Merc states their drive lubes will still work if contaminated by some water like up to ~10% as does Amsoil for their AGM Marine lube. I once had an old outboard that before I repaired it had a persistant water entrance problem from a damaged water pump sealing surface at the drive shaft that confirmed this capability for the Merc lube.

I have been using Redline Shock Proof Gear Lube (Heavy) since 2006 on a new Bravo X1. At that time Redline application chart recommended it for drives. That chart is now gone and Redline currently says not to use this in drives. A post on a diffferent site reported catistrophic drive failure with the Redline lube do to water contamination.

My Redline lube last season tested with 0.5% water vs lab recommendation of <0.1%. and the lube did not look abnormal and the drive had just been rebuilt (do to excessive torque breaking a gear not water in the lube). It is easy enough to get some fishing line wrapped around the propshaft and cut a seal.

The Amsoil SVG appears to be the lube of choice to protect the gears in high hp Brave drives. Does anyone have first hand experience of running a drive with the Amsoil SVG that became contaminated with water?

Just trying to make an informed choice. Thanks for any input on the Amsoil SVG lube vs water.

I have been using the Amsoil "Marine lube" for about 6 seasons. I run about 500HP on a Bravo 1 with 550Hrs on the drive. I would like to run the severe gear oil but there is the water issue and also the additive for the cone clutch. I wish they would come out with a "severe gear marine lube".

That sounds like good performance for your set up. What do you find on the magnets when you change the lube?

I used to run the older 80W90 Amsoil Marine Gear Lube. Magnets were always spotless. I also put it in a buddy's 21' runabout with a 5.0L/Alpha. We were boating on the river one day and he popped the hatch and I noticed his gear lube bottle looked like caramel milkshake. I asked him how long it had been like that. He said the last three trips which equated to 15 hours run time. The shift shaft seal was leaking. Bad! A merc tech buddy of mine tore his drive apart and everything looked good. All the gears and bearings were perfect. His drive had 800+ hours on it at the time. Boat had 1100+ hours on it when he sold it and drive was still working like new.

More good press for the Amsoil Marine lube. What hp were you running when you used it?

I used it in my 266 Crownline which had the 310HP 7.4L MPI. So not a lot of HP but we did do a lot of watersports with that boat (air chair, wakeboard, skiing, tubing).

Interesting independant test results on marine gear lubes:

http://bwbmag.com/output.cfm?id=1891729&sectionid=308

I just called Amsoil Tech and they couldn't give me a clear cut answer as to the water tolerance of the SVG. They told me they have never had anyone call and say they had a water tolerance issue.

FWIW

If everyone on the board calls Amsoil and request them make a "severe gear marine" maybe we can get it done.

Ok, so I just called Amsoil and talked to there tech line, not sure if it did any good. If any of the bigger dealers have a engineering contact maybe that would help.

Does an outdrive have sprial bevel gears as shown in the photo of the linked article?

I know the lower on my bravo does not.

Sprial bevel gears, ala rear ends of rear rear drive vehicles, do need a better lube...that is why there is GL-5 rated gear lube.

The Evinrude may be GL-5 rated, I do not think the Merc product is and I know the recommended lube for #6 drives is not GL-5.

Ken