lower unit oil mixed with water, then froze...question

[bob johnson]

I was going to take the boat out today and yesterday I tried to crank it to see if I needed to charge the batteries overnight. no go... eventually I tried to turn the prop! SOLID, no budge...motor is in neutral..... so I figure I must have got water in the lower unit and it mixed with the oil and now I have a congealed mess.... I put the salamander on it and the prop turns nice...but I need to drain the fluid and replace...but my question is, NORMALLY, if there was water mixed in the lower unit oil and it becomes milky...... if you let it sit for weeks on end, will it separate out? into water and oil?......this motor has been sitting for weeks and am wondering if I had two separate columns of fluid or a frozen mixture....I never ran into this before, but it hasn't been 0 at night for 10 days or more before!

 

[Scott Danforth]

yes, it will separate out. water and oil do not mix

 

[Crosbyman]

whatever it does like salad dressing... get rid of it now! don't wait till your gearcase cracks from freezing especially if filled out to the top. refill with new oil to prevent any rusting till Spring time then have that gearcase resealed

 

[racerone]

Ice in the gearcase will stall the starter motor.----Not sure why folks in cold climates neglect to maintain the gearcase !!!

 

[David Young]

Fix your bad gaskets and seals. Your lower unit is going to bust open

 

[boobie]

After you re-seal it, make sure you pressure and vacuum check it to make sure the job was done properly.

 

[oldboat1]

For what it's worth, I might have similar problems sometime this Spring. I had a number of motors moved upstairs in my shop (unheated up there), and the temps promptly went to zero and some teens. I think they were prepped properly (though not recently), but not sure.

If still out running, kind of stuck bringing it in and doing a proper fix before additional use.