Problem changing gear lube on Mercury 3.3hp 2-stroke

[RanAweigh]

Are you using a pump such as this one?


The threaded end is designed to thread into the plug hole. If you are trying to squeeze the bottle with the dunce cap top stuffed into the hole, as another poster has said, you may be blocking the path.

[timebandit]

mecury part sex press

I thunk we did not allow those kind of sites here

[RanAweigh]

Why not? There was a whole thread about a coffee press.

[bacoms]

Thanks for all your replies. I really appreciate it.

I've made some progress by cleaning out the top hole with a cotton wool bud then blasting some GT85 into the small hole inside while poking around with a fine piece of wire. After a while the GT85 started to disappear and eventually dribbled out into the gear housing (that I had taken the cover and prop shaft off earlier).

I then screwed the lube pump into this top hole and slowly started to pump, stopping once I'd built up some pressure. After a minute or so a continuous dribble of lube oil arrived at the gear housing.

The question is; is this dribble the normal flow rate one would expect indicating that the blockage has gone or is it still partially blocked? I seemed to remember that when I used to fill from the bottom hole (using those tubes of lube with the plastic nozzle) not a lot of pressure was required before the oil appeared at the top hole.

A neighbour who's much more mechanically minded as me, suggested screwing a grease nibble into the top hole then trying to force some light oil in. I might take him up on that idea. I'll feel much happer when I can see a steady flow of oil under fairly light pressure.

Cheers,

Bryan

P.S. I see Adewall in thread 'Mercury 3.3 Lower Unit Maintenance Question' seems to be having much the same problem. I'm not sure I like his repair shop's approach of opening the gear housing and filling it with oil that way with the blockage still in place.

[bacoms]

Originally Posted by RanAweigh

Are you using a pump such as this one?

Similar but not quite. The one I'm using is this one at Seamark Nunn Limited Gearlube Pump Kit - Suits All Engines

[bacoms]

I thought I'd better complete this thread to show my appreciation to those who took the trouble to reply and to help anyone else finding themselves in a similar situation.

After buying some quality 3mm drill bits, I finally managed to drill out the body of the bolt that snapped. This was the aft one of the two holding the complete lower section (gear housing and prop shaft) on to the unit.

Having got this far I though, what the hell, in for a penny, in for a pound and gingerly undid the other bolt. Typically this came off with no trouble at all. I then eased off this lower section which enabled me to give everything a good clean (it wasn't that bad and nothing appeared corroded).

The trickiest bit was reassembly. The long pipe that came away with the lower section must engage with the tube that can be seen when looking up the main section towards the engine. Make sure that these two pipes mate up as it's very easy to miss with the long pipe resting alongside the tube rather than in it. Before the lower section may be pushed home, there are two pipes coming from the engine end that must mate up correctly with the lower section. To do this you need to remove the large neoprene cap you'll see in this lower section. Using a piece of stiffish wire bent into a hook at one end and a lot of patience each of these pipes can be seated in turn via the hole now exposed by the removal of this cap. Take care especially with the pipe that carries the cooling water to the engine as there is a neoprene seal that you don't want to damage. Once everything is seated correctly, do up the two bolts holding this unit on, press the neoprene cap back on and bolt the prop shaft housing back on to this lower unit.

Having done all this I was now ready to add the lube oil. This time it was easy to pump the oil into the bottom hole until it came out of the top hole. Having sealed these holes with the bolts (top hole first before the pump is removed from the bottom hole), it was time to start the engine.

The plastic dustbins issued by the British local authorities are ideal for this. They are deep and the plastic rim is strong enough and just the right size for bolting the o/b on to. Having bolted the o/b onto the bin (remembering to empty it first ) I then added water to the correct level, prepared the engine for cold start, said a quick prayer and pulled the cord. Bingo, away she went, sweet as a nut.

[frank24]

I have he manual for this engine and it says to put the engine a bit upside down and to fill up by the bottom screw as much as you can , after you close , you turn the engine upward and unscrew the upper one and let go the overflow until it stops because it is your adequate level of oil. Hopes it will help you.


regards

Frank: