Hello,
About a month ago, I bought a 1998 deckboat (smoker-craft) with a 5.7L mercruiser i/o (alpha one). I'm a first time boat owner - be gentle with me.
I have noticed a stead decline in my drive oil resivoir. I've likely run the engine a some total of 6 hours (3 Saturdays at the lake mixed between tube pulling and swimming). The resivoir has moved from the full line down to halfway between the full and the add line.
first and this isn't the stupid question - is it unusual to lose a little drive oil?
second - and this is the stupid question - how do you get the damn cap off the resivoir bottle - to add back to full line? The cap is black, and has a orange raised 'dot' about 1-2mm wide on top. I tried simply unscrewing it - and it was quite tight (engine cold). I didn't know if I should really attempt muscling it off - seemed like there is some trick I'm missing - as this should be a simply removal?
Other symptoms which may/may not be related:
The boat takes on way too much water in the bilge. I can run bilge pump for a couple of minutes after simply sitting in the water a couple of hours. I was on the water 5 hours Saturday and ran my bilge 3 times, each for several minutes. Then when I got the boat out and pulled the plug - I still had water steadily flowing out of the bilge for a couple of minutes - I presume that this water level was too low for my pump to pick up - and drained more easily when the boat was inclined on the trailer.
I haven't been able to identify where the water is coming in at. It's not deck/splash related. It's coming from either the i/o/transom or some place under deck.
appreciate any advice on either topic, though for today - I'de just really like to know how to get the damn cap off that resivoir bottle
Ray
About a month ago, I bought a 1998 deckboat (smoker-craft) with a 5.7L mercruiser i/o (alpha one). I'm a first time boat owner - be gentle with me.
I have noticed a stead decline in my drive oil resivoir. I've likely run the engine a some total of 6 hours (3 Saturdays at the lake mixed between tube pulling and swimming). The resivoir has moved from the full line down to halfway between the full and the add line.
first and this isn't the stupid question - is it unusual to lose a little drive oil?
second - and this is the stupid question - how do you get the damn cap off the resivoir bottle - to add back to full line? The cap is black, and has a orange raised 'dot' about 1-2mm wide on top. I tried simply unscrewing it - and it was quite tight (engine cold). I didn't know if I should really attempt muscling it off - seemed like there is some trick I'm missing - as this should be a simply removal?
Other symptoms which may/may not be related:
The boat takes on way too much water in the bilge. I can run bilge pump for a couple of minutes after simply sitting in the water a couple of hours. I was on the water 5 hours Saturday and ran my bilge 3 times, each for several minutes. Then when I got the boat out and pulled the plug - I still had water steadily flowing out of the bilge for a couple of minutes - I presume that this water level was too low for my pump to pick up - and drained more easily when the boat was inclined on the trailer.
I haven't been able to identify where the water is coming in at. It's not deck/splash related. It's coming from either the i/o/transom or some place under deck.
appreciate any advice on either topic, though for today - I'de just really like to know how to get the damn cap off that resivoir bottle
Ray
