gear oil

[pool boy]

what color should the gear oil be after 100 hours service from a mercury lower unit?from good to bad.

[David]

The same dark color it was when it went in would be ideal.
White is very bad.
I've never seen black from over heating, but I guess that's possible
Another bad thing is big pieces of metal.

[pool boy]

the oil i drained out today was a green color.i put an impeller in the day before and the gasket under the bottom plate under the impeller(follow that ) was wore out and ripped in one spot.think that gasket let some water in?i didn't know about the seal in the shifter.i would have changed that to.i guess i'll take it apart again and put that seal in the shifter.

[j_martin]

the oil i drained out today was a green color.i put an impeller in the day before and the gasket under the bottom plate under the impeller(follow that ) was wore out and ripped in one spot.think that gasket let some water in?i didn't know about the seal in the shifter.i would have changed that to.i guess i'll take it apart again and put that seal in the shifter.

Some gear oils are green. All marine gear oils have detergents in them to hold water in suspension to limit damage from water intrusion. Any water in the oil makes it milky. Any color transparent is good. Any color milky is bad.

hope it helps
John

[Sheer Insanity]

the oil i drained out today was a green color.i put an impeller in the day before and the gasket under the bottom plate under the impeller(follow that ) was wore out and ripped in one spot.think that gasket let some water in?i didn't know about the seal in the shifter.i would have changed that to.i guess i'll take it apart again and put that seal in the shifter.

I toasted a lower from this problem. Fix it before you run it.

[pool boy]

actually the oil was amber when i put it in the lower unit.

[midnightmadness]

must have been some blue left in it (or green for that matter) .....refer back to the "clear color (or black)good /milky bad"rule, and of course no metal pieces