What if I overfill the gear oil?

Good morning again all.

Wow, I am finding a ton of helpful information here. Thanks to all who have contributed time, and many wrenching hours on their SWings.

I have a little concern this morning. I changed my engine oil, and then changed my final drive oil. I went by the pictorial maintenance pictures (Thanks JeffR!!). As I was filling the final drive case, I noticed oil coming from the back side of the case. Right after i noticed that, the oil started coming out of the fill hole. Did I overfill it? Should I be concerned?

Please help, and thank you!!

CnR

It depends on how much the case is overfilled. Normally I let the oil run out until it stops.Although the final drive is quite small (to much lube causing foaming)I do not believe it is a concern.Some times when you over fill, the oil will drain out the fill hole and can leak between the cover and case and seep in to the belt area.To be on the safe side you could remove the drain bolt slightly and let some oil drain out. Howard

When I saw one method I thought what the heck????? BUT putting new in the DRAIN hole makes some sense, squeeze it in there until it flows out of the TOP hole, quickly insert the DRAIN plug and you are good, a lot less messy and it beats pumping it in with an oil can IMHO.

oldgwingguy wrote:

When I saw one method I thought what the heck????? BUT putting new in the DRAIN hole makes some sense, squeeze it in there until it flows out of the TOP hole, quickly insert the DRAIN plug and you are good, a lot less messy and it beats pumping it in with an oil can IMHO.  

Yep, that is the preferred method for filling the angle drive on outboard motors