Put Marine Grease in Lower Unit instead of Gear Case Lube - Yikes!

[Sea Monster]

My father winterized my boats lower unit last fall by accidentally putting marine grease in it. Now I need to get the grease out and gear lube in. Anyone have any ideas how to best accomplish this? I suspect all the grease has to get out before filling with lube.

[jentz]

How the heck did someone get grease in there anyway??Did it come out the top vent hole? Dissamble,clean refill.

[delcecchi]

I would put solvent or gasoline in, run for a few seconds on muffs, and drain. repeal until clear. then put correct stuff in.

Just an idea, use at your own risk etc. but beats trying to take lower unit apart.

[Down Deep]

Gasoline?.....Geez, that suggestion needs to come with a disclaimer.........You probably do need to go with the removal and clean route.

[delcecchi]

OK, use kerosene, or parts cleaner.

[expl]

If you have a powerfull air compresser try to blow some of it out of there,id try from the top plug down.Then get however much gear lube in you can and run it a bit,then repeat process.I wouldnt put gas,kerosine, or parts cleaner in it as I would assume they could possibly wreak havoc on the seals.Even if you dont get it all out id assume it wont kill it,but I cant say fore sure.Seeming as bearing grease keeps bearings cool enough not to seize up going 70mph down the freeway.Better then nothing in there thats forsure.

[Surface Tension]

I would think you'd want to keep the PSI low otherwise you'd blow out a seal.

Kerosene won't hurt the seals. Its a matter off getting enough in to emulsify with the grease.

When you clean wheel bearings you know that it takes more the just soaking to clean the old grease out. The operation off gears spinning will get the grease loose but there will be pockets of grease left.

I made my own lower unit fill station.

Find a bolt with the same thread as your lower unit plugs.

Center drill a hole in the bolt. Cut the head of the bolt off.

Now you have a nipple to thread into your fill hole.

Attach a 3' hose to the end of the nipple.

Attach a primer bulb to the hose and a 2' section of hose.

Put your container of kerosene in the boat and stick the end of the hose in it.

Put a drain pan under the lower unit.

Prime the bulb and start pushing the grease or kerosene out the vent.

Keep track off how much grease and kero grease mixture you taking out.

Even though you have grease in the gear case, the bearings are going to be dry.

The kerosene will cut enough grease to lube those dry areas.

If you think your doing harm consider it better then a 50/50 mix of oil and water from leaky seals.

Replace the vent plus and drain pan and run in gear with muffs on.

Repeat. At some point you can go 50/50 mix kero/lower unit oil.

Again use your judgement on when you think you've removed enough grease to go

with a straight lower unit oil.

Or bring it into a shop and have it taken apart. Figure in a couple hours labor.

If you had leaky seals that would be the time to replace them.

[delcecchi]

I wonder if, for a one time deal, a guy could get by with those pumps they sell that screw into a quart bottle for lower units to put kerosene in with.

[jentz]

Problem with cleaning it by injecting solvent is the only gear that spins with out being in F/R in the pinion.It sits in the very top of the case.It just wont clean it.

Anyone ever taken a trans axle off a riding mower down, a standard geared trans.If you have you'll see grease built up in the areas the gears throw it.Globs of it.Solvents cant clean it it has to be removed by scrfapping it out.

Those gears in a lower unit are costly!! Better to pay now rather than rebuild at 5-6 times the cost later.

[raymondk]

auto transmission fluid with some seafoam added and run and drain a few times should breakn the grease down.

[CAMAN]

Before going through all this trouble the first qquestion that needs to be addressed is - How much? A few pumps? An entire tube? What?

If it was a few pumps I wouldn't worry much about it and just change the lube after the first couple trips. If it was a significant amount then either taking it in or running kerosene or a parts cleaner through it for a few days would be my first choice.

[boatfixer]

Problem with cleaning it by injecting solvent is the only gear that spins with out being in F/R in the pinion.It sits in the very top of the case.It just wont clean it.

.

Pinion fwd and rev are always spinning regardless of whether or not it's in gear.

[jentz]

Problem with cleaning it by injecting solvent is the only gear that spins with out being in F/R in the pinion.It sits in the very top of the case.It just wont clean it.

Pinion fwd and rev are always spinning regardless of whether or not it's in gear.

My mistake your right boatfixer the clutch dog engages the shaft to spin.Thanks for the correction. boatfixer What would you do for grease in the case??

[fishnowworknever]

Problem with cleaning it by injecting solvent is the only gear that spins with out being in F/R in the pinion.It sits in the very top of the case.It just wont clean it.

Pinion fwd and rev are always spinning regardless of whether or not it's in gear.

My mistake your right boatfixer the clutch dog engages the shaft to spin.Thanks for the correction. boatfixer What would you do for grease in the case??

He's going to say dismantle/clean/reassemble

[boatfixer]

Before going through all this trouble the first qquestion that needs to be addressed is - How much? A few pumps? An entire tube? What?

If it was a few pumps I wouldn't worry much about it and just change the lube after the first couple trips. If it was a significant amount then either taking it in or running kerosene or a parts cleaner through it for a few days would be my first choice.

Id be inclined to go this route as well

[SkunkedAgain]

I'm going to guess that Sea Monster's father filled her up, since there was no mention of "we realized our mistake...."

A little grease won't hurt it but the best move is to pull it apart. Lower units seem scary at first but it's relatively easy to do it. Mistakes happen but the worst thing to do is compound it by just squirting something else in there and hoping that it gets the job done. Unless you saw how much your father put in, you'll never know if you got it all out unless you have it opened up. A shop could make quick work out of it.