Delta_JimS
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2012
- Messages
- 278
I seemed to have noticed more of a "grinding" noise coming from my Bow Thruster in the last year. Rather do not remember it being so annoying since I had bought the boat about 2.5 years ago. I have topped off the reservoir about once a year with the recommended 90 wt gear oil. I have suspected it leaks more than it uses.
There has been a lot of oil seepage from around the bottom of the container and hose end near the clamp for probably many years, and I have cleaned up the hull area there a few times. Finally, I decided to look into it closer and try to fix the leak. The feed hose is rather short, so I have limited options of trimming it back. The plastic/rubber part appears to have become quite stiff over the years.
Examining the reservoir more closely, I noticed that the oil was of a deep "forest green". I seem to remember gear oil as a very dark brown. The bottle of Pennzoil that I have been topping it off with turns out to be yellow upon closer examination, so maybe the green is a combination of the colors. In any case, the green seemed most unusual. Has anyone ever run across Green 90 wt gear oil?
My bigger concern was the accumulation on the bottom of the bottle of some kind of white? powdery substance. I have no idea what this is, but chose to take the bottle and hose out and clean the entire thing with the intent of replacing it with clean lube.
To my great relief, it does appear that oil was flowing freely through the hose at least; cannot say how much was actually getting to the gears. 90 wt oil seems a bit heavy to me for this application considering that it is not a "closed system", like a transmission.
The bottle calls for a Super Heavy Duty Gear oil, whatever that is. Anyone care to make a recommendation as to what I should refill the bottle with? I had just picked up the Pennzoil for "topping off" a couple of years ago until I got around to servicing the oiler.
Thanks folks.
There has been a lot of oil seepage from around the bottom of the container and hose end near the clamp for probably many years, and I have cleaned up the hull area there a few times. Finally, I decided to look into it closer and try to fix the leak. The feed hose is rather short, so I have limited options of trimming it back. The plastic/rubber part appears to have become quite stiff over the years.
Examining the reservoir more closely, I noticed that the oil was of a deep "forest green". I seem to remember gear oil as a very dark brown. The bottle of Pennzoil that I have been topping it off with turns out to be yellow upon closer examination, so maybe the green is a combination of the colors. In any case, the green seemed most unusual. Has anyone ever run across Green 90 wt gear oil?
My bigger concern was the accumulation on the bottom of the bottle of some kind of white? powdery substance. I have no idea what this is, but chose to take the bottle and hose out and clean the entire thing with the intent of replacing it with clean lube.
To my great relief, it does appear that oil was flowing freely through the hose at least; cannot say how much was actually getting to the gears. 90 wt oil seems a bit heavy to me for this application considering that it is not a "closed system", like a transmission.
The bottle calls for a Super Heavy Duty Gear oil, whatever that is. Anyone care to make a recommendation as to what I should refill the bottle with? I had just picked up the Pennzoil for "topping off" a couple of years ago until I got around to servicing the oiler.
Thanks folks.