2016 212X Bearing Housing issue..advice

[InmyElement]

I was changing the oil today..getting ready for winterization and noticed grease on the port bearing housing and shaft. I'm assuming by the color of the grease water has infiltrated it or is just extra grease? I used a small grease gun and only about 2 or 3 pumps at the 10 hr Maint. I don't remember seeing that grease. Now I have 38 hrs on it..I previewed the other bearing posts, but didn't see any like this. The dealer is 1.5 hrs away, so maybe I'll send them a pic of the shaft. I included port and starboard housings.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thanks for your Help!

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

The problem with greasing those is that you risk blowing the seal or delaminating the rubber from the metal housing in any event if you do not see water in the grease you may be ok for a while I found that the bearings usually last me 500 hours before I need to change them. I plan on installing a vent port for the excess grease to escape when I change mine, both have about 400 hours now. A vent would prevent the bearing from being over pressurized and blowing a seal. If you want to see what the grease looks like inside the housing , remove the fitting and place some heavy gauge weed eater string in the hole to retrieve a sample of the grease from the bearing area inside the housing if it has water in there you should be able to detect it mixed in the grease.

 

[InmyElement]

I'll take a look inside..thanks

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I think you just over greased it, I always press on the end of the grease fitting to relive any excess pressure when I do grease those and I also put a hose on them like the earlier ones had to make it easy to access. I use the gasket from a 5 gallon bucket top " it's basically a small hose" and it's very strong but best of all it's free !!!
Just remove the grease fitting and replace it with a small hose barb , slip on the hose and place the end of the grease fitting in the other end of the hose with a small cable tie and cable tie the end to a hose at the rear of the engine on the exhaust side where It can be accessed easily.

 

[InmyElement]

Good Idea with the hose I'll do it for both sides. I'm trying not to lie on the engines while getting to the zerk. ....I opened up the zerk fitting no pressure and the string came out with clean grease. I'll keep an eye on it next season and if I can get in the water one more time I'll take a look. I ran the engine for a few minutes on the trailer and felt the housing stayed cool.

BTW..love the Cobra Fins and Fangs. I'm going to be storing the boat in an enclosed pole barn. There will be a lot of climate change and moisture. Do you recommend coating the fins and springs with any type of protectant? I'm going to hit the throttle and steering cables with grease.

Thanks for the help

 

[Britboater]

Thats fairly normal, I had a "pool" of grease below the shaft on my 190 even before the 10 hr service. You mention you used a small gun and only used 2-3 pumps, if you pump that much onto a rag its a very small amount, I pumped 25 into mine at 10 hr with no excess coming out to date.

The inter bearing always seems to be a grey area but there's plenty of info on here.

 

[haknslash]

I find it very hard to believe that 2 or 3 pumps during your 10 hour service was too much grease. Unless your gun pumps an ungodly amount per pump or it was overfilled at the factory. For instance my gun was around 29.5 pumps, so what kind of gun shoots the recommended amount in just 2 or 3 pumps? There was someone on here that was prepping for Shelbyville and they had some come out like that and I think he said all was fine. As long as no water is getting in I think that's what is most important?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Good Idea with the hose I'll do it for both sides. I'm trying not to lie on the engines while getting to the zerk. ....I opened up the zerk fitting no pressure and the string came out with clean grease. I'll keep an eye on it next season and if I can get in the water one more time I'll take a look. I ran the engine for a few minutes on the trailer and felt the housing stayed cool.

BTW..love the Cobra Fins and Fangs. I'm going to be storing the boat in an enclosed pole barn. There will be a lot of climate change and moisture. Do you recommend coating the fins and springs with any type of protectant? I'm going to hit the throttle and steering cables with grease.

Thanks for the help

Good that you do not have an issue with the seal just remember that you really do not need a lot of grease in the bearing, I am very careful with that.
For storing the COBRA steering you can spray it with clear silicon spray if you have a desire to but I would also spray around the pump area .
I have a ritual I do with the 1800 engines since I put a lot of hours on them in the Florida heat and salt water.
I remove my spark plugs and never seize them before it ever gets used. I coat the engine with white lithium grease I spray everything , hose clamps, electrical fittings engine manifolds, exhaust parts, this stuff sticks to things really nicely. So it puts a coating on things that is not really messy looking Sometimes I find that I have to touch it to be sure it's still there. You can buy it at most stores for about 2 dollars a can. I also place dielectric grease on my plug boots to prevent them from sticking to the plugs. As for storing the trailer with the boat on it get some cement blocks and block up the trailer to relieve the weight on the springs and tires This would also be a good time to spray the springs with undercoating . Also inspect the wheel lugs I like enclosed lug nuts to shield the threads from rusting, Imagine trying to replace a tire on the side of the road with rust on the stud preventing the lug nut from being removed.

 

[haknslash]

Would water cause the grease to loose all the blue or green/blue like you see on the Yamalube and other marine lubes that are Aluminum Complex? What type of base compound was in your grease when you did your 10 hour service? I wonder if you might have put in an incompatible grease or if water would actually make it loose color like that. You would think there would at least be some kind of color remaining even if diluted down.

 

[InmyElement]

I used the green marine grease from West Marine, so that was my thought initially water had turned the grease into the yellowish brown color you see in the photo or its the factory grease being pushed out, but again maybe 3 pumps each side at the most at the 10 hr. I have the mini grease gun w the small tubes setup w marine grease and my large grease gun setup for general grease for all the other toys..When I took out the zerk no pressure and it was full of the green grease, so I'm not putting any grease in for a while, but I do what to drop it in the water one more time before I put it away just to make sure I'm not getting any water through
Thanks