hOW DO YOU CHANGE OIL IN THE BRAVO XZ DRIVE? MY OWNERS MANUEL IS NOT VERY CLEAR.

Pull the prop off and you will see the plug. unscrew plug and let drain overnight. on the upper right side of the drive there is a vent screw that needs to be taken out. I think the drive uses a little over 2 quarts of drive fluid to re fill. You need to pump the fluid up thru the bottom drain plug (they sell the pump for about $3.00) until you see it coming out the vent hole. Cap both holes and then go into your engine compartment and fill up your reserve bottle and you are finished

do you put drive all the way up when filling?

No, leave the drive down. Fill from the bottom up.

The best way to do it is too drain the drive by pulling both the upper and lower plugs, While the drive is draining remove the resevoir from the boat. Clean it out thouroughly, if you don't clean the resevoir every time ou service the drive parain builds up in the bottom and plugs it up. Once the drive is drained and he resevoir is cleaned and reinstalled you want to put the top plug back in the drive. Fil the drive slowly from the bottom if you pump to fast you can blow the quad seal between the upper and lower housings. Fill the drive until it comes up into the resevoir botle about half way. Upll the pump off and reinsatll the bottom plug. Let it settle for a while, atleast an hour or so but if you can, let it sit overnight. Then just top off the resevoir and your done. I know it sounds more complicated then what most people do but it's the right way to do it.

do you use a hand pump? Is it a pump that is made for just this?

Yes it is a hand pump (they are very cheap), any marina will have it when you buy drive oil.

not to be a smart ass but the best way to change your drive lube is to take it to a local shop that is reputible there is more to changing the lube then just changing the lube you need to know what you are looking at ie...burnt, water contaminated ect the biggest reason to change drive oil isnt because it needs it but to make sure you dont have other problems

I agree with GoodT.

to the expert. drained drive fluid can tell if the drive is ok or not. you also want to look for metal shavings on the magnet. There will always be small amounts of shavings. But if there is little pieces, you may have bigger issues.

also, i always thought you leave the top drain plug out while filling to get all the air out. once the fluid comes out the top plug, reinstall the top and bottom plug and then top off the reservoir.

If you put the top plug back in and force the air to escape through the resevoir hose it keeps the drive under a small amount of pressure while you fill it becuase the hose to the resevoir is so small. As long as you fill slowly from the bottom it actually helps prevent air pockets from forming. The importan thing is to make sure you have the cap off the resevoir bottle and you have to pump rel slow otherwise you can blow the quad seal.