forward connection on the trim ram(s) and run the pump up and down and lift.lower ther drive by hand and get as much of the old oil out

refill the resivior and run the drive up and down mulitiple times to bleed and repeat the process until no more milky oil comes out"

 

[JASinIL2006]

The manual (at least the Gen 2 manual) has a pretty easy step-by-step procedure to follow to purge the system. I had to run through the entire process 2-3 times when I had milky trim fluid.

 

[alldodge]

The part I don't understand is the lift and lower the drive by hand? Im assuming once the lines are unhooked I will be able to move it manually?

The only way to move the drive by hand with the cylinders attached is with the lines disconnected. What your doing is pushing all the oil out of the back side of the cylinders. Once there as empty as you can get them, reconnect lines and start running the pump. Note don't let it go dry or you will have more up/downs to get the air out