When it rains it pours.

[JohnO]

Stopped up at the marina Saturday to make sure they had the work order in to fix my electrical problem. (They didn't so it was good I stopped)

Switched out the newly recharged starter batteries and took the trolling motor battery back home to be charged. (I leave the batteries disconnected when I'm not on the boat)

Went kayaking with the Girl for a couple hours Saturday and when we got back noticed an oil leak around the lower unit of the motor. A bad one!

Seems I may have blown a lower unit seal or something as I had a sizable slick spreading out from me. Called the marina a left a message for them to pull my boat ASAP to prevent as much oil from getting into the lake as possible

(Don't know how it would have blown though as the motor has not been run since it ate my batteries on 6/7)

I think the motor just decided that since it was going to be worked on anyway it may as well get the full treatment.

Now's the painful part. Figuring out how much this is really going to cost me.

Any ideas? I figure at a minimum they will need to drop the lower unit and clean up in there. Check all the seals gaskets etc and put it all back together. I've not a clue as to how long this should take (I'm a computer guy, have no experience (or face it interest) in how the motor works as long as it works).

[jrolin1]

In my case I had an upper seal leaking and it took 2 weeks and 180 bucks on my yamaha 150. He probably only worked on it for 2 hours. I noticed a little oil when I was going to change my impeller.

[JohnO]

Well they managed to pull the boat out of the water on Monday night. The marina says its looks like 2 cycle oil rather than gear oil.

(Forgive my ignorance, I'm a computer guy not a motor guy)

Am I correct in thinking I have a oil pump that draws oil from my tank and feeds it into the motor? If this pump ran continuously (say when the motor was not running) where would any extra oil go?

Could this also tie into (or cause) my electrical problem?

Just kind of thinking out loud.

I'll give the a call tomorrow and see if they have it done or what the problems were. Hopefully I can get back on the water Friday.

[GXPWeasel]

Am I correct in thinking I have a oil pump that draws oil from my tank and feeds it into the motor? If this pump ran continuously (say when the motor was not running) where would any extra oil go?

Could this also tie into (or cause) my electrical problem?

Just kind of thinking out loud.

I'm not a boat engine guy either, but I do have a Mercury 2-stroke that I'm learning more and more about each week. I don't know that the oil pump is run electrically. The 2-stroke oil pump on my Mercury, appears to be syphon fed into the carbs, and not mechanically or electrically pushed there. I say this solely based on the $9 fuel line that I just replaced last Friday, that was the shape of a "Y" and had a check valve on the oil side of the fuel line, so oil could enter the fuel line, but not be pushed back out of the fuel line, except through the carburetors, when the fuel bulb is pumped. Your engine may be different.

I would guess if you're leaking 2-stroke oil, you either have a bad line, or a crack / hole in the oil tank.

[jrolin1]

Yes you have an electric pump that sends the oil to the engine from the remote oil tank to the very small tank on the engine. I have not heard of one failing where it kept pumping though. It is more likely that there is a leak at the engine if it is not just unburned 2 stroke oil. As an aside if your low oil alarm goes off there is a manual fill switch on the motor to fill the small tank. Usually a wiring issue causes the large tank to not send the oil when needed.

[Bamaman]

I once had a problem with the oil injection system on my old Yamaha 115 hp 2 stroke.

The oil injection is actually two different systems. The injection itself is somewhat mechanical--and pretty bulletproof. The electrical part is where the problems come from. The system has the big external oil tank with the pump--and the small oil tank on the power head. Each has a float like that in a toilet, and they can cause problems.

When the oil level in the small tank gets low, the float electrically orders the pump on the big tank to pump oil to it. When the float in the little tank gets high, it signals to the pump to stop pumping. In the early years, they had an oil module with a switch that could be used to manually cut on the pump. (I had to replace mine.) When they went high tech, I believe that function is now done by the ECU.

If you have a problem with the pump not shutting off when the small tank's full, it could be a float problem. And they're easily tested with a multigauge. If it's an ECU problem, it could be a very expensive fix. If the pump's overflowing the small tank, there's a small tube that pushes the extra oil into the engine--and you will have serious smoking and a rough running engine. Hopefully your problem is not with the oil pumping system.

If the oil sheen is from the lower unit: Everyone needs to have their lower units pressure and vacuum tested from time to time. Lower units require an $80 seal kit and 2 hrs. labor--about $300 total. May as well replace all the seals. And while this repair's being done, a new water pump impeller is in order ($27). Seals are not something for a back yard mechanic to do, as it takes professional knowledge to whether the gear case is hurt from prolonged water intrusion. (Don't ask me how I found out about seals--and the lack of maintenance.)

Hopefully this will be a relatively easy problem to diagnose.

[rockhound]

look for a busted oil line, i have seen many outboards with those cheap plastic see through lines for the oil injection system, they dry out and crack, it fills your engine compartment with oil and then it leaks out anywhere it can, my 175 black max blew one in the lake one day, i replaced all of them with good rubber hoses, missed one tiny one way up out of the way that i did not find until it blew, we had 2 quarts of oil in the lower part of the engine compartment.

after replacing with rubber we never had another issue.

[JohnO]

I'll have them check the lines again.

They figured out that it didn't leak (much) when the motor was vertical but when it was tilted up it still leaked.

They figured that the electrical was my Automatic Charging Relay (Blue Sky I think is the brand) had a hickup. It didn't work the first day in the shop and since then they can't repeat the error. If I can get a firm diagnosis I'll get that replaced.

So they got me in good enough shape to take the family out and watch the fireworks on the lake. A very good time. Tiny bit of oil leak after we stopped to swim but no continuing leak. And no electrical problems.

Watched the fireworks and on the way back to the slip the steering went mostly out!! I would have cried except I didn't want to upset my guests. I managed to get docked again but it took a LOT of turns of the wheel to get the motor to turn at all.

So she's back in the shop as they try to get everything nailed down tight and fixed correctly.

[JohnO]

Well at least when things go bad they all go bad at once.

1. Electrical was apparently a glitch in my ACR. They've not been able to duplicate it and it's doing great since they looked at it.

2. OIL. Between the Marina and Yamaha they've determined its a bad check valve. He's got the new one installed and the engine sitting tilted now. He'll see if we have a leak in the morning. Should be OK (This seems to make sense to me) (cost to fix this part: about $1000)

3. Steering. Apparently when the boat was rigged the bolts holding the power steering cylinder were put in backwards. The ends of the bolts rubbed the cylinder every time it went hard over and eventually wore their way through the cylinder. (Cost to fix this part: about $1100)

OUCH!

But if they have the part in tomorrow I should be able to get on the lake Saturday.


It's been a rough summer so far. Ah well. Time on the water and perhaps a cold brew and some good scenery will make me feel better.