4mulafastech

2006 292 Formula with twin 6.2's. Towards the end of this boating season I have noticed my normally spotless bilge was showing signs of gear lube. Tracked it down to the gear lube monitor bottles. After every outing, especially during hot weather, I would find the bottom of the monitor where the level sensor wires come out there was gear lube and several drops in the bilge. Could not tell exactly where it was coming from so this weekend I pulled them off, brought them into work and did a little test. Pressurized them to 2.0 psig and found both to leak between the epoxy(?) and aluminum nut that secures the level sensor. It did not leak from the wire egress.

Talked to Mercruiser and basically got the "No 'Bulletin' on this problem - out of warranty - sorry, stuff leaks, good luck, have a nice day...".

Has anyone else had leaks like this? I verified it is NOT the cap leaking. I can't be the only one with this annoying problem. I am thinking of just getting some 'petroleum resistant' epoxy (like JB weld(?)) and putting a layer over the crap they used in production. What do you guys think?

Griff

Pretty common problem with the lube bottles. I had to replace one.

Bawana

Have had this happen a couple of times. Do yourself a favor, don't try to fix them. You don't want to pump all your drive lube into the bilge and smoke your drives. Just replace them with OEM or there are several manufacturers out there that make bigger & better ones.
Bawana

ghittner

The key here is most likely the word "HOT". It's probably overflowing through the top of the relief in the cap and you see it at the bottom of the bottle and off the fill hose going to the drive. Check the level after running hard in "hot" weather and see if the bottle is full or close to it.

4mulafastech

Did your replacement leak, or did you get lucky?

4mulafastech

This is a slow drip, rarely even have to add gear lube. Just annoying as a little gear lube goes a long way to mess up a bilge. I would replace with OEM, but if it is the same as what I got now I can expect it to start dripping in a year or two. I have seen aftermarket types, but are there any that fit in the existing bracket? Thanks.

4mulafastech

I keep an eye on the level and never see it over the full line. It fluctuates between add and full. I have taken a white paper towel and ran it around the bottle at the cap right after running and no blue/green, but at the bottom of the sensor a nice little pool of gear lube. I think what happens is on hot days while running some pressure builds in the bottle and the gear lube is thinner and slowly drips out the bottom. From my test it takes very little pressure to start leaking.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I guess right now I am leaning towards trying to seal what I have with a high quality epoxy since I am not confident the OEM replacement won't simply do the same thing. This is a design flaw or manufacturing defect from Mercury which they may or may not have addressed.

Knot 4 Me

I've never had one leak so it is luck of the draw I guess. I'd first try to seal up your existing ones. Good luck.

4mulafastech

Thanks. My engine serial numbers are only 5 digits apart so if this happened to be a 'batch' related problem, looks like my engines got 'em. Just my luck!

Griff

First one was about 8 years old. The replacement never leaked.