Hi Everyone,
I have a 2004 2-stroke Mercury outboard motor. Last week I was doing some regular maintenance on it, and the last thing I did was inspect the oil in the lower unit.
The last time the oil was changed was May 2020, and I didn't do it myself, so I didn't see what type or color of oil was put in to the lower unit. Usually I use Mercury Premium SAE90 Gear Lube Oil, which is blue.
I decided to open the top screw of the lower unit first, to see if I could tell the amount of oil in it, and thought I would just take a small amount of oil out using a straw, or something like that, to inspect its condition. I know from previous inspections that I am not very quick at putting the lower screw in and often lose more oil than I would like when I do this.
What I found was that when I undid the top screw, oil started to come out of the hole. I probably should mention that the engine was mounted vertically at the time. I collected some of the oil, and you can see its color and condition in the attached picture.
So my question to everyone is, since I have never had water in my gear oil before, is that what I am looking at? Or is this just a different color of oil?
Thanks.
I have a 2004 2-stroke Mercury outboard motor. Last week I was doing some regular maintenance on it, and the last thing I did was inspect the oil in the lower unit.
The last time the oil was changed was May 2020, and I didn't do it myself, so I didn't see what type or color of oil was put in to the lower unit. Usually I use Mercury Premium SAE90 Gear Lube Oil, which is blue.
I decided to open the top screw of the lower unit first, to see if I could tell the amount of oil in it, and thought I would just take a small amount of oil out using a straw, or something like that, to inspect its condition. I know from previous inspections that I am not very quick at putting the lower screw in and often lose more oil than I would like when I do this.
What I found was that when I undid the top screw, oil started to come out of the hole. I probably should mention that the engine was mounted vertically at the time. I collected some of the oil, and you can see its color and condition in the attached picture.
So my question to everyone is, since I have never had water in my gear oil before, is that what I am looking at? Or is this just a different color of oil?
Thanks.