V Drive Transmission Fluid

[BruceK]

I have a Albin 1991 32 Sportfish and I checked the fluid level in my Vdrive while the engine was off. It was very low.
My question is should it be checked while the engine is running like in a car? Also what type of fluid should I add to it?
I was told to add Automatic transmission fluid the same as in a car.

It is working fine now and I don't want to mess it up.

You can probably tell by my question this is my first Inboard diesel boat.

Thanks for any advise

[scfgfmn]

Hi Bruce
I have an 89/90 32 Sportfish with a Walters V drive. I did a google search and found the manuals that I downloaded to my computer. I tried to attach but the files are too big. At any rate, ATF is not listed as an approved lubricant. Lots of info in the manuals. Let me know if you cannot find them and I will spend some time trying to get them to you.

Good luck
Brian

[marinegears]

As Brian said, ATF is not the recommended fluid although I have heard of people using it. It would be nice to know what model V-drive you have but the RV-20/26 and RV-30/36 all use SAE 30 in the V-drive only. You should still have a reversing transmission bolted to the engine, some thing like a Velvet Drive 72 series which will use ATF in it.

[jruesr]

This is interesting. My 1990 Sportsfisher has an RV 50. It does not use transmission fluid but engine oil. Not shure the weight right now. See the information attached. It was rebuilt and parts were not an issue at that time. Hope this literature comes through and is helpful.

John
Passages III