I noticed the wipe seal on my tilt cylinder is coming apart. It is a 1999 yamaha 90 2 stroke. The trim/tilt works fine though. I was planning on working on it this weekend, but happened to think about the possibility of water in the oil. With the forecast at 27 deg tonight, I wondered if it could freeze and cause damage. Anybody have any knowledge on this? Is it worth making a special trip to drain it tonight? I probably will anyway, but not really what I wanted to do tonight. How hard is changing the wiper seal? Thanks in advance for the help.
If it’s still working fine, I doubt you have enough water in the fluid to cause freezing.
Doesnt hurt to check it though.
Run the trim/tilt full cycle 5 times, then use a 1/4 tube and turkey baster or syringe to pull a sample out.
Fluid should be a good clean solid color.
I haven’t ever heard of a small contamination of trim fluid freezing.
Me either. If that seal can hold hydraulic pressure, water isn’t going to get in it. Not possibly enough to matter. And if it did and it froze, I suspect it would just push the ram up as it expanded. Probably a non-issue.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Thanks for the replies. Yeah that makes sense. I pulled a sample anyhow and it looked clean. I bought an I/O several years ago that had what looked like freeze damage in lower unit, and I tend to be a worry wart about things. I’ll be replacing the seals this weekend possibly, but I would sure rather go fishing! Thanks again everyone.