Grand Larsony
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2008
- Messages
- 221
(post edited for clarity)
1989 Sea Ray Sundancer with twin 5.7 Merc 260 I\O drives.
Each outdrive has an aftermarket "lower unit lube bottle" installed inside the transom with a hose to the top of the outdrive leg (to allow for greater lower end lube capacity). They're like the units that come standard wth the newer outdrives, but mine are retrofitted to my older Alpha1 legs. Bottles are clear, so I can see that the oil levels are not decreasing (e.g. were not during last year). They do not have level alarms on them as some do.
After storage, one of the bottles has a half-inch layer of white stuff on the top surface of the oil. It wasn't very mixed in, and I don't think the oil in the bottle ever recirculates into the drive units unless there is a failure. I didn't look at the other bottle, nor have I checked after a few short runs (believe it or not, this concern came to me in my sleep when I subconsciously remembered seeing it -- sort of strange I know).
Any worries here? I'm thinking it's condensation from storage, but I will check more thoroughly later today if I can.
The drives were fully serviced in July last year (bellows, impellers & housings, seal kits, new lube, etc.). We checked the lube using the lower drain screw in the fall -- it was fine -- so we skipped the service this year. I only put about 30 hours on the boat each season (bought boat in August last year, so I don't have service history beyond that time).
1989 Sea Ray Sundancer with twin 5.7 Merc 260 I\O drives.
Each outdrive has an aftermarket "lower unit lube bottle" installed inside the transom with a hose to the top of the outdrive leg (to allow for greater lower end lube capacity). They're like the units that come standard wth the newer outdrives, but mine are retrofitted to my older Alpha1 legs. Bottles are clear, so I can see that the oil levels are not decreasing (e.g. were not during last year). They do not have level alarms on them as some do.
After storage, one of the bottles has a half-inch layer of white stuff on the top surface of the oil. It wasn't very mixed in, and I don't think the oil in the bottle ever recirculates into the drive units unless there is a failure. I didn't look at the other bottle, nor have I checked after a few short runs (believe it or not, this concern came to me in my sleep when I subconsciously remembered seeing it -- sort of strange I know).
Any worries here? I'm thinking it's condensation from storage, but I will check more thoroughly later today if I can.
The drives were fully serviced in July last year (bellows, impellers & housings, seal kits, new lube, etc.). We checked the lube using the lower drain screw in the fall -- it was fine -- so we skipped the service this year. I only put about 30 hours on the boat each season (bought boat in August last year, so I don't have service history beyond that time).