SWS lower unit, 2+2=?

[TBone]

Doing some maintenance brainstorming for when the tundra defrosts up here

Here is a scenario the I may have put 2 and 2 together on, but give me

input please:

At the end of the season I took her out for one last rip to burn off some

gas that was in the aux tank for about a month, it was treated with Startron.

When we were out runnig after I swithched over to the aux tank and

began to let out lines for one last hopeful troll (Nov, 1st) I noticed that the

starboard motor had a funny noise, it was very subtle and at first I thought

it was just my over anal-ness OCD about my boat. So I asked my brother

if he heard anything, after careful scrutiny he thought he may hear something,

but barely. It wasnt a grinding or a knock, but raspy woo-woo, but almost

un-detectable. It almost sounded like the noise of an electric motor.

Also, when trolling, that motor stalled a couple of time, but I chocked it up to

the possbilty of the tank switch over. At the end of the day we opened her

up to clean her out before we said good bye.

I notice when I brought her up to WOT that motor wasnt reaching the RPMs.

Only hitting 4800rpm. I again figured it was bad gas from tank switch and figured

it would clear out. I slowy brought her down and up and after a couple of times

then she reached the same rpms as the port. So I figured it was the gas,

we brought her in and towed her home.

When winterizing her, I noticed when I drained the lower unit, the startboard

had quite a bit of metal chips in the fluid, more than just normal magnet fuzz.

Actually couldnt screw the plug in from the debris.

After mulling over this given situation;

Does 2+2= blown lower unit :?:

Im not a rocket scientist,I know the unit has a problem, but what I want

to know is, do you think the above described symptoms could be attributed to

the lower unit?

What do you all think?

Thanks for any input,

Tony L.

 

[gw204]

Sounds possible to me...but then again, about all I know of lower units is how to change the lube and water pump and clear fishing line from around the prop shaft.

 

[Grog]

Metal chips aren't a good think. Was the oil milky?

2+2 may = bad gas and rebuild lower unit.

 

[87offshore24]

It is probably the gearcase. Sounds like you had alot of metal in it. And the nosie you heard was the bearings/gears making noise, probably a slight growl. If the lower unit has gears bearings going bad it will not turn as easy and slow the engine down. sometimes they lock up and the engine wont crank. Have it looked at before you run it again and it gets worse. good luck.

 

[1st grady]

Years ago with my first outboard, I had a similar incident. I removed the lower unit from the motor (six bolts or so, 1 under the trim annode) and take it to to a dealer. Mine was like $160 to fix but it was a Rude and only 50 horse. It won't hurt anything by removing the lower unit, change the impeller while your there and have a shop check out the seals and gears. If you have metal in there, you definately have something grinding up. At worst, you should only have some tiny filings which look like dust in the oil.

 

[TBone]

Thanks guys for the input. It does make sense then that it could be

binding and grinding to create resistance, that in turn my have caused the

stalls and low RPM. May have had a bad bearing like you said causing the noise then

seizing up.

The fluid wasn't milky, just metal chunky.

Will be tearing them off come close to spring.

Thanks,

Tony L.