oil pan rusting away!!!!

[fishingman220]

i have a 96 5.7 mercrusier and i have noticed everyonce and a while that there has been a little bit of oil in the bilge, well i looked the other day and some was on the drive way and i waned to figure where it was comming from and looked and looked and all i can see is a corner of the oil pan looks like it is rusting and leaking. one first question is if i keep a close eye on the oil level can i run it like this for the rest of the year with a pad or something to soak up the oil? it is leaking about a qt every month or two. and question two, i am very mechanicly inclined with cars and trucks, and i know some stuff about boats, but not pulling the motor. how long would you est. that it would take to pull and reinstall the motor? do i need any other special tools other than the alingment tool?, do you have to pull the drive off? the drive has to come off to aline the motor doesnt it?i am able to do this and do not have the money to have a shop do it so please tell me anything i need to know. Thanks for any help.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: oil pan rusting away!!!!

Drive comes off first, boat motors are a lot easier than cars.
remove all cables, power steering lines, all bonding straps, fuel line, unplug wiring harness,remove 4 lags in the front mounts, 2 bolts for the rear mounts, llift high enough to change pan, drop back in, install lags, rear mounting bolts, check alignment, install drive
4- 6 hours for a medium wrench person.

 

[fishingman220]

Re: oil pan rusting away!!!!

so change since my last post, i pumped everything out that was in the bilge, which i thought was about 2 qts of oil. well it was all water and enough oil to make the top black, once all pumped out in a pan, it was clear enough to see he stuff in the botom of the pan, so maybe a 1/4 of a cup of oil. i feel alot better about going out the rest of the year, but i guess i should stil replace it this up comming winter.

 

[littlebookworm]

Re: oil pan rusting away!!!!

If you've got two quarts of water in there, your bilge pump may be set too high. You mention your driveway. Is the boat trailered? If so, why don't you pull the drain plug each time you haul the boat? The amount of oil you mentioned doesn't seem like much of a leak. It could be coming from the pan itself or from the seal on the timing case. 5.0 engines are known to leak there. Before you pull the engine, clean up the engine itself and the engine bay. The see if you can spot the source of the leak. It might even be as simple as the fit of the dipstick tube into the engine or the oil filter housing. Some leak detector dye and a black light might help you locate the source of the leak. Let us know what you find. Good luck. Hy

 

[gadget73]

Re: oil pan rusting away!!!!

I would actually hazard to say that if your oil pan is starting to seep, the timing cover won't be far behind. I'm going through this now, both my pan and cover had a pinhole. Not enough to dump a lot of oil, but enough to seep. Now that I'm aware of it though, it probably accounts for half of the oil consumption I was seeing, and most of the slime in the bilge and the cooked oil smell in the cabin. I've given the replacement parts a good coating of gloss black XO Rust oil based paint using a brush. I figure a good application of paint may help it last longer.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: oil pan rusting away!!!!

My pan started leaking and I was lucky to catch it before it wasted my motor. Just be aware if you keep on going like you are, you risk the hole getting bigger before you realize it and the oil dumps out fast.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: oil pan rusting away!!!!

I had a leaky oil pan on an old truck and made a "temporary" patch using a gas tank repair kit from NAPA (lasted 4 years till I junked the truck). If you can locate the spot that is leaking (doesn't sound like a very big leak) you might be able to drain the oil and clean and degrease the spot well enough to apply a patch to get you through the season. Good luck.

 

[dan t.]

Re: oil pan rusting away!!!!

look for a product called Sealall, degrease the spot, a layer of sealall,a piece of paper towel patted into it, let set till tacky and another layer the samr, it will last for the summer no problem

 

[fishingman220]

Re: oil pan rusting away!!!!

the two quarts that were in the botom, it was in the botom of the V and the pump has a flat spot where it is mounted so i does have a little room before it hits the pump. i do pull the plug everytime it comes out of the water, but my drive way, it get backed up hill, it is under cover and i try to level it, but it still doesnt drain to well, if i wash it, i jack the front up for a few hours so it iwill drain out, but it puts alot of strain on the suspenion for the tandum axle trailer. but i think i will be ok, i am going to clean it up, and put some jb weld on it, and then this winter i am going to pull the motor, put new pan cover, and go through the motor, hopefully everything will look good. thanks for all the suggestions.