Don’t let the thought of it intimidate you. Should You Service Your Own Gear Case?Ībsolutely! If you are a do it yourselfer, or just cautious, then changing the gear lube in your lower unit is a great thing. This creates a brownish color, due to the rust mixing with the water and gear lube. If there was any water in the lower unit when it went into storage, then the water and gear oil eventually separated.Īllowing water to get into the lower parts of the gear case, shifting mechanisms, bottom portions of the gears (when they were still), and the bottoms of the bearings.Īll of the rust is ground off of the bearings, and gears, once the boat is taken out of storage and ran for a little while.
For example, in a boat that is put in storage and left for a season, or a year or two. Replace the leaking seals, and put the lower unit back in service with no harm done! (Most of the time) What Does Brown Oil Mean?īrown lower unit oil is a sign of rust and is usually found in a gear case that has been sitting for awhile.
Most of the time you can just pressure test the lower unit. When you see the milky color, that means that there was enough gear oil left to mix with the water and still properly lubricate the moving gears inside the case. Milky White usually means that you have caught the issue just in the nick of time! Milky White is probably the best one of the worst colors you don’t want to see. Those are just not as common in the recreational boating world! Obviously there are heavy duty gear cases like the ones on Seven Marine engines. If you are working on a Yamaha, you should expect to see a darker yellow or brownish color. You also want to be looking for a darker color of the original color.
It is a good sign that there isn’t a leak anywhere in the gear case gaskets or seals, allowing water to get into the lower unit and contaminating the gear oil. If it smells burnt and stinky, that is actually not a bad thing. There can be premature failures caused by improper lubrication, if the wrong gear oil is used! What Color Should the Used Gear Oil Be?īlack is good! If the gear lube comes out looking really dark, black, or burned, don’t be alarmed. It is extremely important that you get the right gear oil into the lower unit that you have. Then that engine requires the HD Gear Oil, which is to the left and is also a brownish or yellowish color. If the engine uses a N26-1 oil filter, or a N26 for short. A rule of thumb for the models that require the HD Gear Oil is the oil filter.
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