Small oil drip

skennelly

I found a small oil leak today...I've never had to ado oil, but the leak is enough to cause for oily water in the bilge.  To me it appears to be coming from either the remote oil filter setup or higher up like a rocker gasket.

In the picture oil is dripping on the engine mount..so it's definitely coming from high up.

I stuck an already dirty pad there to catch the drip for now.

Any suggestions for diagnosing a rocker gasket or remote oil plumbing?

212rowboat

pinched gasket in the filter would be my first peek- it's easy to do, especially if you didn't put a skim of fresh oil on it when you installed....

look at your PCV valve and grommet... if it's on the port side of the engine make sure the tube running to the outdrive reservoir isn't leaking- the base of them like to leak too.. a drop of that gear lube goes a long way... 

if it's a valve cover, it's a bit of a PITA to remove and reinstall, w/o removing such things as the throttle linkage or shift linkage, depending on which side you're working on... here is a word to the wise, though:  if you remove the covers, have a extra set of gaskets (assuming you pinched, or they somehow failed otherwise), a can of carb cleaner, and a can of spray on gasket... use the carb cleaner to clean the mating surface free of any oils, then hit it with a the spray on gasket as well as the mating side of the new gasket, and let it set up five or so minutes- then put them together and let set up for another five minutes.... you have to maneuver the valve covers around quite a bit to get them to seat right, and the gasket will want to pop off if you don't adhere it... 

skennelly

@212rowboat - thanks...I'll check out the simple things you suggested first.  I do skim coat the oil filter when installing and it didn't appear the leak was coming from the filter area.  The pcv valve I didn't check...I'll investigate next weekend when I'm back to the boat.