My VP 2003 from year 1990 had visibly watered oil in the gearbox. This is the first time this happened. I can only track this to heavy rains recently or possibly driving in large waves. Since the gear oil is changed through saildrive what’s your recommendation for solving this?
The solution to this is straightforward, although it definitely requires a haul-out. Saildrives leak through the two water seals next to prop. It is fairly easy fix once the boat is on the hard.
This is actually very common for high hour saildrive engines – most saildrives will have this issue at some point in the season. Just replace the oil until it’s emulsified again, repeat until you haul out. Many owners replace the prop seals as part of their yearly maintenance.
Something as simple as tangled fishing line can cause this also. Ensuring that you put your gearbox in reverse when sailing can help prevent unnecessary wear.
Never let water contaminated oil freeze in your transmission though – this could cause cracking of the casing and be a much larger headache. Another potential problem is when debris (such as tangled fishing line) wears a groove in the prop shaft and new seals will no longer work. Then, you will need to think about re-machining the shaft and fitting a sleeve. This is best avoided by not ignoring milky gearbox oil.
And finally, be careful not to over fill the gearbox oil. This should be measured with the dipstick sitting in the hole, not screwed down. Use a piece of white handy towel for checking the level as it is sometimes hard to see – it’s not black like engine oil.
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