I have a 2007 Suzuki DF175. While pulling a wakeboarder behind my 18' Boston Whaler, the lower unit blew out of gear (throttle still in position, engine revving, not turning the prop), and now I have nothing but 'neutral'. The prop nut and cotter pin were all still attached (the prop has never hit anything).
1. On the day of the 'blowout', it was making a slight 'knock knock knock knock knock' noise when in gear, in unison with what you would imagine to be the prop speed (i.e. it would speed up and slow down with the throttle, but no noise at all when in neutral).
A couple weeks after this happened, I finally got around to draining the gear oil in the lower unit. With the engine resting on the hydraulic relief bracket (tipped), I pulled the top, and then the middle plug.
2. When the middle plug came out, so did a bunch of black gear oil. When I pulled the bottom plug, blue-grayish gear oil came out, and eventually turned to a striped zebra-ish mix of black and blue-gray oil in the collection pan (i.e. as the 'higher' oil filtered out, it changed to black).
3. This would seem to indicate a blockage in the gear lube flow higher up, although the oil did all drain out. This makes me think it's a clutch-related part, like a throwout bearing, if there is something along those lines in there (I know a little about car drivetrains and nothing about outboards) QUESTION: All three drain screws are not the same; One had a 'flat head only' type of screw, with a flat 'head' on the screw, and the other two were rounded screws that allow phillips or flat head use. There's no reason to believe they were all in the right holes - is it possible they were in the wrong holes, and the screw depth might have blocked the flow of oil?
4. There were no metal shavings or debris of any kind in the drained oil.
5. There was NO water in the oil at all.
6. The prop spins freely with the engine off, throttle in the 'neutral' position.
The engine is under warranty, but the nearest dealer is over four hundred miles away (I'm in Jackson, WY), so I'll have to drop the lower unit and ship it to them. Before I do that, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what the problem might be, in case it may not require a complete tear-down and could be fixed locally with less cost than shipping.
Any thoughts/insight much appreciated.
- Sarge
1. On the day of the 'blowout', it was making a slight 'knock knock knock knock knock' noise when in gear, in unison with what you would imagine to be the prop speed (i.e. it would speed up and slow down with the throttle, but no noise at all when in neutral).
A couple weeks after this happened, I finally got around to draining the gear oil in the lower unit. With the engine resting on the hydraulic relief bracket (tipped), I pulled the top, and then the middle plug.
2. When the middle plug came out, so did a bunch of black gear oil. When I pulled the bottom plug, blue-grayish gear oil came out, and eventually turned to a striped zebra-ish mix of black and blue-gray oil in the collection pan (i.e. as the 'higher' oil filtered out, it changed to black).
3. This would seem to indicate a blockage in the gear lube flow higher up, although the oil did all drain out. This makes me think it's a clutch-related part, like a throwout bearing, if there is something along those lines in there (I know a little about car drivetrains and nothing about outboards) QUESTION: All three drain screws are not the same; One had a 'flat head only' type of screw, with a flat 'head' on the screw, and the other two were rounded screws that allow phillips or flat head use. There's no reason to believe they were all in the right holes - is it possible they were in the wrong holes, and the screw depth might have blocked the flow of oil?
4. There were no metal shavings or debris of any kind in the drained oil.
5. There was NO water in the oil at all.
6. The prop spins freely with the engine off, throttle in the 'neutral' position.
The engine is under warranty, but the nearest dealer is over four hundred miles away (I'm in Jackson, WY), so I'll have to drop the lower unit and ship it to them. Before I do that, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what the problem might be, in case it may not require a complete tear-down and could be fixed locally with less cost than shipping.
Any thoughts/insight much appreciated.
- Sarge
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