water in OB gearcase oil???

[motoryacht lover]

I was servicing my 2005 yamaha 40hp 4 stroke OB and drained the gear case oil and the color was not the same as what I put in. It is the exact same oil from the same container (Quicksilver Hi Performance Gear Lube). Out of the container it is an emerald green color. Mine coming out of the gear case is an Army Olive Drab. About the color of green olive. That had me a little concerned so I put some in a pan and heated it with a torch and it sizzled like putting something in a hot oil deep fryer. The new oil did not behave that way. Without doing a $70 dollar oil sample and waiting for the result do you guys think I have too much water in my gear case? Do any of you know how much air pressure the gear case is suppossed to hold? Thanks for your time.

 

[stormchaser]

Yup, you've got water in there. Not all that uncommon. Time to change it and make sure the drain/fill is really tight...

 

[Boatsb]

I have never in many years as an outboard mechanic found the drain to be the problem if tightened down with a new seal. Usually it is the shaft seals. If they have not been changed in a few years it's probably time.

 

[krush]

Change it, run it for a while, change it again and see what it looks like. It should turn dark/black. If it's just getting a little water in it, it is cheaper to just change it more often to go ripping apart the thing to put new shaft seals on it.

 

[MikeP]

But keep in mind that if the seals/Orings allow much water in, the gearcase will self destruct. I can describe in detail how I know this but it should not be necessary. I will say that none of the lower case was salvageable.

IMHO, replacing them before they get bad enough to cause catastrophic failure is a better plan...

 

[REBrueckner]

My experience is different than Mikes..over the years when my gearcase oil gets milky I just change it....I've done that for six or eight years with no ill effects....several times with different engines....but that's with older small HP outboards, like 10 and 15 HP...
with larger and newer (more expensive) engines more caution is appropriate...I've always wondered if running in shoal, cloudy sandy waters causes such seal issues....my guess is "yes"...

 

[Boatsb]

Changing a prop shaft seal is quick, simple and inexpensive.

 

[Sparky1]

Fishing line has always been the culprit with such problems I've had with outboards. Like Scott said, just replace the seal and you should be fine.

 

[motoryacht lover]

Thank you all for the replies. I decided to take it to a Yamaha dealer to fix. I will let you know what happens.