2005 honda225 oil leak

Hi guys, new to the forum. Hope I can get some help from some of you guys and give some when I can. With that being said here's my issue.

I have a couple of problems....

worst first.
I'm having an oil leak from the front underside of the motor. It's not much until I tilt the motors up. Gonna post a pic. I've read about the SB#40 but wasn't sure if this is it (motors are out of warranty anyway). I read on another post about removing the starter and checking for oil by the flywheel. Didn't see any there. Still after loosing oil, theirs not any missing from the dipstick or very little. Not really sure where to start. I'm dreading the thought of pulling the power head or having it done. Either way I'm not looking forward to it but its gotta be done.

Second
i have a slight knocking noise coming from the lower unit area. Did some research on the vertical shaft bushing. Changed that just today. Man it really needed it. Still have the knocking tho. So now I'm concerned that its somewhere in the gears or bearings down below. I would like to know if I can remove the lower unit and stick a hose on the water pickup pipe and turn the motor on??? Just to make sure that the noise is coming from the lower unit and not the motor. So if it is the lower unit making the noise and I did change the vertical shaft bushing I'm gonna assume its in the lower unit somewhere.

Anything you guys can help with I would really appreciate. I realize that I'm running short on the year but if I can get this fixed this year and have a problem free next year it will be well worth it.

Heres the pics and thanks again
Bryan

Can't tell a lot from the pictures. Are you absolutely sure that is oil and not hydraulic fluid? Check your fluid level in the hydraulic lift reservoir.

Did you happen to change the oil filter lately? Could that possibly be residual left over from the always sloppy change out? Either way, make sure the oil filter is on tight. Use an oil filter wrench to assess it's tightness and to tighten it up a little bit.

Beyond that, wipe all the oil away and try to track it down to the source. You're on a bug hunt, which can be very frustrating.

Was the knocking there before you changed the shaft bushing? Get a cheap stethoscope from and auto parts place and use it to establish where the knocking is coming from.

Oil Leak - their is tow possibilities i can guess , one is gear shifter shaft oil seal,that you can see easily, first clean around the seal with break cleaner spray tilt up the motor and look for any oil drip from the seal.

second could be from the engine mount, hope you know the place to look two bolt mount with motor and the engine bracket(same place your second picture ) If oil is dripping from that two bolts it is from the engine mount plate,sometimes this plate gets cracked and oil leaking from their.


If no any visible oil leak from inside the engine and no oil in the fly wheel area also,it could be either one place, shifter oil seal or mount plate.

clean all the oil mark with break cleaner,tilt up the engine and look sure you can find it.


Gear noise - check gear oil drain bolt (magnet tip ) for any mettle particles.




wajira

I'm with the chawk_man...can't tell much from your pics. And, I too was looking suspiciously at that power tilt cylinder. And again, as chawk suggests...could it just be spillage from servicing?

I like wajira's suggestion of using brake clean and then trying to pinpoint the source. I hope it isn't the mount bracket he mentions!

As far as running the engine with the lower unit off, I would first try chawk_man's suggestion. Because, with the bottom of the extension case open, there will be quite a bit of exhaust noise. But if you think you do need to run it to find the knock, I wouldn't worry about pushing water up as long as you keep it very short. The engine can be run without water for a FEW SECONDS and not cause any damage. A FEW SECONDS ONLY and then allow a long cool down time if you feel you need to do it again.

Good luck.

Hey guys. Thanks for all the ideas.

It hasn't been from a recent oil change and not any other fluid than engine oil. I took a better photo of it and it seems as if its in the area of the engine mount. I just took another photo of it, tilted the motor all the way up and oil dripped a steady drip every 10 seconds or so. Not gushing but a drip. See photo below.

So if it is the engine mount plate how would I go about fixing this issue. I'm very good with fixing things on the motor just not sure if I have the ability to pull the power head. I've cleaned out the screen on the vst several times because of what the ethanol fuel has done to my tanks. Damn ethanol! Hopefully I can fix this as well.

Im going to try the stethoscope idea to see if I can narrow it down and also check for shavings. And yes the knocking was there prior to changing the bushing but it needed to be changed as it was about to fall apart.

Thanks again for all of your help guys.

Here's the old bushing

The last photo of the leak doesn't look very clear. Here's a little better

For replacing mount plate is bit big job,you have to lift up the power head, you have to start from down,only after open oil pan you can reach the engine mount bolts.

Are you sure with your gear box ? first of all drain the gear oil and check, can't trust on 225 gear box.




wajira

Bryan - At this point you are way beyond my knowledge and experience with the mount plate and the gear box. Let the experts go at it and I will monitor the thread.

Well, the 225 is not my specialty but I will say it before Mike has to. ....if you decide that you need to go "deep" to check /fix the mount plate, stop and take LOTS of pictures along the way. If you don't have a Helm inc manual I'm not sure I would start without one.
Just my opinion.
I'll be watching with interest along with chawk_man (and several others, I'm sure) and rooting for a good outcome.
Good luck.

Yes I'm a little nervous about diving into the power head and mounting plate but I guess it has to be done.

wajira, is the picture below of the mounting plate you're talking about?

Also I seem to be having a problem finding the helm book for this motor on helminc.com will someone post a link of this so I can purchase this book?

thanks again for all the help

Bryan

If you do not have a stethoscope, you ause a broom handle (like one that you can unscrew from a push broom) or very long screw driver. Just put it against various locations and put your ear up to the other end of the handle/screwdriver. I have used this method even when the motor was in the water (which cuts down ambient noise). If the noise is a regular knocking and it does not change much if in forward or reverse...concentrate on the forward part of the lower unit. The pinion gear is located there. One bad tooth can cause quite a racket.

As for the leak....if the oil is coming from the area where the mount plate attaches.....it is under the powerhead. I think you mentioned that you saw no oil on the flywheel or in that area. That leaves the oil pump (which is below the flywheel and just above the area where the oil may be coming from. I do not think you will see any more if you take off the side panels, but that is a good place to start. You have to take them off anyway...you might just get lucky.

You have to take everything off of the bottom (lower unit, midsection, oil pan etc,) to get to the powerhead bolts. You have to disconnect a bunch of stuff up on the powerhead before you can pull it.

I can only emphasize what was previously said... purchase an Official shop manual from Honda on ebay or Amazon http://marine.honda.com/support/manuals/shop-manuals and take a lot of pictures, especially of various hose and wiring routing. You want to put them back exactly as they came off.

Just go very slow and look for signed of oil along the way. You may not have to go all the way.

Wish I had an easy way.

Mike

This is more specific. Your engine would fall under the k1 or k2 model. Verify by serial number before you purchase. http://www.amazon.com/Honda-Marine-...FDXK/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A14VJQOXKKYWSY

Mike

this is the mount plate and gasket,sometimes this get crack and sometimes under case get corrode,just recently i had fixed one. if you need any information from shop manual .,

wajira

I have a 200 hp and right where the shifter is look right at the seal,i bet that where it is,i had the same thing happen,it's fine when it's down,just when you tilt it up after a while,there's oil dripping down,good luck and i hope this helps you

I don't want to hijack this thread (i'm new here) but i think i have a very similar problem. I have the exact same motor and after the 02 sensor failed last tuesday i noticed that I also have an oil leak (dealer says that they are not related) and the leak also seems to be worse when i trim the motor up. Thus far the only advice i've been given is that it is likely the shift shaft seal and that its very expensive to fix. I'm going to go after multiple opinions as my local shop says it will take 15-20 hours to repair when the honda flat rate is 5. Here's a pic of mine