Sterndrive Inspection

oGaryo

oGaryo

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On buying the Flecther, I wasn't able to take her out for a sea trial due to the sea state at the time of purchase... Myself and the marine engineer from Abersoch Land and Sea checked everything over running her up on the muffs, carried out compression checks, checked sample of the sterndrive lube for water, checked battery draw with all electric on etc etc etc

However, on running her up when back home I'm not happy with a slight noise from the upper gear case on the sterndrive.. it may be a case of my mind looking for issues and imagining it's worse than it is but it certainly seems less quiet than the drive on the old boat. Draining a little more of the sterndrive oil shows it's quite old (darker than new oil and stinks)..

The noise isn't loud, just sounds like gears turning (mild whirring) to be honest and I've read that this can be the case when in neutral/idle on the muffs and all is ok once in the water as the back pressure forces the gearing together, right?. The boat goes in to gear much better than my old boat, pumps water through strongly and the steering is very smooth so that's all promising.

I'd prefer to be safe than sorry as she not been used for 2 years so I don't want to find it's something like acids in old oil doing their worse over an extended lay up and using the boat without changing pitted bearings = major damage as they progressively get chewed up. Could also be a build up of varnish?

Can I have some advice on what to check in addition to these checks:

1. drain lube after running engine for 5 mins to warm the oil
2. check for excessive metal filings on drain plug
3. remove upper gear cover and check condition of bearings etc for pitting.. anything else I should check whilst the lid is off?
4. drop the sterndrive and check gimbal bearings and bellows
5. refit leg and flush sterndrive with clean lube, drain it off and refill with new lube.
6. run up on the muffs again and recheck assuming I don't find anything amiss with the above inspection checking for noise at different trims levels and steering positions.

What do you think, overkill or definitely something to fully check out?

I'll see if I can take a video close up to the upper gearing to let you listen to it as I warm up the lube

cheers Gary
 
Drive oil doesn't normally go black as there is no combustion. This also means that it should not turn acidic like engine oil.

I would be a little suspicious of this and think about getting an oil sample from the leg analysed before going ahead with the purchase.

This may sound extreme, but legs are complex beasts and repair can get expensive. £30-£40 for an oil analysis and a slight delay is well worth it IMO.
 
neale said:
think about getting an oil sample from the leg analysed before going ahead with the purchase
Click to expand...

too late for that I'm afraid.. the boat's already with me :)

Appreciate this advice as always but I'm not so sure about the comment regarding discolouration of the oil, my last drive was the same colour (not black just much darker than new stuff) and this comment off sterndrive-information.com suggests it'll darken with age:

If the drive lube has a blackish appearance, it has been much too long since last changed
Click to expand...

The new oil is a greenish colour the old stuff has definitely been in the drive for at least two seasons possibly up to 4 seasons as the guy only used the boat once or twice in 2006 / 2007 and not at all in 2008 / 2009 so he's just had it winterised and dewinterised each year... it's not been fully serviced in those 4 years as basically, it's not been used.
 
Last edited:
Further thoughts:

Drives do sound 'Different' when run out of the water.

Is there any service history with regards to when the oil was last changed?

It is possible that the wrong oil has been used in the leg, this may cause excessive wear.

An oil analysis will tell you if there is metal in the oil at levels not visible to the naked eye, but still high enough to indicate a problem.

Bellows will need changing anyway if the boat hasn't been used for 2 years and no idea of when last chaged, so dropping leg and checking gimbal bearing is not a bad idea, but I would not get involved with this until I knew the results of the oil analysis. You could be wasting your time and money if the internals are shot.

What leg is it? Price up a second hand replacement as a worst case scenario.
 
thanks again... last full service was in 2005 and it's been sitting in Abersoch Land and Sea's storage facility since doing nothing basically other than the odd trip in 2006 / 2007..

The engine oil looks very clean which supports the thinking of lack of use and Abersoch L&S regrease bearings as part of their winterisation process... I've got all paperwork showing servicing and winterisation since 2003... it's a 2000 boat with 3.0l 145HP lump and alpha 1 gen 2 leg.

cheers
 
neale said:
Price up a second hand replacement as a worst case scenario.
Click to expand...

Just had a look and found a place that sells 'new' Alpha 1 gen 2 sterndrives for £1550 + vat.... was expecting it to be more to be honest but nowhere near considering that option yet, I'll carry out the checks over the weekend to see what that tells me. thanks again for your advice
 
Alphas do whirr from the gearcase, change the oil for the hi performance synthetic gear lube from the guys at quicksilver "we empty your wallet quick as a flash".

Having said that, I dont know what you class as a whirr. Mine whirrs and can be heard looking over the transom, but not from inside the boat.

Remember if you do take the lid off, you will need a new O ring and if you change the bearing, you will need the proper setup tool and shims to set the bearing preload.

Don't get hung up on particle inclusions on the races too much, only change if the bearing is showing signs of galling or corrosion pitting.

Mine had quite a few FOD dimples, but no corrosion or face breaking away, so a quick clean up with emery and away she goes.

If you are taking the drive off, have a look at the ally gimbal bearing holder. If you can see 2 slots at 180 degrees apart facing you, its simple to change it now and you will not need a puller to get the bearing out, so you can change it in minutes, you will need an alignment tool tho.

If its the t'other way around, its gonna be a bugger.
 
oGaryo said:
The noise isn't loud, just sounds like gears turning (mild whirring) to be honest and I've read that this can be the case when in neutral/idle on the muffs and all is ok once in the water as the back pressure forces the gearing together, right?
Click to expand...
I used to have a boat with Alfa drive (gen I), and as I recall she made the same sound, but it almost disappeared when in gear, even on the hard - hence with no pressure/effort on the prop. Did you notice such difference?
Btw, on my boat the drive was mated to a Magnum 350, which was the bigger engine supported by the Alfa, and it had been used pretty hard, with a fair share of WOT, waterski, and quite a few wave jumping. The boat was 2 years old when I bought her, and I lived with that sound for another three seasons. Never missed a beat. And I know from the current owner (after 8 years now) that he did nothing to the boat so far, aside from ordinary maintenance.
 
just taken some video shots and an ex Navy mate stopped by and had a listen and he reckons it's absolutely fine but could do witha lube change... I have a more comfortable feeling about it now, just down to 'new old boat' over concern I guess.

Considering what I paid for her, it's looking like I've got myself a decent deal, bad sterndrive or not.. will keep digging for issues until I can't find any more and then hopefully get chance to enjoy her when the weather turns good

I'll put the video's up tonight here's the sterndrive vendor I found: http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/COA961 not sure if exchange means the price is only given if you give them your old drive.

thanks again for the advice...
 
oGaryo said:
Can I have some advice on what to check in addition to these checks:

1. drain lube after running engine for 5 mins to warm the oil
2. check for excessive metal filings on drain plug
3. remove upper gear cover and check condition of bearings etc for pitting.. anything else I should check whilst the lid is off?
4. drop the sterndrive and check gimbal bearings and bellows
5. refit leg and flush sterndrive with clean lube, drain it off and refill with new lube.
6. run up on the muffs again and recheck assuming I don't find anything amiss with the above inspection checking for noise at different trims levels and steering positions.
Click to expand...
If you are taking the leg off you are supposed to pressure check the leg and check the engine alignment (with the leg). You need special tools for this, such as these two from ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Merc...1811062QQptZBoatQ5fPartsQ5fAccessoriesQ5fGear

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Outd...7320137QQptZBoatQ5fPartsQ5fAccessoriesQ5fGear

If the engine is out of alignment you can fry the drive coupler, so you are supposed to check it annualy.
 
lovezoo said:
If you are taking the leg off you are supposed to pressure check the leg and check the engine alignment (with the leg). You need special tools for this, such as these two from ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Merc...1811062QQptZBoatQ5fPartsQ5fAccessoriesQ5fGear

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Outd...7320137QQptZBoatQ5fPartsQ5fAccessoriesQ5fGear

If the engine is out of alignment you can fry the drive coupler, so you are supposed to check it annualy.
Click to expand...

cool, thanks for the advice
 
tinkicker0 said:
Alphas do whirr from the gearcase, change the oil for the hi performance synthetic gear lube from the guys at quicksilver "we empty your wallet quick as a flash".

Having said that, I dont know what you class as a whirr. Mine whirrs and can be heard looking over the transom, but not from inside the boat.

Remember if you do take the lid off, you will need a new O ring and if you change the bearing, you will need the proper setup tool and shims to set the bearing preload.

Don't get hung up on particle inclusions on the races too much, only change if the bearing is showing signs of galling or corrosion pitting.

Mine had quite a few FOD dimples, but no corrosion or face breaking away, so a quick clean up with emery and away she goes.

If you are taking the drive off, have a look at the ally gimbal bearing holder. If you can see 2 slots at 180 degrees apart facing you, its simple to change it now and you will not need a puller to get the bearing out, so you can change it in minutes, you will need an alignment tool tho.

If its the t'other way around, its gonna be a bugger.
Click to expand...

Pending posting up the vids and hopefully a thumbs up from you guys too I'm going to leave the top gear case alone, not broke don't mess with it thinking.. I'm in the process of draining off the old lube (looks more green when draining out the bottom hole.. vent's opon on the upper drive and the cap's off the reservoir.. will leave it to drip drip drip until it drips no more and then pump in the new stuff from the drain hole... I've got a quart of the performance lube that the guy who sold me the Bayliner gave me so I'll pop that in. Oh yeah.. very little in the way of filings on the plug, more like dust particles and only a little bit there. cheers Gary
 
Greeny blue is the colour of the hi performance gear lube.

Before you start to refill the unit, put the bottlle in a washing bowl full of hot water for 10 minutes or so, it'll thin the oil and make it pump better.

If you have the Quicksilver / Mercury lube pump, take it easy with it, it is really fragiile if you try to rush things. The plastic is V brittle.
 
carlton said:
It says the parts are interchangeable. Thanks for the link. ;)
Click to expand...

They are built by Sterndrive Engineering, I have just fitted a new gear case/lower leg to mine, and it seems fine.

My mates have been using this product for several years now, and with the good exchange rate out of the States, very cheap buying. We just deal direct with the local suppliers (USA).
 
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