Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

[rick3452]

My "new" 2000 deck boat with a 5.0 Mercruiser engine has started leaking oil in the bilge (center), any ideas what to look for? the boat has 265 hrs. I just had the oil changed pumped from the dipstick, and the new oil filter is tight and dry.

Thanks for ANY help......

 

[dubs283]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

if the oil system does not have a remote oil filter (located on the fwd top port side of the engine) whoever changed the oil may have had some drippage off the old filter and thus downward to the bottom of the bilge

some of those deck boats have a pretty tight fit in the engine compartment and oil filter removal can be somewhat difficult/messy

is there a lot of oil in the bilge?? has the oil level on the dipstick verified an oil loss??

 

[Bondo]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

is there a lot of oil in the bilge?? has the oil level on the dipstick verified an oil loss??

Ayuh,... Ditto that,... It wasn't a Sloppy oil change was it,..??

Is the oil pan Rusty,..??

 

[choochooharley]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

I third the motion.....When i changed my oil I was positive I was very careful and I thought I only dripped a few drops.....well after a day I noticed what was a puddle of oil I bout crapped and thought something was wrong....After confirming no leaks any where and no oil loss I now use white oil absorbing pads when i change the oil it works great....

 

[rick3452]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

Thanks! Great forum..... The oil filter is on the bottom right side, It is nice and dry, Dipstick reads no loss at all, I will keep an eye on it, everyday. The pan seems very smoth , no apparent rust etc. It was weird, I had the oil changed by a local marina, when I called to see if the boat was ready the guy said the boat had an oil leak.."do you want me to check it out"?. Before that in my two weeks of ownership, I noticed no oil in the bilge.

 

[Don S]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

Check your trim/tilt and power steering systems. They also use 10W30 motor oil.

 

[rick3452]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

Thanks Don, Great idea! Is the best way to check by sticking my head into the engine compartment and having someone raise & lower the out drive?? The previous owner recently had the trim hoses replaced...

 

[ziggy]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

Is the best way to check by sticking my head into the engine compartment

that's a great way to start the search.
clean up the bilge as much as possible and be sure anyplace your gonna search is as clean as can be too. keeping in mind any leak runs downhill. never uphill.

i fought two oil leaks this last season. both were oil leaks and not so easy to find. i like using a digital camera for the search. i can get the camera in places i can't get my head into.

i had two clues. one oil leak was dirty engine oil. that one i found first and repaired first. in my case it was a rusty pan right aft of the drain plug. that one i ended up using flour smashed on the bottom of the pan and then a photo to discover the leak.

this leak i searched for the better part of a season to find it.
the other leak revealed itself w/o the flour.the clue it was a trim leak was the oil mess was very clean engine oil (trim pump fluid). it was a trim pump leak that the camera picked up very easy.

i could never have got my eyes into a position to see this leak.

both these pics had the camera below the leak and deep into the bigle, looking up.

a flash light and a mirror are sometimes helpful too.

 

[rick3452]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

Thanks Ziggy!

Can you explain how to do the flour thing........

 

[choochooharley]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

Zig man thats a great Idea I would of never thought of that. Its kinda like roll in flour and well you know the rest.....rick that brings to mind the ? is the oil your finding black or tan that could tell alot about where its coming from.

 

[choochooharley]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

Ziggy jw the leak on the bottom of the trimp pump there was it the lines or was there a blown out gasket inside. I had a leak like that and I ended up haveing to take the control block apart and replace the 4 o rings inside but mine not only leaked it shot out when you raised the lower unit up to the top of trailer position

 

[ziggy]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

Can you explain how to do the flour thing........

1st i had to have a suspicion of where the leak was. i initially thought it was the drain plug seal. which was replaced to no avail. still the oil seemed to be dripping from that area. i actually learned the flour trick here on iboats from someone else. first time i'd tried it though and it does work good..
to apply the flour i just got a palm full and smash it around where i thought the leak was at. then a photo for inspection from the comfort of my house.

Its kinda like roll in flour and well you know the rest.

, yep, just like that....

I had a leak like that and I ended up haveing to take the control block apart and replace the 4 o rings inside

yep, that's what it was in my case too. them 4 orings. i got away sinful on that R&R. i didn't even disconnect the trim lines, just dropped the manifold down. waterproof greased up the orings so they'd stick upside down and prayed i put the manifold back on straight and narrow so as to not disturb the orings in the precarious position i had them in. figured if i was not successful, it'd leak. it didn't, and i was a happy camper...

 

[choochooharley]

Re: Engine oil in the Bilge 2000 Mercruiser 5.0

When I had to replace the o rings I didnt even have a clue where they were (this was before I discovered Iboats for all the ?s) so I took the whole pump off resivoir and all...Then I proceeded to tear the entire pump and resivor apart and still couldnt find the o rings...the last (and only) I hadnt taken apart was the control block and sure enough there they were. As I was putting the whole thing back in the boat Which I had to be a contorsinest to do. I broke a terminal on the solenoid. After I got it all back together I thought you know it would of been so much easier to just drop the four bolts on the bottom and not have to take everything off....lol