Hi there...used the board a couple of times for research...never for an issue..until now..<br /><br />I have a 2000 Mercury 150 EFI 2~.<br />Put it in the water last night and ran it wide-open for about 2 minutes to a fishing spot, then shut it off.<br />I noticed an oil slick behind me. <br />I started the motor and noticed that it was quite smokey.<br />Popped off the cowlin and saw that there was oil all over the engine, and quite a pool had collected below. <br />The first thing I did was to remove the oil cap on the engine resevoir. It was just a hair loose. When I tightened it, it broke. The threaded neck totally seperated from the top where the float passes through it.<br />Couple of questions:<br />1. The most important thing on my mind (as I sit here at work without access to the boat) is-was all that smoke due to my motor burning up due to lack of oil? There was AT LEAST a tank's (small top tank) worth of oil on the motor and inside the cowlin-and the upper resevoir was not empty..so I'm assuming that oil was stll travelling from the tank in the hull to the tank on the motor and then leaking out of the cap...but was enough getting to the motor? Is it possible that the leaking oil was able to make it's way down and burn/smoke when coming into contact with the exhaust? I DID notice that oil was leaking from the "sleeve" that seems to surround the upper part of the lower unit (it is between the bottom of the cowlin and the lower unit)*sorry for my lack of terminology*. I didn't notice anything amiss when I last ran it and put it away, but it was to the same spot..so I assume it has run 2-10 minutes at full-throttle with this issue. The motor still seemed to run great...if you discount the slick and the smoke..so I'm hoping my only issue will be the replacement of the cap and cleaning up the motor and cowlin. Which leads me to my other question:<br />2. Is there any way I could check the motor out to see if I've damaged it due to running with no oil or should I have it checked by someone who knows what the heck they are doing after replacing the resevoir cap?<br />AND<br />3. Is the cap/float/connector all one part or do I have to buy a whole new tank/cap/etc?<br />Thanks very much for your assistance in advance!<br />Regards,<br />mcbass<br />www.mcbass.com
