Thick oil/lube in the bilge

[oh2fl]

'99 SeaRay 180 BR, 3.0, Alpha 1 - what else?

unknown hours, etc. Looks great and starts runs nice.
I saw the dealer flushing the rear drain hole when we were about to pick it up, having some oily substance in the mixture. 'Oh, so spillage'. ... Everything checked out okay and we bought it ('as-is).
(So forget the dealer is what I mean).

When we took her home, dropped in the fresh water lake (Ida) & motored on home to our canal lift. Renting this home (so modifications.... not really) which has a front pivot lift (for lack of better description).
When the boat is up out of the water, the rear is 2-3 feet above the front.
*** I don't own a truck, so it can't be pulled out of the water unless I go rent one or borrow someones***

I smelled something, and then found in the ski storage in the floor; oil/water had come in from the engine area through a tube with a missing plug ... ggrr -
(*Bonus Q? - what size is this plug?).

The oil looks and smells like 90wt rear gear oil.
Engine oil is golden, clean and full. Lower unit reservoir is at the original level, no leaking.

The TRIM motor goes down but at the switch, it doesn't come up or make a noise. Using the TRAILER button, the OB trims up well.

I noticed the trim reservoir cap looked oily so checking this, near the battery on the starboard side, the fluid looked milky.

I don't have a book on the boat yet, but what type of lube is used in the trim system/reservoir?

 

[havasuboatman]

Re: Thick oil/lube in the bilge

Use trim/power steerning fluid in the trim resivoir.
That fluid will look milky if it has water in it, BUT it will also look milky if it foams up from being too low.
Let it sit for a few hours, if the milkyness goes away, it's foam, if not, it's water.
When filling the resivoir, always fill it with the drive in the full down/in position.
If you fill it when the drive is up/out, the first time you bring it down/in you leak oil all over the engine compartment of your boat. That is usually how that cap gets all oily.

 

[oh2fl]

Re: Thick oil/lube in the bilge

Thanks - that's probably where the first oil came from.
I'll let it sit for the evening and check on it in the morning. That's great to hear and I apprecaite the pointers.


NOW though ... sorry for adding more to it, but I checked the motor oil again today and found it 3 quarts low - in a 3.0 4 cyl.

Where are the charateristic leaks in a 10 year old Mercruiser?
Looking in the engine compartment, it looks like some oil spray is in the foam on the port side. Not the power steering side.

I'll get to messing with that next week when I'm off. Thanks for any pointers or suggestions.

Mike

 

[Bondo]

Re: Thick oil/lube in the bilge

When the boat is up out of the water, the rear is 2-3 feet above the front.

Ayuh,... The stern is Higher than the bow,.... That's Nuts....

oil/water had come in from the engine area through a tube with a missing plug ... ggrr -
(*Bonus Q? - what size is this plug?).

There shouldn't be a Plug,...
Stern down, Everything should Drain to the stern, draining at the garboard plug...

I don't have a book on the boat yet, but what type of lube is used in the trim system/reservoir?

The Books are found up in the Adults Only section at the top of this forum,... Have a look...

Where are the charateristic leaks in a 10 year old Mercruiser?

if those are Saltwater years,... Any tinwork on the motor,.. oil pan, timing cover, sidecovers, oil filter, etc...
It always just comes down to Looking...
Wherever you see oil, look Up til there's No more,... That's where it's Leakin'...

Good luck...