165hp L6 oil leak?

[ziggy]

my '75 165hp L6 seems to have a oil leak. i've been chasing it for a while, but recently it's been getting worse of course... initially i thought it was the drain plug so replaced the seal on the drain plug to no avail. still leaks. now i think i have an even worse problem.

i think it's a pan leak. rust.
the pic is looking fwd from behind the drain plug. i tried to cover it with some baking soda but ya can't even get your hand in there to cover it..
anybody want to agree or disagree with me. just aft of the drain plug. (the drain plug in the pic is the bolt head only that is fwd of the slope in my hull) there is a raised paint bubble + best i can tell that looks like where the leak is coming from.

guess initially i just want to confirm this is the leak for the grief this is gonna cause me prior to doing something about it. sure looks like the leak to me.

it's an engine pull to R&R the nla pan.. unless someone has a better idea...

 

[Fishermark]

Re: 165hp L6 oil leak?

Hi Ziggy - it's funny, I just came in and got cleaned up from pulling the inline six from my Searay. It needed some cleaning up, etc and I wanted to paint the bilge so I decided to pull the engine.

I can't tell where you leak is of course, but unless it is running down from above, there is nothing there around the plug to leak - except a rust hole. Sorry! The only thing to do at this point is to scrape the bubble and see if it really is a rusted out spot. It won't get better if it is... only worse.

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: 165hp L6 oil leak?

Any 165hp inline is certainly old enough to have a rusty oil pan, time to pull engine :-(

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 165hp L6 oil leak?

I'd get in there with a paint scraper and see what's under the bubble. As for NLA, I'd go down to the nearest Chevy dealer and see if their computer shows what a 70's GM straight 6 oil pan looks like, see if you can order a replacement from a car or truck.

 

[ziggy]

Re: 165hp L6 oil leak?

thanks guys. i'm pretty convinced it's not coming from above. i've looked and looked above. all i find is it coming from where my pic shows.

i'll take a scraper to it when i think i got my ducks in a row. like having a line on a different pan. (see other thread) ( http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=402097 )

will a car or truck pan be compatible?

if i gotta pull the engine (which i suspect i'll be doing). bet i find more work to do... bet i'll be down for a while..

 

[DJ]

Re: 165hp L6 oil leak?

One word to keep in mind-GRAVITY.

Oil does not generally leak-UP.

I've seen far too many technicians forget that principle.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 165hp L6 oil leak?

will a car or truck pan be compatible?

As long as the sump is on the right end I don't see why not. I doubt Mercruiser made their own pans way back then. I had the pan off my 72 140 (your engine - 2 cyl) and it looked like a normal automotive oil pan, 1 baffle in the sump, no fancy windage tray or anything...

I'd paint the new pan a couple of times though...

If you want to "hack-job" it to stop the leak temporarily... Take a couple strips of duct tape, stick them together to make a 4"x4" patch, mix up some JB weld, put a nice sized puddle in the middle of the "patch", then slap it on the pan. Of course, that's after draining the oil and cleaning the heck out of the pan surface.