3.0ltr mercruiser lx oil leak 6 o clock

[patrick1982]

Hi all, and thanks for having a look at my problem, which is ive an oil leak on my mercruiser 3ltr its in an 1997 bayliner 1952 capri and i noticed only when turned on that oil was dripping directly under the pulleys of the inboard, when its turned off the leak stops, i got wynns oil leak stop today hoping it might help swell the seals but when i poured it in at the top oil cap, it only ran through and straight out at where the suspect oil leak is coming from, so i know now its fairly major hole or seal gone, im asking to confirm could this be the front oil seal cover thats gone in the inboard or could it be something else.
Ive got an telescopic mirrors and a flash light to try and see where it could be located but its just too tight to get the mirror and flashlight into the leaking area to see for myself, any ideas how i can fix this would be greatly appreciated, i only bought this boat 2 weeks ago, and even thought i am very familiar with outboard engines, inboards for me is a hole new ball game. would i be better off to take it to a marine mechanic at what cost, or could this be maybe something easy enough that i might be able to fix. once again thanks for looking and hopefully i get get to the bottom of this. i forgot to mention that the leak is pretty much exactly at 6 o clock in the front of the engine closest to the bow.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Oil seal or pan gasket. Fixing it is exactly the same as fixing the issue on a car or pickup motor. Remove the pulley, use a puller on the balancer, inspect. If you suspect the seal, pull the front cover and replace the seal. Very straightforward.

Here's the Merc manual for that job: http://boatinfo.no/lib/mercruiser/manuals/mercruiser13.html#/114

Rick

 

[Fishermark]

I would suspect the cover is rusted out. With a leak like you are describing, it would be unusual for a simple seal leak.

 

[Grub54891]

Just run it till 5:30, and stop till 6:30, and you'll be fine. Ok, someone had to say it! Yeah, as stated above, it's probably a rusted cover or just a gasket leak. Good luck! '​Just happened to think, it could be possible that the timing gear lost a tooth, and knocked a hole in the cover too. I've never seen that happen on a 3 liter, but on a v-8 I've seen the timing chain snap part of the chain and knock a hole in the cover.

 

[patrick1982]

thanks all for replying to my problem, its been used at sea, there is some rust on the exaust pipe and some nuts and bolts are rusted aswell, i started it up again today to see if the wynns oil leak fix might have done any good to seal the problem a little if any. but no nothing oil still drip, drip coming out of it. would i be right in saying the engine needs to come out of the boat, i think ill leave this job to a marine mechanic i really dont want to mess this up. thanks again for the advice. thanks rick stephens for the manual appreciated.

 

[Fishermark]

You may not need to pull the engine, but it does make the job easier. Not a big deal to pull the engine if you have the tools. But up to you.

 

[patrick1982]

i would only have the very basic tools, it dosent have powersteering or an heat exchange unit its basic enough looking down there, its the belts im afraid of not being able to get them back on, when i take them off, plus i dont have the pully tool

 

[thumpar]

It is not hard. You can get the pulley tool from autozone on their loaner program for free.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Getting a couple tools to do this yourself will be easily paid for by the savings in labor costs for a mechanic to do it. This is not a hard repair nor are the tools very costly.

One rule when pulling a balancer, you MUST use a puller that has a fairly large flat bolt end, usually one that swivels on a ball, to press on the end of the crankshaft. I have seen many a puller that was missing that and it will damage the threads in the end of the crank if the puller bolt seats in the hole. A no no!

 

[patrick1982]

i rang the marine mechanic today and he will be able to do it for 150-200 euro which dosent seem all that bad, he was saying that the engine would not have to come out if the bolts are not rusted and snap as his taking them out, had a look today and they all seem in perfect condition, so i sprayed some wd-40 on them just to be sure, that tool you have put a picture up of would that fit between the pulleys and the back of the engine cover, theres about 6 inches of room in there

 

[thumpar]

Use some PB Blaster on the bolts. It is much better than wd40.

 

[fishrdan]

that tool you have put a picture up of would that fit between the pulleys and the back of the engine cover, theres about 6 inches of room in there

You have to remove the front engine mount to replace the seal or timing cover: prop up engine under oil pan, remove front engine mount, use tool pictured to remove balancer, remove timing cover , complete engine repair, put front mount back on with bolts snug but not torqued, unblock engine, then torque front mount bolts.

Do you have an electronic copy of the repair manual for your engine, it can be downloaded.

BTW, you are supposed to use a centering tool around the crank while tightening the timing cover bolts, to position the seal centered over the crank. I have used a roll of electrical tape with several feet removed so it fits the seal tight, then the core of the tape roll fits onto the crank snug. Might not be .00001" centered, but I haven't had the seal leak.

 

[Fishermark]

... prop up engine under oil pan, remove front engine mount, ...

You would need to remove, or at least loosen and drop down the oil pan to remove and replace the front cover. Difficult to do with the engine resting on the oil pan. Plus, if the front cover is rusted out (and that is a big "IF" at this point), the oil pan ought to be carefully examined as well. To me it is far simpler and better to pull the engine completely.

 

[patrick1982]

ok so ive the boat dropped down to the marine mechanic so hopefully its not too expensive of a job to have it fixed, ill update ye on what exactly was done and how much its gonna cost

 

[patrick1982]

Just got a call from my mechanic to say the front cover was rusted away to nothing, he also said that the water pump had its time spent, so his gonna change that as well as one of the belts that was worn and oil spilt on it. Wat ye think

 

[Fishermark]

Have him examine the oil pan carefully as well. Not to spend more of your money... but if the front cover is rusted that bad, the oil pan is often not far behind. :blue:

 

[patrick1982]

Got it back at long last, water pump changed front cover replaced, and drive belt changed ?525 under 600 dollars, since I got it back there seems to be a rumbling noise in the back of the engine very hard to pin point where exactly it's coming from, any ideas?? Also when I Rev it up the oil pressure also goes up is this normal it's my first inboard, at idle it's at 40psi

 

[thumpar]

Does it make the noise with the drive off? It is normal for the oil pressure to rise with RPM.

 

[patrick1982]

Yes I can just about hear it in drive and in neutral, he said he didn't take the engine out just had to raise it up a little, dunno hope this helps, it's a very faint rumble noise, can't remember it being there before

 

[thumpar]

I meant with the drive off the boat. The drive turns even when in neutral.