280 problem maybe lower unit

**YELLOWXD** · 12-03-2005, 08:41 AM

Need help, went to the lake this morning. I put the boat in and cranked it up . I let it idle for a cople minutes. I put in in reverse. It shifted pretty hard. I backed up and tied to the ramp and no problems. We started to take off for the tourney and when I put it in gear it cut off. This happened twice. Finally put it in gear and tried to take off. It would not go anywhere. The motor kinda slowed its idle like it wanted to bog down. I cut it off and tried again same thing. There was alot of cloudy oil looking water around the engine. This is a 280 with about 50 hrs on it. Any ideas as to the problem. When I got home I pulled the prop and nothing out of the ordinary. Can anyone help? Seems to be shifting rough

**Greg Moss** · 12-03-2005, 09:18 AM

look at the gear lube you cann't tell anything til you drain it

**rhickox** · 12-03-2005, 09:56 AM

My experience with 280 is if you let it idle too long in neutral it will foul #5and #6 plugs. I bet if you pull them they look like crap. Has happened to me.

**The Big Al** · 12-03-2005, 10:25 AM

This time of year with cold weather, cold water. gear lube is thicker and shifting seems harder.

Also if you let the engine idol for a long time thinking you were warming it up, you were mistakin. the 280 will not warm up. It will sit there and just load up. ( load up means fill it self up with fuel) foul plugs.
James this is a HP engine, not a consumer engine. It acts differant in all kinds of weather conditions. Hot weather power loss. Cold weather can be a bear. My advice you need to trade it or sell it and get a 250xs or a 300x. I think you would be a lot happy.
Also with the low hours and the care you take with your stuff I know you can get a good price for it and get you a anouther power plant. And the 250xs would work well for you. run just as fast, carry the load you have. Believe me! On the bass boat this would be your best choice.
I do not think your problem is in the lower unit. Unless you drain the oil and find something.

Al

**rhickox** · 12-03-2005, 10:58 AM

So in other words fouled plugs is probably correct right????

**The Big Al** · 12-03-2005, 11:02 AM

I would check that first! Drain the oil in the lower just to be safe.

Also, I know he had it serviced last summer, about 2 hours if use ago ( or less) and they could have put 140 weight oil in it.
I run 85w90 systetic Klotz in mine.
(Glenn Renolyds said it was best and the old man has been around the block)

Al

**YELLOWXD** · 12-03-2005, 11:27 AM

Guys maybe i was not clear about what happened. When i say it idled we are talking about maybe two minutes at best. When I took it off the trailer and shifted into reverse it was a very hard shift. It was idling fine other than a little fast wich is normal till it has ran and then it drops to below 1000. When I tried to recrank it it idle fine an ran fine when i gave it gas but when I put it in gear that is when it bogged down and wouldn't go. I did pull the plugs and everything looked good. I won't pull the gear oil because I have never done that before. T appreciate any help.

**YELLOWXD** · 12-03-2005, 11:40 AM

Also, when i pulled the plugs I checked the cylinder walls and saw no damage there. This motor was checked and serviced 60 days ago all compresion was great and it only showed less than 1% on the leak down test. TO tell you how it acted if it has ever happened to any of you guys I spun a prop two years ago on my old boat and this is simia;ar other than it didn't happen

**Greg Moss** · 12-03-2005, 11:40 AM

Pull the prop and the drain screw is in the bearing carrier behind the prop. pull the drain plug and the top vent plug. It will drain out and you will see metal shavings if the lower has problems, or the oil will smell burnt and be black, Water in the oil you will see milky color or the waterr and oil will have separated and the water will drain first then oil. to fill you just get a hand pump. Merc sell them that screw in to the quart oil jugs. just pump the oil in from the bottom screw til it flows out the top vennt hole. install the vent plug first before removing the pump from the drain hole and the oil will not flow out as fast, it builds a vaccum inside the lower uniit and the oil has no atmophere to push the oil out. Easy and best to check it to be sure before you tear something up inside it and I'll tell you the lower unit cost alot of money to fix. So best to check it out.

**YELLOWXD** · 12-04-2005, 04:31 PM

It apparently is the gears. We put the prop back on and cranked it up you can feel them jerking and vibrating and can hear them grinding through a tetroscope. When your turn the prop by hand you can also feel them grinding

**rhickox** · 12-04-2005, 05:57 PM

That hurts my wallet.

**props4u2** · 12-04-2005, 11:45 PM

You can not tell if gears are damaged the way you explained. The prop has to be under a load or the clutch (shift) dog will bang arround and make all kinds of noise. You need to have the carrier pulled out and inspect the internals visualy, this can be done w/out removing the lower unit from the engine.

Lee

**Trikki1010** · 12-05-2005, 07:03 AM

Word of caution,

Not sure if it IS part of the problem, BUT

280's don't like being "shifted" w/ bigger props on them as it eventually destroys the lower units.....as you see

If you're running a larger prop, remove the neutral safety and start "in gear" to help nurture your "NEW" lower

**THE FAST ONE** · 12-05-2005, 08:43 PM

HEY JAMES,WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND AS OF NOW, COULD BE LOWER----ED

**YELLOWXD** · 12-06-2005, 09:00 PM

ED, I believe it is the lower. I have not had a chance to take it in. Al wants to come look at it. It jerks and vibrates real bad when in gear, difficult to explain in words. I am pretty sure but I don't know much about this

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280 problem maybe lower unit

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