Lower unit leaking oil

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Bassman42

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I have a 97 evinrude 115. E115eleua. During my bass tournament in October, at 6:30 am right at blast off, while driving 40 mph down the river, there was a big "clunk." Usually clunks mean big bucks.. BUT, we killed the motor, trimmed it out the water cause we thought we hit something, prop looked fine, cranked up back up and drove the rest of the day without any issues or clunks at all.. and I mean hard 30-40 min runs at 3/4 throttle to wide open. After weigh in at 2pm, I went to the parking lot and there was a small puddle of gear oil under the motor. The oil leaked out of this tiny hole above the water intake on the right side of the motor, where normally water only comes out. Any ideas? I would have thought big bucks but if it were I wouldn't think the motor would have ran all day without any More issues if it was shot... or a major repair. I've seen shot, and I've definitely heard shot before..
 
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racerone

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This sounds like a familiar story.------Have you posted about this motor anywhere else ??-----
 
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Bassman42

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There's a few different users on here then marineengine.com so I wanted to see what others might think. It's at the shop now I just want to know what I should be prepared for most likely..
 
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Bassman42

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Lol funny like I said, some are different users then the other site, all answers are different then the other, can't take apart since I lack the tools necessary to take apart, and/or put back together. Since it mentions I need a pulled, driveshaft holding socket, pinion holders, sealing compounds for gaskets, etc. and financially SOL for all the tools at the moment with unwanted truck repairs that just popped up, along with trying to fix whatever ends up wrong when they call next week. So I'm just trying to get two of the same answers from different people. The only one that's stuck out to me is the gear jumping out for 1/2 turn then jump back into gear, with the "classic symptoms of failing clutch dog and forward gear. Needed more info on vacuum tests but most people reply once and then that's it,don't get into details or nothing.
 
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boobie

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See what the shop has to say. They are there to look at it and I'm not.
 
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racerone

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Previously it has been stated that " clutch dog is a bit worn and that gear is good "----Now the poster says he does not have the tools to take it apart.------I give up !
 
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Bassman42

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I personally didn't do it... it was dropped, at my place, but it was me and An older shade tree mechanic, that came to my house and he works on boats on the side.. he's retired so that's all he does. All I did was stand there and watched and he just started pointing out hey this is good, this is bad, and so on. That's on me for not being 110% clear. I just graduated high school two years ago I've had this boat since January 2016 everytime something breaks I have to call someone who does know to show me and teach me.
 
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Bassman42

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Too inexperienced to truly understand what mechanics tell me. Guess I just am trying to do something that isn't for me...
 
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Bassman42

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If any of y'all live in Georgia whatever you do DONT use Gwinnett Marine!! There prices may be cheaper, BUT THEIR WORK IS trash! They broke my intake manifold by testing it and it sucked in the O-rings, (their words) they replaced without charge, they told Kenny pistons were in backwards after a remanfucstured power head they put on, when really it was a faulty fuel pump like users here have told me, and they also broke the flywheel cover testing the ignition system... bay marine is more expensive but I think they do much better work. Surprised Gwinnett is still in business, everytime I went up there someone else was having problems with their work..
 
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Crosbyman

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Bassman42 said:
Too inexperienced to truly understand what mechanics tell me. Guess I just am trying to do something that isn't for me...
Click to expand...

​join date 2013 and been reading this site for 4 years ....and haven't picked up on everyone's contributions ..... maybe boating and all it's hazards is not a sport you should engage in... unless you are ready to part with lots of money
 
interalian

interalian

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Crosbyman said:
​join date 2013 and been reading this site for 4 years ....and haven't picked up on everyone's contributions ..... maybe boating and all it's hazards is not a sport you should engage in... unless you are ready to part with lots of money
Click to expand...

Not like the 'old days' when every man knew how to run motors and fix things themselves. I don't remember my dad ever taking anything to a shop for repair, and I learned from him.
 
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Bassman42

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Crosbyman said:
​join date 2013 and been reading this site for 4 years ....and haven't picked up on everyone's contributions ..... maybe boating and all it's hazards is not a sport you should engage in... unless you are ready to part with lots of money
Click to expand...
Actually when I first joined in 2013 I was trying to help with my uncle when he owned this boat right before the powerhead blew. And if you don't believe me look at the first post I had put on this forum. Then nothing appeared again til 2016.. I never got back on after I posted in 2013, didn't even touch this site or any boat forum. I got the boat from him this year in February. With a blown powerhead and 0 knowledge of boat repair. When you're young, stuck in a generation of greedy people it's really hard to stay away from that since now a lot of Shops have just turned into greedy people that will constantly screw you over if you are a rookie like myself to make money. What happened to the "good old days" where people didn't shoot you down for trying to learn, and instead didn't say anything, just lended you a helping hand. If you wanna do nothing but criticize young ones for trying to learn without knowing the full story then take it elsewhere. My uncle is handy for a lot of things, working on outboards is not one of them. Lives in Alabama, I live in Ga, see him 5 times a year at most. No one else besides him and my great grandpa ever owned a boat. And papaw gave up his boat in 1995, year before I was even born, and then he passed at 93 years old in 2013. He had enough money to where if anything broke he'd just buy a new one. When all you have is your yuppy mom who loves the office it's pretty hard to learn anything. Especially since I've never gotten into boat repairing til this year.. I'm used to just fishing on the back of the boat. It's pretty sad being out of school, because in the years I was in school I learned almost nothing about the real world.
 
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Bassman42

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For those that have helped with my previous problems, God Bless, and for anyone with any negative comments just keep em to yourself. I asked for a few tools for Christmas specifically for this engine so hopefully I'll get them so I can do a lot of it on my own. But for the time being in limited to what I can and can't take apart. The last mechanic used jb weld to put back on a bleeder nipple that he broke while trying to rip out a bad starter motor... this old thing has definitely given me some interesting learning experiences. And I know way more then I ever did when it comes to repairs, but boy oh boy I got a long way to go.
 
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Crosbyman

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dear Bassman42, sorry if you were offended somewhat.

My heads-up was more a monetary than an ability issue. The fact remains I think everyone here will help you out myself included within the constraints of my own abilities.

I have been helped a lot, hopefully I have help some and very important... I have read a lot and one book you should read into is this one regardless of what you are working on these days . Aside from electronics or fuel injection of modern engines..... combustion engine basically still work the same . This book will bring you up to speed on fundamentals.

http://boatinfo.no/lib/johnson/manua...ohnson.html#/0

​ In my humble opinion i think the book CHEAP OUTBOARDS by Max E. Wawrzyniak (ggogle it) is an excellent read for beginners in this great hobby, no matter what your age is.

​and BTW fundamentals aside.... seing you are working on a "modern" engine anything to do with injection, electronics, engine management systems is complex and expensive to deal with. That learning curve will be pricy . I would not even dream of going down that alley.
 
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Bassman42

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That's perfectly fine. I appreciate your input! I will look into that book! And yeah I'm learning that's for sure... little more difficult then I planned but that's definitely life for ya. I am sorry, definitely jumped ahead of the game.. at least now whoever reads this forum will know exactly where I stand at mechanically. Not easy being mechanically inclined and trying to learn!!
 
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Bassman42

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Jun 28, 2013
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Bay marine called, said they can't find the cause of the clunk. Gears are good, pinion and bearings are good, the seals were put in backwards. Shift shaft seal is what caused the gear oil to come out of that hole. Good ol Gwinnett marine messed me up again. He said they also did a compression check and said that one piston compression was 20 psi too high.. not real sure what caused that. They will keep on digging and let me know... but steady the foot was cheap fix
 
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