oil change SD

[weekender1]

well it has been a while and the boat is finally ready to go in the water after all the flooding we have had around here the lake is finally open. but now i want to change the oil in my stern drive i have looked all over and haven't found the way i guess i have to do it. The stern is a MR 1 165hp i have 2 8fl oz tubes of marine 80w-90 and what i have seen or read in the book said to take the cap off the top and some how suck the oil out the pull both the fill and vent screws.

now i have seen where others are using a pump to put the new oil in but i have just the tubes and what i am woundering is once i start putting the oil in the fill hole what stops the oil from coming out before i place the screw back in? and also how many OZ would this unit maybe need right now i have 16fl Oz. any help would be good please. thanks for reading this.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: oil change SD

Yeah, you will want 2 of the quart bottles. The drive takes just a touch over a quart. Which bugs me, but that's what it is. Yes the squeeze tubes are really hard to use, and make a mess. I'd return em and get a pump that will thread into the bottom hole.
The right, and best way to do it is to drain all the old stuff and check it for water. This takes a long time, I leave mine draining over night usually.
Then, wearing disposable rubber gloves, you hook up the pump to the LOWER hole and fill til some comes out the upper hole. Then put the plug in the upper hole, and finally unscrew the pump fixture from the bottom hole and quickly put the plug in that hole.
It's critical that you fill from the bottom, the gear lube is so thick that it's the only way to assure yourself there is no air in the gear case.

 

[Watermann]

Re: oil change SD

It's way easier to use a pump that fits on top of a quart jug rather than squeezing those tubes. Put the bucket under the lower gear housing, remove the screw and you will see it will barely drain. That is until you loosen the vent hole screw at the top. You fill from the bottom screw until the oil starts to run out the top vent hole. Then put the screw back in the top vent hole and tighten it. Next remove the pump hose from the lower drain hole and put the screw in, you will only loose a tiny amount. Be sure to have new gaskets on both the screws, don't reuse the old ones.

 

[ziggy]

Re: oil change SD

The stern is a MR 1 165hp

that's what i got. mines a '75

i have 2 8fl oz tubes of marine 80w-90

that's not enough. as stated above, ya need a qt. plus. just get 2 qts. then you'll have enough. imho, just use mercuriser high performance gear lub. pretty easy to find and a good lub. it will have all the properties needed to properly lub your drive.

and what i have seen or read in the book said to take the cap off the top and some how suck the oil out the pull both the fill and vent screws.

that's not right. as stated above. ya got a lower drain plug and an upper vent plug. take the draine plug out first. vacuum will prevent most of the lub from draining until ya remove the vent plug. then i'll drain. albeit, it takes awhile. i like to leave mine over night too. be sure to check out the initial lub while draining. it may contain metal fragments or water. niether of which are good but can easy be observed by looking at what comes out of the drain hole initially.
fwiw. any time i drain my gear lub, i usually like to do a pressure test on the drive. it needs to hold 15psi indefinitely to be deemed serviceable. this confirms all seals are properly sealed and ya won't have any gear lub leaks.

now i have seen where others are using a pump to put the new oil in but i have just the tubes and what i am woundering is once i start putting the oil in the fill hole what stops the oil from coming out before i place the screw back in?

get the mercruiser gear lub pump kit. $10 round abouts. it connects to your qt bottle of gear lub and screws into the drain hole. ya fill from bottom up, this is critical to do it this way. as stated above again. to keep the lub in place while putting the drain plug back in. put the vent plug in first. vacuum keeps most of the lub in place while ya quickly switch from the gear lub fill kit to the drain plug itself. a little leakage in normal. wipe it up and be done with it.
lastly. get the oem service manual for your perticual rig. mc1's were covered in three various manuals depending on serial number (year). everying stated above is in the oem service manual. i use #2.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: oil change SD

Yeah the oil is in both the upper and lower and there is only a very small oil passage hole connecting the two, so plan on a overnight drain with both plugs out.

 

[bonzoscott]

Re: oil change SD

Based on your post, I think you may want to have a Mercruiser shop do it for about $30. If not done properly you could smoke your drive $2k+