Yamaha Outboard Gearbox Oil Colour

[BaitThrower]

Just decided to check the gearbox oil ont his second hand 30hp Yamaha outboard I recently purchased... Pulled out the drain plug and out comes this thick, custard yellow oil... Someone please tell me this is what the color of Yamaha gearbox oil is... because otherwise this smells of a really bad leaking seal somewhere coz most gearbox oil I have used is at least semi-transparent and either blue-ish or red-ish tinge in color... and definitely not milky :(
:-/

[russ81]

Hows it going mate
If the oil is milky it has definitely been contaminated with water.As for the colour it should be I cant help you there

Russ

[onerabbit]

Yep, sounds like water in the oil to me.

Muzz

[Spaniard_King]

definately a leaking seal.. %99 chance its the shif rod seal. need to pessure test with prope test gear to determin leaking seal.

[BaitThrower]

definately a leaking seal.. %99 chance its the shif rod seal. need to pessure test with prope test gear to determin leaking seal.

Hmm ok and if i wanted to attempt a fix myself by replacing the shift rod seal, and the prop seal, is that something I can do... i.e. just replace both and negate the ned to then pressure test...

Are those thew only two places where water can get in? Apart from the drain and fill screws etc...

[Spaniard_King]

BT

There are seals for the drive shaft, prop shaft.. bearing carrier assembly and the shift shaft. now any of these can be the problem but finding the leaking seal is the issue.

special tools and skills are required to disasemble the gearbox whih the normal handy man would not have.

The final test after repair is to pressure test the gearbox.

Also by saving yourself a couple of hundred dollars to repair it yourself may turn into several hundred if the seal leak and it destroys the gearbox (most gearboxes don't run to well on salt water)

[BaitThrower]

Thanks Garry for the info...
So what would something like this cost to repair roughly?

Also, posting the following which I posted to a Yamaha specific engine forum, but may as well post here for anyone in the know...

-------------------------------------
Hi all, Purchased a second hand Yamaha CV30 - 30hp 2-stroke... Just have a question with regards to cooling water flow... When running on muffs, there is quite a lot of water coming out of the hole at the front of the mid section of the leg which just doesn't seem like it should be coming from there...

I get flow through the telltale (probably not as strong as it should be) and through the prop, but a lot of water is coming out of this hole (see pic)... Any ideas?

My first through was maybe they hadn't engaged the water uptake tube from the impeller housing correctly and this water is getting into the housing as well?

The gear oil is also contaminated with water... Would this be related?

[Spaniard_King]

BT,

as a minimum I would say 2 hrs labor + parts
Re water flow. thats not uncommon for water to come out of those areas but I would be geting the water pump checked as a matter of caution. If it has been done recently its quite possible that the water tube and pump have not been aligned corectly on reassembling.

[BaitThrower]

BT,

as a minimum I would say 2 hrs labor + parts
Re water flow. thats not uncommon for water to come out of those areas but I would be geting the water pump checked as a matter of caution. If it has been done recently its quite possible that the water tube and pump have not been aligned corectly on reassembling.

Thanks again mate. Will get someone to look at and fix the leaking seal.
I'll drop the leg myself and check the water flow issue out myself. Have done a few impeller replacements before so that should be no drama.

Cheers.

[Spaniard_King]

Just be carefull ya get all the sneaky bolts out :)

also you will save some $ if ya just take the gearbox in so they dont have to remove/reinstall the box;)

[BaitThrower]

Just be carefull ya get all the sneaky bolts out :)

also you will save some $ if ya just take the gearbox in so they dont have to remove/reinstall the box;)

Yep I found a great service manual PDF online that shows step by step everything that needs to be done :)

[BaitThrower]

As an update. I dropped the leg and found the driveshaft seals to be badly corroded and possibly leaking. My thought was... heck these seem easy to change on this particular model, and if I change all these and it still leaks, I'll get a pro to do the prop seals (they look a bit more complicated).

So off to the Yamaha supply department (Wynnum Marine) and spoke to the parts guy who was really helpful. He set me up with new seals, gaskets, o-rings etc specific for the job... Got some new spark plugs as well, and a new impeller... $98 later and I am out of there...

Get home, replace all the seals, re-assemble the water pump with new impeller and seals and it all goes back together nicely. Put new gearcase oil in, along with new screw washers and have since taken it out twice on the bay for all day trips... Decided to check the gear oil today and it looks as good as new. As a precaution, I drained the gearbox and no sign of any leaks or water intrusion at all... So obviously was the driveshaft seals (the corroded ones).

Added another lot of gearcase oil and she should be good to go for a while now! Saved myself a small fortune (this time) :P