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  Oil Change Spill Causes Leak

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Author Topic:   Oil Change Spill Causes Leak
Langella7 posted 10-11-2011 11:08 AM ET (US)   Profile for Langella7   Send Email to Langella7  
I winterized my boat yesterday, changed oil, gearcase oil, and fogged the 2005 Mercury 40-HP FOURSTROKE EFI engine. While changing oil filter I did spill some oil in engine. When I put away boat and checked on it a few hours later, I noticed some oil leaking from the bottom of the shaft above the propeller. I did not notice any leaks when I ran it after the oil change.

I would assume [the oil leaking is] the oil I spilled when changing the filter, but this [oil] appeared to be cleaner. Last night I opened both sides of the motor and cleaned off all the oil, and you could see it had dripped from where it would have pooled when taking off filter.

This morning I checked and saw no oil leaking. Should I assume it is not leaking? Or, should I run [the engine] for 10-minutes and check for leak to be safe? I will have to re-fog the engine. Only way I can see it looking clean was because it was coming out at this foam-type gasket like you see around the drain plug.

Anyone else experience this? Thoughts?

Tom W Clark posted 10-11-2011 11:43 AM ET (US)     Profile for Tom W Clark  Send Email to Tom W Clark     
Spilling oil while changing the oil filter on a four stroke outboard motor is very common--and a big mess.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Langella7 posted 10-11-2011 11:59 AM ET (US)     Profile for Langella7  Send Email to Langella7     
I agree. This oil didn't appear to be too dirty. Only place it could come from is filter and drain plug--at least those are the only things I touched. Would it not leak if the engine isn't on? Or would running the engine be the best way to see?

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