Mercruiser 4.3 massive oil leak

[markallen]

Complete newbie here with my first post and my first boat a 1992 Trophy 2159 with a Mercruiser 4.3 engine.

I purchased the boat about a year ago and had new control cables installed and added a new Yamaha 9.9 kicker. Due to health issues the boat sat until yesterday when I put it in the water for the first time.

Within the past few months I had a marine repair shop do an engine tune up and replace the batteries. I started the boat several times connected to the hose and it seemed to run just fine.

Yesterday I launched the boat in Anacortes WA and it ran fine for about 20 minutes. Suddenly the engine stopped and would not restart. I took a look in the engine compartment and saw a very large puddle of oil under the engine. Checked the dip stick and it was not showing any oil at all.

After searching this forum (thank you all) I realize there is a low oil pressure cut off switch for the fuel pump. That explains why it wouldn't start. My question is where should I be looking for the source of the leak. I'm assuming with the amount of oil dumped in such a small period of time it must be a high volume leak. I'd like to give it a shot at diagnosing it myself before returning to the shop.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[Bt Doctur]

clean the bilge, refill the oil, start the motor and look for it.
oil filter, remote oil lines, oil pressure sender, oil pressure switch, pan drain plug or drain hose

 

[harleyman1975]

Let us know what you find. my bet is oil filter.

 

[Scott Danforth]

or a rusty oil pan

 

[markallen]

Update: I chickened out and brought the boat to my local service shop. It turns out that the base of the remote oil filter assembly had totally disintegrated and caused the engine to pump all the oil out. New assembly ordered and will be installed early next week. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[tacx]

Thank you!! For the update. To many people find the problem and then disappear.