Picked up my 5 hp Honda today... and lower unit oil is milky!

[siwash]

I just checked the lower unit gear oil after bringing it home. I trusted the seller when he said he checked it and was apparently good. It was not and I noticed one of the seals was shot... the oil was milky - not good! How serious is this? I drained the oil, and I will replace it once I purchase a new seal. The funny thing is the motor ran really well when I tested it. Started without a problem, impellar seemed to be functioning and sounded great.

 

Can I buy seals at any marine dealer or must they be Honda seals? Should I have the engine checked by a Honda mechanic now?

 

 

I am going to change the oil on it too since I don;t think he really changed anything on it for the entire time he owned it. Motor looks great b/c I don't think it was used much.

 

 

It was on a sailboat.

 

thanks

[fish_fishburn]

I would change both gaskets on the drain plug and the vent plug, install new oil and see if that works. If not, bring it in to a mechanic and have it inspected.

[Pigeontroller]

What else did the seller lie to you about???

[Fisherman]

I just checked the lower unit gear oil after bringing it home. I trusted the seller when he said he checked it and was apparently good. It was not and I noticed one of the seals was shot... the oil was milky - not good! How serious is this? I drained the oil, and I will replace it once I purchase a new seal.

There are actually 5 seals, fill screw, drain screw, seal at the rear of the housing where the prop shaft exits, seal where the drive shaft enters the lower unit from above..and the gear shifter seal in front of the drive shaft where it enters the lower unit. Serious, yaaaaa, if you leave it and the gears rust to the same colour as bovine excrement.

 

 

The funny thing is the motor ran really well when I tested it. Started without a problem, impellar seemed to be functioning and sounded great.

A monkey on a banjo can sound pretty good too if the wrong person is listening. While you are replacing the seals, you may as well replace the impeller, it's right there in the middle of it all.

 

Can I buy seals at any marine dealer or must they be Honda seals? Should I have the engine checked by a Honda mechanic now?

If you have a dealer nearby and you're not that great with wrenches,(not wenches), explain to them what you've seen and get a quote.

Honda parts get bought at a Honda dealer, not much choice unfortunately.

 

 

I am going to change the oil on it too since I don;t think he really changed anything on it for the entire time he owned it. Motor looks great b/c I don't think it was used much.

It was on a sailboat.

 

Damm windbaggers don't take care of the mechanical stuff.

 

thanks

Edited July 6, 2010 by Fisherman

[nofish4me]

If it was on a sailboat, it may have been used more than you think. Not that that's a bad thing.

[canuckjack]

+1 to fishburn's answer

[fisher]

Would be interesting to know the reason he was selling it...that is a good question to ask anyone selling anything to see how confidently they answer the question. Sometime you can catch the seller off guard when the real reason is not something you want to hear and they try to make something up on the spot.

 

If he says he sold the boat, chances are he would have sold that motor with it. So unless he upgraded for more power, there may not be many reasons why he would sell unless it wasn't reliable, etc...

 

At this point, unless you got a real good deal or get it checked out thoroughly and quickly, if you could return it, I would.

[ohhenrygsr]

It's no big deal. General rule of thumb is the gaskets for the drain and fill have to be changed every time the oil is changed. He seller probably honestly didn't know the condition of the lower unit before he sold it. Either way it probably was still a good deal and a cheap fix.

Edited July 6, 2010 by Henry Nguyen

[aplumma]

In some cases the lower unit of the motor on a sailboat is not stored above the water line when not in use. Even with that said if the seals were %100 it would not have water in it. A minor leak on the fill or drain ports would milk the oil over time.

 

 

Art

[Uncle Buck]

Don't mean to sound like a knob, but...

 

it's a used motor...

 

if you wanted new, you should have bought new...

 

what were you expecting?

 

it's your responsibility to check these things out before you fork over the $$$$

 

prop shaft seals are probably worn... you're lookin at about $30 in seals and time to change it...

depending on the age of the motor, getting the bearing carrier out might be an issue...

[moparhawk]

Your post reads that you have already drained the grease from the lower unit and are waiting to fill (gasp) I would never leave a lower unit without grease, even milky fluid is better than none.

[siwash]

Your post reads that you have already drained the grease from the lower unit and are waiting to fill (gasp) I would never leave a lower unit without grease, even milky fluid is better than none.

 

 

Sorry, but why not? It wasn't in use... just sat for 24 hours in the garage... It's been topped with fresh syththetic.. new seals..

 

sould be fine..

 

Like I said, the drain seal was shot... that's probabaly where h2o came in from

[Fisherman]

Sorry, but why not? It wasn't in use... just sat for 24 hours in the garage... It's been topped with fresh syththetic.. new seals..

 

sould be fine..

 

Like I said, the drain seal was shot... that's probabaly where h2o came in from

A short time like that wouldn't be bad, still enough residual oil on the parts, however, don't leave it sitting for long, moist humid air like the crud we are experiencing will badly corrode metal like gears and bearings. Glad you got it fixed, after a couple of hours of running do another check to make sure that was the problem.