by Mickey
(Merrit Island, Florida)
I've got dual 2014 Volvo Penta V6 225HP 4.3L and DPS-B 1.95 outdrives, about 270 hours on each. I recently changed the gear oil on both drives. I used Volvo Penta 75W-90 Synthetic GL-5 and pumped oil in from the bottom fill hole. I accidentally overfilled the starboard drive and stupidly did not drain the excess. I went on a 6-hour trip and the engines and drives worked great the entire day. I left the boat in a wet slip for two days and upon firing up the engines again, I noticed the starboard engine being somewhat unresponsive. The drive would engage at idle but would refuse to increase RPM, the engine would not go above idle. I tried a few times and the same thing would occur. I decided to trim the drive up, turn the engine off and not use it until inspection out of the water. With the boat on a work cradle, I checked the gear oil level and noticed it was quite low. It was missing about one quart, which means it must have leaked. Upon draining the gear oil I noticed a very small amount of emulsified oil, the rest was clear amber. I can rotate the props by hand and they spin fine with no unusual sound or vibration. I performed a pressure test and a vacuum test and both held with no leaks and no drop in pressure. The throttle linkage uses a cable and is connected. With the engine off, I inspected the cable and linkage on the engine with someone pushing the throttle control into forward, neutral, and reverse. It seems to be operating properly. I have yet to rev up while in neutral. I don't know what I should do next. Should I refill with new gear oil and try running the drive? My concern is I am afraid of causing damage to the internals if something is wrong. Or should I hire a mechanic to check out the drive before use again?