metal shavings on drain plug

[JohnKorte]

While draining gear oil from the out drive, I found a fair amount of metal shavings on the magnetic plug. Two years ago when I drained it I dont remember having any. What should i be looking for to fix or adjust before I have complete failure??

 

[JohnKorte]

Forgot to say it is a Alpha one gen 2. Always seemed to shift into gear fine.

 

[Fun Times]

You're almost always going to find some on the magnetic plug and sometimes it's going to look like a lot. The important thing to notice is if there is a noticeable excessive amount still flowing into the oil drain pan while draining....If so then you have a heavy concern of something severely wrong.

Slow, grinding shifting, bigger/heavier stainless steel props, heavy acceleration loads, infrequent oil changes could contribute to more noticeable fine metal shavings on the magnetic plug.

 

[alldodge]

Agree and will add
I like to let the lube sit in the pan over night. Then pour the contents of the drain pan into another container slow. The reason being if the bottom of the drain pan shows much more then a few specs you should be fine

 

[JohnKorte]

Ok thanks for clarifying. My manual and several post seem to WARN about find metal shavings on the plug.It only makes sense to find some. Though the boat usually is never run to hard, mostly fishing. But when I take kids out to ski and wake board there is a lot of shifting in and out of gear.
Really appreciate you guys and all your mechanical knowledge!!