Sigh. Oil Leak, BIG ONE.

J3ff

All hope is not lost on this one.. going to pull the boat out tomorrow and drain the oil, replace with new. Have a friend who had the same thing happen, he had to leave the boat in for a week and a half and said he was shocked that there was VERY little water in the drive. Seems to make sense, is oil heavier than water? I know it floats, but what about when it's lumped all together. 

Either way - went down this morning and got to work. Found the broken hose, put a screw in it with a zip tie around it. One encouraging thing is that when I raised the drive it burped out a little oil.. could have just done this yesterday when it first started, someday I hope to learn to not panic in these situations, seems like most of the oil must have been from the res. tank. 

Here's the cause:



Pretty sure there's no way I could have done this with an anchor line...or even scrubbing the outside of the drive. Must just be bad luck. Again, I have to question though...why has this not happened on ANY of my other boats... they were all 80's boats.. crazy.

Boat coming out tomorrow, if anyone has any tips on how to change this out I'd be greatful, will probably ask a mechanic to come do it..and then assuming everything is okay, bump the price up a little bit and just be done w/ it.. to be continued. 

Ian

Pull drive and push back on and secure. If I recall that also stops reverse flow so once started the back pressure would close off, thus the small oil burp.

Did your 80’s boats have B3’s and a lube monitor?

69fastback

J3ff said:

Yes, full coverage insurance, agreed upon value of the boat is 15k. However I did not hit anything and there's no sign of that kind of damage. Something broke when lifting the engine. 

I know I didn’t hit anything, and my drive showed no external damage, but the drive had a bent vertical shaft. Insurance bought a new one. 

PickleRick

80s alphas didnt have a lube reservoir but a new aftermarket drive will run you than 1700 shipped to your door!  

The roots from the mangroves can easily get up in there youve gotten too close.

Also does your marina allow fishing?  

Many do not, a kid or adult fishing may have got fouled up in your outdrive.

J3ff

The reason why I know this happened when I raised the drive is because I was in the water prior to lifting the drive for a bit and there was no oil problem... also the thing drains in minutes... there would have been an oil slick all over the place if it happed prior to arrival. 3rd, the alarm would have been blaring. 

randy56

Is that hose to short? have you had the drive  all the way up after all the work last time? 

PickleRick

Pretty strong currents with the tides down there unless deep in a canal. Would not take long to wash away a slick.  

J3ff

With how fast the oil resi. emptied out there's no way it had the problem going out. 

Yes I've had it up and down a couple times...was trying to avoid it. Got lazy.

Anyone have any advice on flushing it out? Is it a drain and refill or something else? I seem to remember someone talking about mineral spirits... 

aero3113

Yes, drain then use mineral spirits to rinse it out. Flush some fresh oil through then fill.

J3ff

aero3113 said:

Yes, drain then use mineral spirits to rinse it out. Flush some fresh oil through then fill.

How would you accomplish this assuming the tube is not connected to the inside... parts wont be here for a few days, mechanic can't see it till end of the week or weekend... pump the MS up through the drive like a regular fill? I want to get any trace of salt water out...but of course also don't want to leave it dry... maybe fill it up with oil, wait till parts are installed THEN do the mineral flush and refill ? 

aero3113

I would pump the mineral spirits in from the top and let it flow out the lower drain.

reneechris14

The hose has to be cut to the right length not long not short. The piece it goes to is plastic so be very careful not to break the nipple. Drain and fill drive just like normal see hiw much oil is there. Water on bottom oil on the top.

J3ff

reneechris14 said:

The hose has to be cut to the right length not long not short. The piece it goes to is plastic so be very careful not to break the nipple. Drain and fill drive just like normal see hiw much oil is there. Water on bottom oil on the top.

Mechanic will be handling that part. This will be a new guy..

J3ff

aero3113 said:

I would pump the mineral spirits in from the top and let it flow out the lower drain.

Will do. 

J3ff

Starting to get the hang of putting this thing on the trailer, was finally very low stress and everything did what it was supposed to.  Have been using a ramp that was too steep it seems... Anyway.. At first you can def see the water in there .. poured the first batch into a clear container and we'll see what it does overnight.  Towards the end it got nice and dark in the second picture. Ran some of that mineral stuff through it as advised. Filled it back up ran it for a few minutes to flush the engine. Will drain it again once more after the mechanic gets through fixing the other parts. Tell me what you think about the color. 

Dream_Inn

Definitely getting close to that dark green.

Handymans342

I guess you are keeping it now. Between you and Ras I lost track of the issues

J3ff

Handymans342 said:

I guess you are keeping it now. Between you and Ras I lost track of the issues

Well, no, not exactly. When it became apparent that this is easily fixed, then there was no way I was not going to yank it out of the water and get it fixed. Especially because this is one of those problems that can be fixed now, but if ignored it would become a huge issue. Considering this is a brand new drive there was no way I could leave it like this. Also - if a mechanic can come do it and I'm back in the water in a week why not just get it done. However, even though it does appear that I can handle this and my current setup does allow for breakdowns like this to be quickly resolved (having a truck to pull it out with, a place to put it, etc..) it's still too much boat for me here. So when it gets fixed and back in the water I'll throw it up with a slightly below normal price (due to the noise in N) and see what happens. The long term plan has always been to sell it around springtime. 

PickleRick

Too small for the keys?   I had a 45 foot schooner run through my chum
 slick less than 6 months ago down there!!  Im not normally anti sailboat but that is a **** move for such a large boat in shallow waters. Had near infinite ocean off my bow and much deeper channel. I was way outside of any channel markers.

If anyting you need a bigger boat down there. Fit with cannons, a harpoon and dancing poles

J3ff

PickleRick said:

Too small for the keys?   I had a 45 foot schooner run through my slick slick less than 6 months ago down there!!  Im not normally anti sailboat but that is a **** move for such a large boat in shallow waters. Had near infinite ocean off my bow and much deeper channel. I was way outside of any channel markers.

If anyting you need a bigger boat down there. Fit with cannons, a harpoon and dancing poles

I meant more like I drive a Honda and only can borrow trucks or rent them. Sure everyone down here has a 250 and a 350 but I'm hesitant to ask friends for help like this just in case something happens while they're helping me out...

J3ff

One thing to add. I trimmed the drive all the way up and tried to put the hose in the correct position.. I would guess this hose was cut short somewhere in the line, it was pretty much impossible to get it to line up correctly, even with some needle nose pliers. Another 10-15mm would have done it. Wtf is up with that?

When i bought the new transom assembly this came preinstalled by the factory as I understand it. How is it possible that a part direct from mercury, BRAND NEW, could do this in 4 years? Keep in mind the first 3 years of its life it was not in the water 6 months out of those years. I may just send them the bill as a goof and see if they respond. IMO it's complete BS that a part they designed fails like this, when I bought a 3000 dollar transom assembly to specifically avoid a problem like this. (It was also mated to a 10,000 dollar mercury motor, and then as you all know an 11,000 mercury out drive).. I have not gone cheap on ANYTHING and just paid the bill. How in the world could this have happened within such a short amount of time?

J3ff

Long story short, after this and a few other things, I'll never own another mercury powered boat. 

J3ff

At this point a pool with the view of the ocean would be good enough!! Lots of those down here! 

PickleRick

J3ff said:

At this point a pool with the view of the ocean would be good enough!! Lots of those down here! 

And just what's the going rate????$$$$$

400k in my area will net you acreage and maybe 3000sq ft.  900k will net you a pool, private pond, 16 acres and 4000 sq ft....

I think 400k in the keys will get you a single wide trailer on a lot the size lf a dollar General store...not the parking lot...just the store.


But my god what a view

J3ff

Oh I'm just talking going to a place, buying a drink and then hanging at the pool all day, less than 20 bucks! - after CV is gone of course.. 

PickleRick

So any updates?  

J3ff

New mechanic says Parts were ordered on Tuesday, should be here Mon/Tuesday, he's going to fix the next day.. oil is nice and dark again after 2 flushes. Went and touched up some spots on the paint yesterday... hopefully it's an easy fix and doesn't take too long to do @110 an hour. After looking through all the invoices for this boat I did send mercury a note, not a formal complaint, just a note about what has happened and letting them know I'd like if they covered this one (ha, fat chance I know).. Don't expect them to do anything about it, however maybe it'll end up in some file of complaints on this part at the very least. 

PickleRick

Ok so it's not a total loss?

That's great news.  110 an HR isnt bad considering marine labor here is 125 some 4.5 hrs from the coast.

J3ff

mechanic says he's seen more water in drives that are running as normal.. so no, not even close to a loss.. 

PickleRick

Awesome!!!  Good to hear.  Hope you get to enjoy it all winter.  Try some of those fresh lobster and stone crab. China isn't buying right now so market price should be low. I envy your ability to enjoy a fresh catch daily. We get that 7 days a year.