New to me boat issues

Bought a boat this spring – haven’t gotten to use it as much as I had hoped – but brought it in to a shop for minor issues prior to fall fishing.

Turns out I have metal filings and pieces in my lower unit.

Is there anything I should know regarding having this fixed? I have had no symptoms of any lower unit problems – the case is not cracked and the oil was not milky. I had only asked to check over the motor since the boat was new to me and address any type of maintenance that was needed. Its a 2003 75h 4 stroke yamaha. I ran over 30 gallons of gas through it and I am confident I haven’t contacted anything with it during my use. This is a mechanic I have used before and don’t think I am being messed with either.

Do I try and contact the previous owner? Is it likely this was a known issue? I did test drive the boat and every time I have used it the motor was not an issue that I could tell.

Thanks in advance!

If it was me I wouldn’t worry about it. Did you see the metal filings? Did the mechanic have any advice?

Don’t they all have metal filings? I will bet they do,thats why the oil fill plug is magnetic. Go fish and dont worry

tight_lines wrote:

Turns out I have metal filings and pieces in my lower unit.

I’d need to see a photo of said “pieces”, to give an accurate assessment. Personally, I would choose NOT to ignore my mechanic.

tight_lines wrote:

Do I try and contact the previous owner?

Why? You bought a 16-year old motor and used it for 4+ months. Sometimes you catch a bad break. Life goes on.

Filings, pretty normal.

Pieces, not so much.

I agree with Ralph, boats yours, move on. Hope it works out.

Deuces wrote:

Filings, pretty normal.

Pieces, not so much.

I agree with Ralph, boats yours, move on. Hope it works out.

This. Sucks….but this.

Need way more information. How many metal filings and what type? Actually seeing them would be critical to making the decision on what to do next.

Some metal filings are perfectly normal especially if you don’t know the maintenance history of this outboard. For all you know the lower unit fluid was never changed before you got the motor.

Grouse

Is this a trusted mechanic?
Define “pieces”…anything you saw?
Id run it a for some time and learn to change the oil yourself.
I would not do preventative maintenance(changing gears, clutch and such) on it till you can confirm 100% that these pieces are continuing to happen or you have a complete or diagnosed failure.

So – i have been in the boat about 4 or 5 times on Pepin – I wouldn’t call that 4 months of use… (long story – 2 young kids and moved this summer).

The lower unit and engine oil were freshly changed when I bought it.

I haven’t seen the oil or metal filings – he said there were larger pieces and thought I might be missing some teeth in my gears. I forgot to leave my engine key so he wanted to run it before he took it all apart.

I have brought my previous boat to this mechanic before and I thought he was fair and treated me well – I have a couple shops that are closer but in general i have been treated like garbage service wise because I didn’t buy my boat from them. I probably would have if not for such treatment.

I was just looking for information or someone with previous experience – mostly wondering if this could have been knowingly passed off with an issue.

Thanks for the replies.

Found a small chunk of metal stuck to the lower unit oil plug of my Honda this spring. 20 year old motor. Looks like $800 to $1000 for a new lower unit. At this point as long as the motor still goes Im running it as is.

IMO, without actually seeing what came out. I would run it and if it breaks buy a rebuilt lower off the interweb and replace it yourself. Hard to make good decisions with such little information.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am going to stop out and actually see what he is talking about – but I am inclined to just change the oil and run it for now as well. I guess I will plan fishing upriver from where I launch for a while!

I had originally brought the boat in because it had the incorrect drain plug and I had broken a transducer and I wanted some old screw holes in the transom all cleaned up. I was just looking for some assurances before I re-built the floor this winter.

I had a lower unit failure on the river a couple of years ago. It was winter and no one else was out there so it was a bit dicey to get back to the launch.

Make sure you have a good trolling motor and a good anchor in case you have issues.