Motor issue?

dmurph

dmurph

Well-Known Member
Hey fellas, getting what looks like oil in my bilage, all my levels are fine, motor is running good, oil pressure is normal everything seems normal. Boat ran perfect all last season into September when I shut her down, at some point late fall early winter I noticed the sludge in the bilage. I cleaned/ pumped it up once this winter but it's built back up. I haven't really run the boat, just once after the clean up and it was down 200 to 400 rpm which I am guessing was growth from being moored sept to march in the salt. Showed up today to haul out and clean the bottom and there was a good amount of growth, and the oil/sludge dammit. Motor is a 5.7 TKO merc with alpha 1 gen 2 on a 2359 trophy all 07 except leg replaced new last season. Motor has 600hr. Any thoughts ?
 
No remote oil filter, thanks for the thought though. Forgot to mention I did spill a little oil twice when topping up this summer and thought it was just that oil in the bilage. I did an oil change just before cleaning the bilage. Level hasn't dropped. Was really excited to just pull boat clean it and start fishing, seems likes something's up though. Just to be clear the remote filter when it's located on the top side of motor? Mine was hard to get at that's why I changed it just before cleaning the bilage last month.
 
Could be a rear main seal had to take my motor out and change it as well , so you have to ask where its coming from?? do you have power steering? trim tabs? the leg trim motor etc, check the levels see if they are down if the levels are low and getting lower, rear main isnt that big of a deal IF its not too bad just a pain in the arse to get engine re and re try a good engine seal lube as well maybe just some dry seals and conditioner may help...

Good luck Wolf
 
Here are two things you could try. First, clean up the bilge again, then lay a layer of oil absorbent material down. It will now be much easier to see where the oil is leaking from. If your boat is close by, check it daily, or at least every few days. Second, you can buy a florescent dye that you can add to the various systems (engine oil, trim tabs, etc.) Start the engine or operate the system you have installed it in so it gets circulated, then you can check for leaks with a black light. This is best done in the dark. Any leak will show up as bright green. You can leave the dye in the systems, it is compatible with engine oil, hydraulic oils, transmission fluid, etc. You can buy a small light that is the size of a small mini flashlight. You can buy these product at auto parts stores. Check with NAPA.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. The boat does have power steering and tabs. Pretty sure all fluid levels are normal, but I have paid most attention motor oil and the leg drive oil. The drive oil may be down just a little in the small reservoir. Not enough to cause this amount of sludge, which is a think kinda tan/ beige color. Maybe it's not motor oil. Part if the problem has been I live in whistler and don't get down to vancouver much in the winter where the boat us due to work. I am off now for a bit and boat is on the trailer so that's a start. Hey wolf what exactly is the rear main and how did you figure that out. Your mechanically inclined, me not as much. Another problem is the engine compartment is so tight and motor is so low down in it, it's almost impossible to do anything. Laying out the absorbable pads is not doable I tried. I guess with the dye you would try one system at a time and slowly find out which one it is. It's also building up with out the system being run I should add to, I was thinking oil pan gone bad, but oil level is right where I topped it to . Also at the end if the summer/early fall when I was last running the boat I topped up oil, when I went back later the oil was quite a bit over the upper limit on dip stick and pretty sure a topped bit to much. Any how that was part if the reason I just changed oil but for the change I warmed motor and realy pumped out as much as possible, and oil to filter and new oil and it only took like 2.5 to 3 liters to top back up if I recall correctly, and the level went slightly over the dip stick again. I will check the bottle and see how much oil I actually put in. It seemed like I barely added any if I recall which was strange I thought, the system hold 4. Something. Well this is every detail I can think of to assess this issue. Thanks again I was hoping you would jump in wolf as I know you are a in board guy. Looks like I may have to go to m&p. hate having it not running perfect with the little guy onboard, was so bad with just the wife and I.
 
I have a 2352 that I took out yesterday for the first time this year. After all the maintenance, was pretty pleased at how she ran out. Before pulling up some prawn traps, decided for some reason to have a look under the hood and found the bilge full of oil. The dip stick was dry. 14 miles home on the kicker. Glad it was a nice day.
As I do, you probably have the hose from the oil pan that’s designed to fit through the drain plug hole to drain the oil. I have a friend with a 2359 and his oil drain hose runs up the side of the engine, for easy access I guess. My first thought was holy crap, did I not screw the end back in? Managed to get a hold of it to check and it was OK. No remote filter here (PIA) but the filter (by feel) seemed relatively clean. I know only too well what you mean by the tight engine compartment. As far as I could reach, all the way around, I couldn’t find where the oil drained from. Couldn’t reach the pan.
I’m far from being a mechanic too but I’m going to try and pull one of the manifolds off today to get a little better access down there. I’m hoping the problem is that oil pan drain plug/hose and that I can get at it. If it has failed and is the problem, will let you know. It could be a maybe for you.
 
I don't know how you guys drain your oil but I suck out mine from the tipstick tube. I put a pie plate under the oil filter and a plastic bag over the filter and the is hardly any mess to clean up.
 
Like I said, far from being a mechanic, so put a bit more thought into NOT pulling the manifold off. Thought I should drain the bilge first and it didn't really seem to be a LOT of oil in there, mostly water. It looked like more oil because the oil was floating on top. So, with the bilge drained, I filled the oil and stuck a trouble light under the engine using a mirror to see. The end of the hose on the oil pan plug looked pretty good. I fired it up and with the trouble light down there and my head stuck as far to the back as I could go, I spotted a leak coming from a sending unit in the block. Just a very small but steady stream. The unit is on the port side, just to the rear of my oil filter, which is near the back, close to the exhaust pipes. Happy to have found it! So, that pressure sending unit is something you might want to check dmurph. Good luck.

Casper, I pull the above mentioned hose out the drain plug hole, unscrew the cap at the end and drain into a container. The filter on the other hand, regardless of my methods, has slipped and fell into the bilge making a mess every time for me. Next time, I'll be trying the plastic bag. Thanks!
 
casper5280 said:
I don't know how you guys drain your oil but I suck out mine from the tipstick tube. I put a pie plate under the oil filter and a plastic bag over the filter and the is hardly any mess to clean up.
Click to expand...
Hi Casper, what sort of pump do you use to remove the oil?
Thanks,
Alan
 
Sorry mailbox cleared
 
Rear main is unfortunatlly not really able to look at you have to pull motor if its not a lot try engine seal stuff sometimes it works boats sitting for a while things shrink try it first ...
 
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