I just drained my drive oil on my Bravo drives. The oil in the starboard drive looks almost as good as when it went in, nice green color. The other port drive oil looks a little dirty or dark. Both the lower and upper magnetic drain plugs looked normal, a tiny bit of fuzz on the lower no metallic particles. No water in either drive.

The oil on both drives has 50 hours, not run hard, the total time for both drives 580 hours. I have always used Mercruiser Drive oil.

Just curious what other boaters have experienced with twin drives, do they both always look the same?

I have a little difference on my Bravos with one a little darker. I was told it was because it likely had some water in it at one time. That causes the inside of the drive to corrode a little and leaves little dark particles in the lube. I have not had a problem since I got the boat and the problem has seemed to lessen so there may be something to that. I did at one time have some OMC outboards that did it really bad, one would come out yellow/tan and the other one was black, never had a failure though.

Rawpower

I'm assuming you have drive showers. If not, it's a must for protecting drives and helps the oil do a better job of protecting gears.

So many small factors can affect drive oil color. I wouldn't be alarmed unless it is milky which may indicate water in the drive oil.

Some times that will happen, if you do not clean out your resevoir bottles.

mine does the same thing,port motor, i think its because the port drive spind the opposite direction and creats more heat in the drive..i have swaped drives and it did the same thing, port drive's oil a bit darker..