2001 Alpha I Gen II Gear Lube

[jmfrost]

The other day I wanted to check the condition of my gear lube from both sides. I have a remote monitor in the engine compartment and the lube appeared fine there. So I loosened the screw on the bottom of the drive to let out a little oil and I hear a little suction noise. The lube looked fine. So out of curiosity, I went back to the monitor because I thought maybe the suction noise was from lube dropping from the monitor bottle. It was the opposite. Now the lube monitor is full to the cap. What do I need to do to correct this? Was this because I didn't remove the top screw on the drive before the bottom and created a vacuum?

 

[Brewman61]

Re: 2001 Alpha I Gen II Gear Lube

Yeah, possibly a vacuum. When I drain my lower unit, I remove the cap on the resivior bottle (and also dump the lube out at the same time), then remove the vent screw on the outdrive, then finally the drain screw.

 

[jmfrost]

Re: 2001 Alpha I Gen II Gear Lube

So I need to drain and refill the whole thing to fix it?

 

[Brewman61]

Re: 2001 Alpha I Gen II Gear Lube

You could, if you wanted to. Might be a good thing to learn if you don't know how. How soon is the lube due for a change?
The trouble with draining comes with putting it back if you want to re-use. It fills via the drain hole, using a relatively inexpensive pump that fits on the one quart sized containers the lube comes in.
The procedure is easily found if you don't have the manual to explain it.

However, I'm not sure it's necessary. If all you did was pull the drain plug, and little came out (you didn't mention if you lost any), then just running the boat will likely burp out the air and the level in your monitor bottle would drop back. IF you lost any, you'd get a bit lower level, which you could top off by pouring a bit back into to resivior bottle.

When I refill with fresh lube, I often get a full reading on the bottle, only to have the level drop after the first run on the new fill, due to air causing the level to read too high.

Carry spare lube in your boat so you can top off if necessary. Same with engine oil. And a roll of paper towels.

 

[jmfrost]

Re: 2001 Alpha I Gen II Gear Lube

You could, if you wanted to. Might be a good thing to learn if you don't know how. How soon is the lube due for a change?
The trouble with draining comes with putting it back if you want to re-use. It fills via the drain hole, using a relatively inexpensive pump that fits on the one quart sized containers the lube comes in.
The procedure is easily found if you don't have the manual to explain it.

However, I'm not sure it's necessary. If all you did was pull the drain plug, and little came out (you didn't mention if you lost any), then just running the boat will likely burp out the air and the level in your monitor bottle would drop back. IF you lost any, you'd get a bit lower level, which you could top off by pouring a bit back into to resivior bottle.

When I refill with fresh lube, I often get a full reading on the bottle, only to have the level drop after the first run on the new fill, due to air causing the level to read too high.

Carry spare lube in your boat so you can top off if necessary. Same with engine oil. And a roll of paper towels.

Sorry, probably should have given a little more info. I replaced the lube myself last year when I winterized. I used the expensive Merc HP stuff and haven't put enough hours on her yet to justify changing it out. I was just checking the condition of the oil when I did this, so I don't think I even let an ounce out, and it was all nice and blue like it should be. I just thought running it with an air pocket would be bad for the drive and wasn't sure if it would drain back down on it's own or if I should do anything else. As expensive as this stuff is, I was hoping to not have to dain it until time for the W, at which time I'll go ahead and replace the impeller, etc. Do you think it will drain back down just running it on the dog ears? I do carry spare fluids and what prompted all this was that I've had to top it off twice this year and didn't have to top it off at all last year. But I'm not seeing any signs of leaks anywhere at all, and I always store the boat indoors with the drive down.

 

[jmfrost]

Re: 2001 Alpha I Gen II Gear Lube

The other day I wanted to check the condition of my gear lube from both sides. I have a remote monitor in the engine compartment and the lube appeared fine there. So I loosened the screw on the bottom of the drive to let out a little oil and I hear a little suction noise. The lube looked fine. So out of curiosity, I went back to the monitor because I thought maybe the suction noise was from lube dropping from the monitor bottle. It was the opposite. Now the lube monitor is full to the cap. What do I need to do to correct this? Was this because I didn't remove the top screw on the drive before the bottom and created a vacuum?

Haven't been out in a while and was just thinking about this. So is the solution for me to run the engine and the lube will get pumped back down to the lower unit? Was to going to take her out this weekend and was a little hesitant until I figured out if I should drain and refill or if it would be fine to run on the hose before taking it out? Didn't want to blow anything up before going out, LOL. I'm hoping to hold off on the draining until it's time to change out the impeller in a few weeks, don't really have time for an impeller change this weekend.