Crap....gear oil anyone?

[xanthras]

So my Dad noticed a small dripping of oil from the bottom drain hole on our Alpha one drive. He said he tightened it up and it was all set. Looked like a small leak. So... finally we get the dang motor starting normally (see other posts) and I am crusing down the lake. Then. CLUNK! She stops. I take a look at the outdrive to see if I hit something. Top of the outdrive has a litte steam coming off it...uh oh.
Got towed home. Popped the top of the outdrive. No oil in there, but there was plenty of shavings.

What are we in for here? Any advice or tips? She is an '85 Imperial 18 ft open bow. She is in fairly good shape aside from some aging upolstery. Do we get rid of it? Look for a used outdrive or fix it?

 

[meesh]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

Get yourself an SEI drive. Good price, 3 year warranty. You cant rebuild it for what you can buy one of these for.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

http://www.sterndrive.cc/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT

 

[xanthras]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

I take it people have had good experience with SEI? Is it any more difficult to find parts or mechanics that know them?

 

[meesh]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

They are exact copies of Mercruisers.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

Parts are the same as in the Mercruiser units. Hopefully if you treat the SEI drive well then you won't need to have a mechanic work on it.

 

[xanthras]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

Well, we decided to go witha rebuilt merc upper. Just heard that she is all ready to go. $800.00 for the whole deal. He said he changed all the gaskets and water pump and that our lower unit was in good shape. Well. Not a perfect ending, but you can bet I wont ever run out of gear oil again!

Is it possible to have a reservoir installed in a boat that doesnt have one? Or is this a ton of work? Also, when checking throughout the season, to check the level I just unscrew the vent and make sure that oil is right at the bottom of the vent hole right?

Thanks for the assistance!

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

A new SEI is around $600 with a 3 year warranty

 

[ziggy]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

Also, when checking throughout the season, to check the level I just unscrew the vent and make sure that oil is right at the bottom of the vent hole right?

that's the way i check mine (mc-1 w/o gear lub monitor) periodically... with the drive level...

this year i went so far as to change the gear lub mid season too. just to be sure all was well, which it was..

 

[xanthras]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

Where have you seen that? Ebay and the SEI site itself list them for 1100-1200. Unless maybe you are saying that I could reuse the merc bottom and a new SEI upper? Not that it matters anymore, but just wondering.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

Is it possible to have a reservoir installed in a boat that doesnt have one? Or is this a ton of work? Also, when checking throughout the season, to check the level I just unscrew the vent and make sure that oil is right at the bottom of the vent hole right?

There are outdrive lube reservoir kits available through Mercruiser, $100+. I made one for my old boat out of an automotive radiator overflow bottle, some hose, through hull fitting, fitting for the drive, everything together was $30-40.

You can check the level by removing the vent screw in the upper unit.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

"Well, we decided to go witha rebuilt merc upper"

You didnt say a complete drive, that would make the $1200 correct

 

[xanthras]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

So you can mix n match sei with a merc? We did just an upper so we may have eaten 200 if thats the case. Just checked the SEI site. 600 for just an upper. Lesson learned I suppose. Edit: of course we would have to pay someone to put it in too...

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

I'm sorry to point out a potential problem, but did the shop offer a guarantee on their work? You need to make sure they didn't allow any shrapnel from the blown upper to contaminate the existing lower.
And did they correct the lower leak?

 

[xanthras]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

Yes and yes. Said he checked the lower unit for shavings ect. Said that we didnt actually tear the upper up that bad so there wasnt too much anyways.

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

Well with the install and the new impeller, inspection, etc you are probably even money so don't feel like you got hosed.

 

[searay3]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

With a blown upper, no matter how bad or not, the upper and lower share lube. I hate to be negative, but I see lower unit problems in your near future. That will recontaminate the upper. I wish you luck and hope this prediction is without merit...

 

[sethjon]

Re: Crap....gear oil anyone?

A lot of metal shavings and no oil is a disaster. I think it will cost around $2500. I doubt if anything is usable. When you saw the oil leak you should have checked the oil. In fact, its a good idea to check it often. Sorry for the bad news.