Low oil alarm

walkermar · May 24

Hi all, I have had a low oil alarm on my Rinker 280EC 2007. Engine is a Volvo D4 260 with 510 hours. Engine had been running approximately 30mins and at an average speed of 12knots. Stopped to drop a fishing line and then went back into gear, as I did the warning alarm came on. On initial inspection under the hatch, I saw a large volume of oil in the bilge then got a tow home.

pumped out 6ltrs of oil in bilge and restarted the engine to see any obvious leaks but there were none. No marking of oil on the dipstick, but was fine on previous days pre flight check. Oil pressure is showing at 10kpa which I believe is 52ps.

history if that the outdrive was removed in March for bellows replacement and a Small all oil leak was seen on the rubber seal at the top of the gearbox so replaced .

Can they be linked or has anyone had a similar problem before .

many thanks
Mark

raybo3 · May 24

I would assume it's gear lube. Check to see if the gear lube bottle is empty. Might be the hose that goes out the transom.

walkermar · May 24

Thanks Rabo, will check tomorrow but this is about 5ltres. Would that bottle hold that much oil ?

LaRea · May 24

10 kpa - is that a typo? 52 psi is a good number for oil pressure, but that's 400 kpa.

With 1.5 gallons of oil in the bilge, is it even possible to leak that much from the gear lube reservoir? I'm not sure about Volvo.

Did it smell like regular oil? Gear lube usually stinks like dead dinosaurs.

walkermar · May 24

Hi LaRea, I took those readings from the evc and converted to psi but there was definitely pressure there on the display. It definitely smelt like engine oil and not gear lube. As the sump is so close to the bottom of the bilge, it has been suggested there could be a hole in the sump, but I can’t feel anything.

It’s also been suggested by a friend that the dip stick holder is has a “shark fitting” where it goes into the engine Block which may have come away, hence the leak.

Just seems like a big volume of oil to be dumped by a leak. The other weird thing is the dipstick is dry, but was checked the day before with perfect readings.

raybo3 · May 24

@walkermar sorry didn't see the 6ltr part. No the drive would not hold that much.

Rich_ · May 25

If the dipstick is dry, and the bilge is full of oil, first thing is to not run it like that. You will probably have to add oil to the engine until it shows on the dipstick, and then have someone at the key to start and stop the engine while looking for your leak. This will be a messy job to clean. Since you claim to have oil pressure on the gauge but an alarm for low pressure, I’d be looking around the oil pressure switch first, but also suspect oil filter gasket or oil cooler line.

walkermar · May 25

Hi Rich, the dipstick was at the correct level at the start of the journey and I cleaned out around 6ltres from the bilge post breakdown.. My thinking was that would then leave 6 litres in the engine. I put the oil back in the engine, thinking that would be almost a full amount back in the engine to see what happened when I started her back up.

on start up, there was no spraying of oil, and no obvious leak, and shut her down after seconds. My plan today is to go back down and see if there is any oil in the bilge and look at the cooler line with a fresh pair of eyes. It was nearly 30 degrees on the pontoon yesterday here in the uk which was a challenge in itself down the bilge.

I will up date this thread tonight and thank you all so far for you contributions.

Rich_ · May 25

If no blatant leaks, possibly running at higher RPM pressurized the crankcase and blew it out the dipstick?

raybo3 · May 25

walkermar said:

Hi Rich, the dipstick was at the correct level at the start of the journey and I cleaned out around 6ltres from the bilge post breakdown.. My thinking was that would then leave 6 litres in the engine. I put the oil back in the engine, thinking that would be almost a full amount back in the engine to see what happened when I started her back up.

on start up, there was no spraying of oil, and no obvious leak, and shut her down after seconds. My plan today is to go back down and see if there is any oil in the bilge and look at the cooler line with a fresh pair of eyes. It was nearly 30 degrees on the pontoon yesterday here in the uk which was a challenge in itself down the bilge.

I will up date this thread tonight and thank you all so far for you contributions.

If you cleaned 6 liters from the bilge I would assume it would leave 0 in the engine. Maybe it was overfilled and it pressurized and blew out the dip stick?

YYZRC · May 25

@raybo3 Volvo D4 diesel holds about 12.5L of oil.

@walkermar maybe check the oil filter and lines to/from the oil filter.

walkermar · May 25

Update from today was we started the fine up and witnessed oil coming from beneath the oil filters as you ave suggested @YYZRC . it’s difficult to s the exactly where from but I will try and attach a picture.

walkermar · May 26

Leak found, end plate of the LO housing below the oil filters . Many thanks for all replies

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