Water in drive oil resevior?

[hnt]

I just bought a boat with a 1996 Merc 5.7 EX and Bravo III

The prebuy included removing the drive, visual inspection and draining and checking the drive fluid. All checked out but the drive oil was probably changed out when the boat was winterized in the fall. The drive was not pressure checked. I noticed water in drive resevoir yesterday while working on the boat. I have not run the boat yet. There is about a 1/2 inch of milky water on the bottom of the resevior. That seems like a lot of water to be the result of accumulated moisture. If the drive had a leak would the water work its way up to the resevior?

Henry

 

[Don S]

Re: Water in drive oil resevior?

If the drive had a leak would the water work its way up to the resevior?

Only if the gear lube is milky in the drive. Your milky line is probably condensation and old gear lube. The reservoir is supposed to be cleaned each time the gear lube is changed. If it isn't, it will build a sludge (sometimes milky) in the bottom od the reservoir.

 

[hnt]

Re: Water in drive oil resevior?

Thanks Don,

The problem is that I don't know if the drive oil had water in at the end of last season. It is possible that the previous owner just changed out the drive oil (which might have had water in it) with new oil. When my mechanic did the prebuy inspection last month the oil looked fine. I am upset that he didn't see the water in the reservior however. He says he checked the oil, gimbal bearings, universal joints, bellows etc. He did replace a shift cable boot that was bad. I have no idea if the reservior had ever been cleand out in the past.

So now dont know if I should just clean out the reservior and fill it with fresh gear oil and run the boat to see if I get water in the oil or have the drive pressure checked. I am keeping the boat in rack storage so checking the drive oil after a few hours of use is easily done.

Henry

 

[Don S]

Re: Water in drive oil resevior?

If it was mine, I would clean the bottle, run it and check the gear lube in the drive after the first couple of trips.

 

[hnt]

Re: Water in drive oil resevior?

Thanks Don,

That's what I will do

Henry

 

[hnt]

Re: Water in drive oil resevior?

I had a chance this weekend to pull the reservior and clean it out. As it turns out there was about 1/2 inch or green sludge in the bottle but not water. It did appear lighter than the oil and probably did contain some moisture but it is very similar to what others have described as typical "sludge"

I cleaned out the bottle and in the process knocked the float and plastic washer off the fluid sending unit inside the bottle. The float appears to have a magnet? or black stipe on the inside on one end. I reassembled it with the magnet or black stripe on the top is this correct?

Henry

 

[hnt]

Re: Water in drive oil resevior?

Just a follow up.

I have run the boat about 5 hours and the drive oil and resevior are all good. No water!! thanks for the help!!!