Milky drive oil

[SEVEN]

So why did the manufacturer not do that and have a HOT and COLD line..... I see it on other units (Like the Allison in my Diesel Pusher).....

It gives us all just one more thing to do. 😂

[Flymitch]

Looks like I solved, for now, my low drive oil pressure situation at least at idle at the dock.Added approximately half a gallon of 40 wt., cold sitting just over the full line and idle pressure at dock is slightly over the starboard engine.Test drive this afternoon to follow, then recheck.What I thought looked milky, was actually a bubbly look and could not be duplicated.Fingers crossed all will be normal with today's float.Discovered a few new items. Seems starboard engine hour meter is frozen, need to investigate if it's the wire or gauge. Also, there was a fresh unopened gallons of antifreeze in bilge. The Onan Marine genset has a tank on the side that looks like an overflow/reservoir with a line towards bottom for normal and a hot line near top. This tank seems nearly empty, so time to service it. Gen works normally. Only issue I have with the gen, when I start engines on shore power WITH gen on, gen disconnects the moment engines are started. Found that to be weird yet consistent. Also, ac disconnects when switching from shore to gen 1 on electrical panel. Guessing this is normal too, and standard is to turn AC off prior to switching any electrical source..what I am doing now? Thanks for any advice, even the off comments!

[Pascal]

“when I start engines on shore power WITH gen on, gen disconnects the moment engines are started. ”

What do you mean by disconnect? Do you mean the generator shuts down? I have seen this on smaller boats with gas gensets that share a battery with one of the mains. The starter draw lowers voltage and kills the genny but afaikngateras always used dedicated batteries for gensets

Yes you should reduc loads when switching between shore and gen, it will reduce arcing between the contacts of the rotary switches. I don’t turn off everything but at least the air con and water heater breakers to reduce amperage during transfer

[Photolomy]

Not only reduce loads, don't expect them to work when switching service. It isn't like an automatic transfer switch that does it so fast everything will keep running. It is just a manual switch, so the power is disconnected and then reconnected.

[Dan Mapes]

As to why water can enter the drive in spite of high oil pressure, that happens when things cool down and the pressure is not present. Air cavities cool down, and create a subtle vacuum.