brettmarl
Regular Contributor
225AK3 with about 1,000 hours.
Engine is leaking small amount of oil when running.
I launched for the season and all seemed OK, then took it for a very long run (70nm) - pulled in to get fuel and noticed a sheen on water and small amount of dripping oil coming from the screw-cover on the upper cowling, also some oil on the rubber grommets around the exhaust. I assume this is just the common exit point for something spilling inside the engine bay.
At first I assumed the worst and that it was was a fuel leak and the oil smear was maybe just some extra oil (maybe from a messy filter change) being flushed by fuel on the way out. It also smelled like gas, but in hindsight I was on the fuel dock and was perhaps being overly paranoid. Checked oil level after sitting for a while and was normal. After shutting down the engine, the sheen in the water dissipated and it stopped leaking. Looking under the hood there wasn't any obvious pool of oil or major leak going on, or any sign of gas leak.
Puttered a long way home (70nm back) on one motor. Next day pulled the upper cowls off at the marina and checked all fuel hoses and water sep / lp-filter etc. Nothing seemed amiss, cleaned all the cowls - which had a little oil on but nothing that felt unusual. Ran it the next day - and other than a very slight sheen when first tilting down - it didn't seemed to be leaking anything when powered up and so chalked it up to maybe a stuck float in the VST that purged and fixed itself.
A few days later - took it on a longer run again (20nm) - pulled into fuel dock and it was dripping oil again - see photo and video. This time the sheen on the water was quite significant - but I think it was still only a drop or two that was causing it.
Took her home and next plan it to pull onto trailer and try and find the source of a leak on land where I can poke around deeper and start pulling intake manifold off to get a better view of where it might be leaking from.
I normally keep boat in the water year round - but this year had it sitting on the trailer for five months (Nov->March) and we had some really unusual low freezing temperatures (9F) and I didn't do anything to winterize the motors - so thinking it's possible freeze damage - however other motor not impacted.
I did do 100 hr service before launching (oil, filter, gear oil), but didn't do anything to disturb things like valve covers etc.
My best case scenario seems to be a bad oil filter/seal, but wondering if anyone has any suggestions of where to be looking when I get it on the hard.
Appreciate the ideas!
-Brett
Video of leak
Engine is leaking small amount of oil when running.
I launched for the season and all seemed OK, then took it for a very long run (70nm) - pulled in to get fuel and noticed a sheen on water and small amount of dripping oil coming from the screw-cover on the upper cowling, also some oil on the rubber grommets around the exhaust. I assume this is just the common exit point for something spilling inside the engine bay.
At first I assumed the worst and that it was was a fuel leak and the oil smear was maybe just some extra oil (maybe from a messy filter change) being flushed by fuel on the way out. It also smelled like gas, but in hindsight I was on the fuel dock and was perhaps being overly paranoid. Checked oil level after sitting for a while and was normal. After shutting down the engine, the sheen in the water dissipated and it stopped leaking. Looking under the hood there wasn't any obvious pool of oil or major leak going on, or any sign of gas leak.
Puttered a long way home (70nm back) on one motor. Next day pulled the upper cowls off at the marina and checked all fuel hoses and water sep / lp-filter etc. Nothing seemed amiss, cleaned all the cowls - which had a little oil on but nothing that felt unusual. Ran it the next day - and other than a very slight sheen when first tilting down - it didn't seemed to be leaking anything when powered up and so chalked it up to maybe a stuck float in the VST that purged and fixed itself.
A few days later - took it on a longer run again (20nm) - pulled into fuel dock and it was dripping oil again - see photo and video. This time the sheen on the water was quite significant - but I think it was still only a drop or two that was causing it.
Took her home and next plan it to pull onto trailer and try and find the source of a leak on land where I can poke around deeper and start pulling intake manifold off to get a better view of where it might be leaking from.
I normally keep boat in the water year round - but this year had it sitting on the trailer for five months (Nov->March) and we had some really unusual low freezing temperatures (9F) and I didn't do anything to winterize the motors - so thinking it's possible freeze damage - however other motor not impacted.
I did do 100 hr service before launching (oil, filter, gear oil), but didn't do anything to disturb things like valve covers etc.
My best case scenario seems to be a bad oil filter/seal, but wondering if anyone has any suggestions of where to be looking when I get it on the hard.
Appreciate the ideas!
-Brett
Video of leak