Need Urgent help with evinrude 50hp

[MedicDan]

I have a 1985 Evinrude 50hp(2-stroke), and today I took it out for the first time this year. When I went and tilted the engine back, oil came out of the lower unit, maybe about 100-200ml. It looks like gearing oil, not regular oil. What could be the problem with this thing? If it is regular oil, it is really thick.

[Surface Tension]

I think your prop shaft seal is shot.

[Valv]

Check the oil in lower unit, if it's a milky color you definitely have a problem.

Now I am not supposed to say this but you can get away with it by just replacing lower unit lube very often.

Go to Walmart and buy their lower unit oil, or gear lube oil, and replace it every 7th or 8th outing.....

As I said, it is not the recommended way to do it, but if you are in a pinch.....

[MedicDan]

UPDATE: I ran the enigne with one of those plugs, for about 2 minutes, then waiting a ccouple, then again, then let it wait and ran it for about 5-6 minutes, and after running it, there was no oil problem anymore. Should I just consider the problem taken care of?

[PierBridge]

No.

Check the lower unit oil to see if there is any oil in the lower unit and if it's Milky or not.

[Surface Tension]

I should have went further and suggested you drain and refill the lower unit. Inspect the drain oil to see if its clear or milky. Then as Valv said use it(on the water not with muffs) then check the oil level and for milkyness. If the level stays up without and water intrusion then your OK if the level is down or milky you'll need to have it repaired at some point.

[MedicDan]

Ok, it is not milky. I also did drain and refill it. I ran it on the trailer in the river for about 3-4 minutes, everything seems fine. No milky oils. I also went and checked it about 10 minutes ago to see if anything had come out, and nothing had. Anything else I should look into. i will be taking it out for opener, so I just want to make sure everything is good to go. I will post if something changes, but please let me know, if anyone thinks of anything else. P.S. don't run your engine so long on muffs, that your neighbors come over and start yelling at you, from the noise of it.

[RobertELee]

I don't think running it for 4 minutes on a trailer will show any problems If I were you I would take it out for several long runs to make sure nothing is wrong and look around any seals that could be bad, very unlikely it fixed itself. Check the tilt/trim hydrolic cylinders if you have them. Nothing worse than going on a trip and having a major problem.

[MedicDan]

Ok, I thought I would add this in. Usually I store the engine wtih the hydralics tilting down, but this year I decided to keep it tilted up instead of down. Could this make a difference? This only happened after I tilted it down.

[Surface Tension]

Having it tilted up didn't make it leak, what happend is it leaked over a long time and it pooled in the prop. Once you let it down what was in the prop can out.

Your seal may not be totally shot. What I think happned is during the winter the prop shaft contracted(srunk for the cold) along with the seal. Now that the temps are warmer both the shaft and seal have expanded enough to seal again. Just keep an eye on the level and for milky gear oil.

[Valv]

Dried up prop seal ? I would leave it in the down position when storing it from now on.

Take it out for a run and let us know.

[marine_man]

It also could be from water freezing in the lower unit since the motor was tipped up, cracking the lower unit, and now that you've tilted it back down the oil is starting to run out...

Perhaps a long shot.. but certainly something to watch for...

marine_man

[MedicDan]

Ok, I will check back on monday. Also, I will note that where the oil is coming out of is a little hole, like 1/8 or 1/4 inch hole on both side, I don't know if that would also make a difference.

[marine_man]

Can you describe the location of this hole better? Is there one on both sides of the motor, is there only one, but it's at the very front of the lower unit? Any additional explanation would really help diagnose this better for you...

marine_man

[MedicDan]

I'll take a pic tonight and put it on here.

[Surface Tension]

Those holes drain water. Its normal to have a black oily residue come from them but not clear gear oil. If you have oil leaking from that high up I suspect the drive shaft seal or the shift rod seal. If one of those seals are bad the oil can leak out when the outboard is tilted up. When you get this in the water and run it for a while you'll most likely end up with water in your gear oil.

[MedicDan]

I know what those holes are, but those are not it, I will get a pic.

[MedicDan]

Surface Tension- it is brown oil, like a puddy gearing oil, that is like what you should use on your hydralic turning.

[MedicDan]

It is the hole way in the bottom left

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h31/crasher_2009/HPIM0209.jpg

[Valv]

That is not part of lower unit. If you have a bad seal is in the driveshaft/water pump area as Surface Tension said.

You can have a shop do a vacuum test and a pressure test, it will tell if it has leaks, or you can run it for few hours then check if oil is milky.

[MedicDan]

sorry, I am not real good at this type of thing...mechanics, just never got it.

[MedicDan]

I am talking about the little tiny hole, way below the inlets, like an inch down, it is real small.

[Surface Tension]

Yea I deleted it because you said it was the tiny hole and I didn't want to bring any confussion to what Valv and I already said. Anyway if gear oil is leaking from there you'll need a drive shaft and shift rod seal. I say both because since your in there you may as well do both along with a new impellor.

[MedicDan]

ok, sorry about that, I'll delete that out of my post.

[marine_man]

I'm also in agreement... it's a bad seal...

Take it to a dealer and have them pressure test the lower unit. It'll leak oil out wherever the bad seal is, assuming it's visible from the exterior without removing the lower unit.

Or, if you're feeling adventurous, remove the prop and the lower unit from the motor and just take the lower unit to the marine dealer... you'll save yourself a little money by not having them remove and install the lower unit.

marine_man