Drive lube colour?

[bowler]

Due to a potential leak discussed in a different thread I need to top off my gear lube. When I drained a little off it seemed to have a greenish tint but is very dark in colour. I assumed it was the merc HP stuff. I just bought a bottle of it and it is super green and see through. I 'm now not sure wether it is the same stuff that is in my drive. I know the premium lube is supposed to be amber but this doesn't seem amber either! All I can say is that it is very dark in colour, perhaps it is neither??

I know the simplest thing to do would be to refill the whole drive but that puts me back on my leak troubleshooting as if i refill i'll have to wait for the air to burp through etc.

Can anyone give me any tips on IDing this lube? Sorry but I have no means of uploading a pic at the moment. I've never changed the drive lube before so have no frame of reference in terms of how the appearance of gear lube will change between refills. I also know its bad to mix them so am a bit stuck! Say I do refill, someone mentioned flushing before adding the HP stuff. Will this be necessary?

Thanks in advance.

D

 

[dubs283]

Re: Drive lube colour?

the old lube you have with the dark green hue is more than likely Quicksilver High Performance Gear Lube

it will darken over time, best to change it out

to find the leak you will first need to remove the drive, drain out all the old lube and pressure test the drive for leaking seals

if the drive seals are not leaking then you need to inspect the gear lube monitor system if so equipped

HP lube can be used in most all drives and will mix well with most other types of gear lube, don't worry about "flushing" your drive

 

[bowler]

Re: Drive lube colour?

Ok, I'm going to change it I think. It's very dark which is reason enough. As I have no idea of when it was last changed how long should gear oil stay in good condition. I assume that if this gets blackened very quickly that something is not right inside the drive?

 

[ziggy]

Re: Drive lube colour?

i use the mercruiser hp gear lub.
last year i went all season w/o a gear lub change. it came out pretty dark, though ya could still the the blue/green tint to it.

this year i changed gear lub mid season and it came out a very little darker than when it was new.

i've not had any drive problems as of now.

so maybe it just gets dark after a lot of use. i fig. i put somewhere around a hundred hours on mine a season... no hour meter, just a guesstimate..

 

[bowler]

Re: Drive lube colour?

Cheers Ziggy,

Music to my ears. I went up to get another bottle so I'd have enough to do a full refill. I asked the tech and he said not to sweat it. After enough use it'll blacken. I'll keep on top of regular changes from here on in and let this one drain over night before refilling. Who knows when the PO changed it last. Now back to my leak!

D.

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Drive lube colour?

You need to worry more about water and metel filings in your lube more then color. If it looks milky or has little water -streaks- be concerned if you have metel filings on lower drain plug magnet or coming out of the drain plug be VERY VERYconcerned My gear lube always comes out darker then when I put it in And it doesnt take long to darken either.

 

[bowler]

Re: Drive lube colour?

I've drained it all and no water and no metal shavings. There were some tiny metal particles around the plug but nothing to worry about. Can't get my hands on new gaskets though so I'll have to wait to refill - DOH!