Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

Q. If I own a stern drive powered boat, how often do I need to service the drive and what is involved?

A. We recommend that you service your drive either annually or every 80 hours of use, which ever comes first.

1. Change gearlube and drain screw washers.
2. Remove drive from boat and check alignment, lubricate the u-joints, check the u-joint bellows condition, lubricate and inspect the u-joint shaft splines, and check for water in the bellows.
3. Check coupler and gimble bearing condition.
4. Remove prop and grease splines, check for fish line.

Many problems can occur from lack of drive maintenance. For instance, if the drive is not removed and u-joint shaft/coupler is not greased, the coupler can wear out due to lack of lubrication. The same thing can also happen if the engine alignment is not set correctly. On some new Mercruisers, they have a “greasable coupler” but this does not always grease the coupler/shaft correctly.

Annual drive maintenance is a must for those that want to keep their boat running in tip top shape.

Q. How often do I have to replace my elbows and manifolds?

A. One of the most important and least thought about part of the stern drive and inboard engine is the exhaust manifold and elbows. It can create a lot of aggravation and damage.

The most common problem is blockage, or gasket failure, which can cause overheating and/or water leaking in the engine. The symptoms are hard starting, white smoke from exhaust, engine runs rough and water in the oil. We have seen engines that have been overhauled thinking that the problem was a blown head gasket and the rebuilt engine is started and fills with water.

These manifolds are cast iron and take the most abuse of any part of the engine. Inspection of the water passage area where the elbow or elbows bolt down is critical. At a minimum, manifolds and elbows should be inspected at about 5 years on new motors and about every other year after that.