Gear lube top ups

seguir

First boat of this size (280 Rinker EC)....I have done 20 hours so far this year and I had to top up my Gear Lube (around 1/2 cup or so) Is this normal?

Michael T

Hey Seguir, the answer will depend on several conditions. I assume your drive was serviced before you put it away last year and the 20 hours you talk about are this year's hours. If so, the drive may have "burped" some air from the last maintenence cycle and in that case the adding of lube would be normal. The other time it is normal for some lube replacement is with new drives. My new B3s have "burped" a fair bit of air so far and I have replaced the lube. I have had to add oil to alpha and bravo drives before when it should not have been necessary and found the culprit to be failed "O" rings of which there are usually several. You can sometimes see an "oil sheen" on the water after your boat has been sitting for awhile if you have an "O" ring failure. Good lunk! MT

seguir

Thanks for your comments Michael.   The boat now has 47 hours on it and I was told it was serviced at 27 hours for the first time.  I did not know about the possibility of some air in the unit, so I plan on watching the level.   I have not noticed any "oil sheen" in my slip after warm up.

Babyboomer

It's Normal

bat32

Yup have to add about the same every year after the first couple times out. Also watch it throughout the year for an occasional top off.

JoeStang

I have 20 hours on my brand new Bravo 3 and had to top off the fluid. It took about 1/2 qt. The manual says its normal during break-in and I would suspect like posted after a fluid change.

Michael T

It is normal. They'll "burp" air for a while and even though it's synthetic I'm told some of it gets vaporized so I always keep an eye on it. One area that I have been real bad at checking over the years is my power steering pump levels. I need to do that more often, although they don't seem to use/loose as much.MT

craigswardmtb

Keep an eye on the caps as well.  The gaskets go bad and then the drive fluid can leak from the reservoir when pressure builds.  I just had this happen.

212rowboat

^ +1

i did some digging on that thread, and discovered that the cap is the only valve function in the system... it can hang open or closed.. just like a radiator cap in a car, it can be a pretty important lil' thingything..

Michael T

Thanks, another day another trick learned. Its all good! MT