Was overfilling outdrive the cause of gear lube leak?

[GVance Buck]

I have a 2007 Four Winns 220H with a 5.7L V8 and Volvo-Penta (V-P) SX-A outdrive. There are about 175 hrs on the engine and outdrive. It was given an annual service in late April of 2013 by a supposed V-P dealer. It has begun slowly dripping bluish green fluid from around the base of the prop and most recently out of the back of the prop itself. I have determined that the dealer used Mercruiser non-synthetic 90 wt gear lube in the outdrive and overfilled the outdrive as evidenced by the level of fluid on dipstick. My manual states that he should have used full synthetic 75W90 GL5 gear lube. Another marine mechanic has said that it could be the seal on the output shaft that the prop attaches to, which is a $430 repair. He also said that it could possibly be the drain/ fill hole improperly sealed that is located behind the prop, which would be much cheaper to repair. My question is: Could the overfilling of the outdrive with incorrect gear lube be the cause of the problem? I am going to have to confront the dealer that did the annual service if his work caused the problem and I need to know what everyone else thinks about this issue.

 

[skydiveD30571]

Re: Was overfilling outdrive the cause of gear lube leak?

The blue gear lube is Merc High Performance gear lube and is perfectly fine in a SX-A drive.

Is the boat out of the water? If so, it's pretty easy to find out where it's leaking. Pull the prop off (takes about 2 minutes) and see if it's the oil fill hole or the prop shaft seal. The oil fill hole screw has an o-ring on it, and should be changed every time the plug is taken out. If he took it off and didn't put a new one on, or the current one has developed a set, it can leak there.

How straight is your prop shaft? Does it wobble? Hitting something and damaging the shaft is the most common way of causing a leak around the shaft seal. In my experience, overfilling hasn't caused a leak anywhere. That's NOT to say it can't, I just haven't had that happen to me.

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Was overfilling outdrive the cause of gear lube leak?

Volvo says to use a GL-5 rated (synthetic) oil.I don't know if the Merc oil is synthetic or not

 

[boatguya1]

Re: Was overfilling outdrive the cause of gear lube leak?

I have a 2007 Four Winns 220H with a 5.7L V8 and Volvo-Penta (V-P) SX-A outdrive. There are about 175 hrs on the engine and outdrive. It was given an annual service in late April of 2013 by a supposed V-P dealer. It has begun slowly dripping bluish green fluid from around the base of the prop and most recently out of the back of the prop itself. I have determined that the dealer used Mercruiser non-synthetic 90 wt gear lube in the outdrive and overfilled the outdrive as evidenced by the level of fluid on dipstick. My manual states that he should have used full synthetic 75W90 GL5 gear lube. Another marine mechanic has said that it could be the seal on the output shaft that the prop attaches to, which is a $430 repair. He also said that it could possibly be the drain/ fill hole improperly sealed that is located behind the prop, which would be much cheaper to repair. My question is: Could the overfilling of the outdrive with incorrect gear lube be the cause of the problem? I am going to have to confront the dealer that did the annual service if his work caused the problem and I need to know what everyone else thinks about this issue.

Is it possible that water is getting in at the same place gearlube is getting out making it appear to be overfilled?

Have you removed the prop to inspect for fishing line on the propshaft? Fishing line has killed more prop shaft seals than I can count.

It is my opinion that the merc high perf gearlube had nothing to do with this. (merc and volvo dealer for years)