Water in gear oil

[jvm1]

Just finally had some time to winterize the boat and when I went to change the gear lube i see the old stuff has some white milky streaks in it. Any idea how much this shall cost to fix? Do I just need to replace the gaskets?

[headcheese]

i suppose a couple hundred. depends i guess, as long as you are going into there probably do all the seals, impeller. it will add up.

i have heard you should replace the seals on the drain plugs cause they leak sometimes. it could be simple as that.

my old boat leaked a little i just changed it often and it was fine. if you dont get it looked at be sure to keep an eye on it.

you can get it pressure tested and maybe they can tell you exactly what seal is bad, and you could attempt to fix it yourself. but i know some of them suck like the prop shaft seal and you need special tools.

[SpecialK]

When was the last time you pulled the prop off? If you haven't, it might be some fishing line wrapped around the shaft.

Worst case scenario is a total lower unit rebuild which is spendy.

Best case removing the line from the output shaft or a new output shaft seal or the gaskets for filling and draining.

[jvm1]

Prop was replaced 2 years ago. Had a couple line incidents the last 2 times I was out fishing so maybe it's that. Going to bring it into the shop in January once I get back from my trip, get it ready for spring hopefully without having to sell a kidney in the black market.

[boatfixer]

Depending on what engine you have but a lot of shops will want to completely reseal it. They don't want to send it out with a half-a$$ reseal only to have another seal, such as the driveshaft seals fail and have it comeback and have to cut you a deal because it wasn't done right the first time. Some have ruined it for the rest

[Juan Grande]

I had the same issues this fall.

1. change gaskets on drain plugs

2. check prop for line (like others suggested)

3. have it pressure tested.

Try the first two, take it out and run it and then drop the oil again to see if there's water. If not, you're good to go with the cheap fix.

[jvm1]

Talked to the shop and they said reseal the whole thing because that way we don't get water.

After I mentioned the line getting caught in the prop a couple times last fall and the measly amount of water in there they recommend just changing the prop seals and testing it in the spring.

A lot cheaper than a full reseal.

Thanks for the input guys!

Jose