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Little Metal Shavings in my SX-M

M

MNSubbie

New member
At the risk of receiving a few chuckles and eye rolls, I need to ask if it could be "normal" to find a few very small metal shaving or flakes in my Outdrive?

I had no issues with the boat this summer. Ran fine, shifted fine., etc. When i drained the drive for the winter, I found milky oil and some metal Flakes on the magnetic drain pug. I pulled the whole drive and split off the lower unit. So far I have not seen anything wrong----all shafts turn smooth and free with no scraping or grinding. Plan to re-seal the whole thing, as I don't think it ever had that done. While i have it apart, will look for other issues like bad bearings or gears.

But might a few little shavings be OK? Might the shift cones create the little flakes? I know i am grasping at straws here, but your advice and experience would be much appreciated
 
Few questions...
How old is the drive... years / hours
Are you the first owner of the drive
Have you drained the oil previously... IFSO what results
....and if drained previously, did you replace the seals on the dip stick and drain screw???
 
sandkicker said:
Few questions...
How old is the drive... years / hours
Are you the first owner of the drive
Have you drained the oil previously... IFSO what results
....and if drained previously, did you replace the seals on the dip stick and drain screw???
Click to expand...
Thanks for your help Sandkicker. Happy to supply add'l info
*This is on a 2000 Four Winns, with low hours---only about 85 hrs
*I am the second owner. Boat sits in the water all summer--no lift
*I've had the thing for 6 years and pulled the drive when I got it to install a new Gimbal, Bellows, and a u-joint. Drained it almost every fall because of milky oil and tried a few minor things to make it stop leaking. Vacuum/Pressure test revealed no issues. Couple years ago I did replace the Dipstick and Drain O-rings and that stopped the milky oil-----until now Been using Delvac Gear Oil

That's the sad story. Appreciate your intertest and advice
 
Dip stick and drain washers are a yearly replace.
Milky oil a very poor lubricant.
Possible shavings are residual damage from milky lube.
Suggest replace oil and washers and check next season for more shavings... If drive works and does not make noise
and no more shavings, you may have dodged a bullet.
Alternatively, pull drive and tear it down completely and look for damage.
 
Thanks Sandkicker. I will keep my fingers crossed.
But since I already pulled the drive, I am going to re-seal it.
And i can look for problems while I have it apart. Hopefully won't see any
And i will take your advice on making the O-Rings a yearly replace.
Thanks again
 
A quick update
I got the drive as far apart as I could, and found no huge issues
Bought that special tool to get the Bearing Carrier out of the lower unit. Everything down there looked great and turned nice and smooth. And i was pleased to not find any more shavings or debris inside. I put in a new seal and put it back together.

The Upper unit also looked spotless. Input shaft turned in its housing nice and smooth. All gears and their teeth looked normal. The only thing I noticed up there was that the vertical shaft lower bearing was a little "scratchy". It turned smooth but I could hear it making a little noise as it turned. I really wanted to replace it, but the need for special tools and special expertise to re-shim that vertical shaft is beyond my pay grade. So decided to put in all new seals and put it back together.

Won't really know what the outcome is until next spring when it goes back in the water. It will maybe be a little noisy, or maybe it will self-destruct?? Time will tell. And i can report back here on what happens, just in case anyone is interested.

Keep your fingers crossed for me
 
Sounds like the magnetic filter is doing what it is supposed to do.-----Let the oil sit for a few weeks and see if any water settles in the bottom.
 
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