Re: [OMC-Boats] oil leak....

well actually here's the latest from my oil leak saga (had this all
typed up but i think it didn't send - sorry if duplicate):

bought 5 qts and poured the first qt into my nice clean engine.
Literally as I'm pouring it in, its coming back out somewhere and
going into my nice clean bilge! And where was it coming from? The
lower edge of the port side valve cover, going behind the metal
exhaust manifold gasket, against the black engine backround, and
down to the bilge. The reason? In the spirit of getting things
stock OMC where possible, I used some extra stock OMC nuts with the
oblong washers attached instead of the regular nuts someone had on
there previous. Thought it would seal better with those washers
too. They felt fine tightening down - didn't notice anything
weird. Yet what I felt was tight was actually leaving a nice gap
hiding under the lower side, enough to let 4 qts out. As best as I
can figure I guess someone must have stripped and re-tapped those
holes at some point because the threads are just slightly different
than original. I put the regular nuts back in and they went in
slightly deeper and sealed everything right up. Jeez! Almost a
disaster. I hate the fact that I was driving around awhile with
barely any oil. Nothing seized that day though. And although
I've never been through it, my understanding is that is pretty much
the main symptom of extremely low oil - engine seizure. So i'm
hoping because that didn't happen, I'm still ok. Not sure why it
had to get all the way down to practically zero before the light came
on.

Anyway, on that day, something else was happening on occasion -
something i think was happening to someone else on the list in the
past few days. I would be accelerating, get to about 1/2 plane,
and all power would just drop to zero. Much like your foot slipping
off the gas pedal by accident in a car or something. Engine didn't
stall, just went back to idle - still in gear. So after getting
the oil leak solved and everything filled back up yesterday - i went
for a little test run. Now that occasional problem is happening
consistently. Got up on plane a couple times, but generally, it
would do it. Just all the sudden no gas or acceleration. I
really hope (and don't' think) it has anything to do with the oil
situation. I think it's some new independent prob - coincidentally
coming up now just to confuse me. It almost seemed electrical -
although the engine almost always kept running after dropping down.

So I limped back to dock and am pretty much gonna call it a season.
In the coming weeks I;m going to get a new carb on there, replace my
throttle switch with one of those new ones being made, then give it
another test. Hopefully before it gets too cold.

Jeff D

On Sep 21, 2009, at 11:39 AM, Justin DeSantis wrote:

> Not sure how helpful it would be in this application, but there's a
> method for finding leaks on motorcycles I've used for years. Taught to
> me by a crusty old timer. Get the area of the oil leak good and clean.
> Use degreaser and remove all the oil. Not get yourself some athletes
> foot spray. It sprays as an aerosol and drys as a white powder. spray
> it on all the seams that may be leaking. When the oil leaks through
> again, it wets the powder and turns it black in the area of the leak.
> Makes it easy to spot.
>
> I tried everything once to locate the leak on a brand new Harley
> Sportster. Found it with the spray. It was leaking right through the
> engine case. Bad casting from the factory.
>
> On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 11:25 AM, BC Howk <bchowk@...> wrote:
>> A few places
>>
>> -Head gasket
>> -timing cover
>> -rear main seal
>>
>> Check with your auto parts store but I believe they have oil
>> additive that
>> is flourescent (glows real bright under a black light) they make
>> the stuff
>> for just this occurance (need to track the source of an oil leak.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> B.C.
>>
>> On Sep 20, 2009, jd <jdood@...> wrote:
>>
>> Setting aside my carb fit issue, today's to do list has one thing
>> on it - figuring out how about 4 qts of oil ended up in my bilge
>> during my last outing! Everything seemed to be going well. Had
>> done a 20 min test earlier that day - no probs. Took it out for a
>> real run with the GF later that day. At one point the oil light
>> started coming on - turned off immediately and poked around back at
>> the engine. Oil all over the bilge area. But nothing obvious. A
>> small drip from one spot on the valve cover gasket - but really
>> small. It looked like just enough on the dipstick to get back with
>> so that's what we did later.
>>
>> So now a week later the engine and bilge are all cleaned up (2 hr
>> messy job). And Im heading off to buy 4-5 qts of oil and go for a
>> little test run and see what I can see. I don't get how that
>> much oil could come out of the engine and it not be an obvious
>> thing. So hopefully with the cowling off I will be able to spot
>> it. Jeez - another close call - almost fried my engine.
>>
>> So here's my question - just to see if I'm missing something. The
>> only places oil could be "leaking" out on the engine would be
>>
>> - valve covers
>> - oil pan
>> - dipstick tube and / or fill tube where it connects to the block
>> - seal around base of distributor
>>
>> right? am i forgetting somewhere?
>>
>> Note to self: A black engine and a black bilge make it very
>> difficult to spot oil leaks on a bright sunny day. Hoping to be
>> able to paint my engine a lighter color this winter.
>>
>> Jeff D
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Received on Monday, 21 September 2009