l008com
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I've got a 1989 Mercury 3-cyl 2-cycle 90 HP outboard. We (my family) have been the owners of this motor since I wanna say 1992. So not original but we've had it forever and I still use it every summer.
It's having two problems and I'm not sure if they are the same problem, or two separate problems.
1) It's leaking 2-cycle oil. It's not a super fast leak, but it's enough of a leak that theres always oil all over everything under the cowling and in the splash well and in the driveway. The engine still runs well, it's not like leaking 4-cycle oil. But it's still not ideal. A few weeks ago I tried to get to the bottom of it. I sprayed the oily parts of the motor with a dishsoap spray bottle and blew that off with an air compressor. It was easy to avoid all of the electronics. I got all the oil and gunk off of all the surfaces, but alas, I could not find any evidence of where the oil is coming from. It's just too slow of a leak I guess.
2) This motor is of course going to be smokey. It's a 2-cycle and it's old. But I run it with fresh gas and use Seafoam when I can and try to keep the insides pretty clean. But it seems to run a LOT smokier than it ever used to. The motor is in it's glory whenever I'm gunning it. But I boat in Boston and literally everywhere is a no-wake zone except open ocean. And did I mention this is a 15' boat? I rarely go out into open ocean. When I'm at lower RPMs, it can really get smokey. If I'm bouncing around a lot, then try to drive headway speed, it can really smoke itself out. But even on startup, it will be smokier than it used to be when you start it cold.
So my first thought was, hey maybe these are the same problem. Maybe the oil mixer is both leaking, and mixing too much oil, and that's causing it to act this way?
But I don't know much about fixing engines so it's just as likely these are separate, unrelated issues.
But either way, I'd appreciate help in fixing either one, or both of them!
I'm attaching some relevant pictures. Also this is my first post so I'll attach some irrelevant pictures too!
It's having two problems and I'm not sure if they are the same problem, or two separate problems.
1) It's leaking 2-cycle oil. It's not a super fast leak, but it's enough of a leak that theres always oil all over everything under the cowling and in the splash well and in the driveway. The engine still runs well, it's not like leaking 4-cycle oil. But it's still not ideal. A few weeks ago I tried to get to the bottom of it. I sprayed the oily parts of the motor with a dishsoap spray bottle and blew that off with an air compressor. It was easy to avoid all of the electronics. I got all the oil and gunk off of all the surfaces, but alas, I could not find any evidence of where the oil is coming from. It's just too slow of a leak I guess.
2) This motor is of course going to be smokey. It's a 2-cycle and it's old. But I run it with fresh gas and use Seafoam when I can and try to keep the insides pretty clean. But it seems to run a LOT smokier than it ever used to. The motor is in it's glory whenever I'm gunning it. But I boat in Boston and literally everywhere is a no-wake zone except open ocean. And did I mention this is a 15' boat? I rarely go out into open ocean. When I'm at lower RPMs, it can really get smokey. If I'm bouncing around a lot, then try to drive headway speed, it can really smoke itself out. But even on startup, it will be smokier than it used to be when you start it cold.
So my first thought was, hey maybe these are the same problem. Maybe the oil mixer is both leaking, and mixing too much oil, and that's causing it to act this way?
But I don't know much about fixing engines so it's just as likely these are separate, unrelated issues.
But either way, I'd appreciate help in fixing either one, or both of them!
I'm attaching some relevant pictures. Also this is my first post so I'll attach some irrelevant pictures too!