Bad day today...

B

bbwhitejr

Well-Known Member
Apr 14, 2013
4,308
Lake Lanier GA
Boat Info
2003 420DA, 6CTAs
Engines
NA
I had been searching for an oil leak for the past two weeks. Well, I found it today. The swivel fitting that Dennis confirmed was a swivel is leaking from the oil pan plug. We put in today and ran 5 miles or so to a nice cove and shut down. I opened the engine hatch looking for oil and immediately saw it-a lot of it. Either the hose on the swivel fitting is leaking or the swivel fitting is leaking where it attaches to the oil pan. Will find out for sure tomorrow. Checked the oil and it had dropped about a quart. Marine Max Cumming was right around the corner so I high tailed it there and bought a gallon of oil. I asked for full synthetic and they told me that Mercruiser had changed and no longer recommended full synthetic, but now synthetic blend. No problem. Put a quart in and headed back to the cove. As I was getting straight to anchor, the outdrive would not go into forward. Reverse is fine, but I had to play with the shifter a little and could get it into forward with a clunk due to higher RPMs. Messed around with this for a short while and decided to put her on the trailer and come home(after planning a 3 day weekend). Stopped at another place near the landing and decided to drop anchor and not ruin the weekend. Some time later, moved the TV to the arch to watch and the glomex amplifier(brand new) would not light up and work as well. Checked and it had power to it so it is toast as well. I can fix the oil leak, send the amp back to Glomex, but the forward gear issue-will have to have assistance. Hope it is the shift cable. Is there any adjustment in the shift cable? It was just replaced in May...

Thoughts and advice always appreciated. Thanks.:smt021
 
That is too bad. It seems to me to be a part of boating that some days just suck, and end up expensive. But your attitude is right, just throw money at the things you can fix that way. Figure out the other stuff, then move forward.
Maybe I missed it, but why the higher RPMs?
 
I have the same shift issue in my Port, Volvo outdrive, it is the shifter sleeve internally. Will fix it when it comes up onto the slip shortly.

The Starboard was done last year


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
When you move the throttle forward, the engine RPMs increase, but it does not go into gear. It eventually will and you get a "not good clunk" when it does due to the increased RPMs.
 
IanBat said:
I have the same shift issue in my Port, Volvo outdrive, it is the shifter sleeve internally. Will fix it when it comes up onto the slip shortly.

The Starboard was done last year


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...

Shifter sleeve or shift cable-does either require that the OD be pulled? Thanks
 
Is this a similar fault to the one I have, quite often as I push the throttle forward it goes loose and I can't give the engine any revs, if I pull the carburettor linkage it sometimes sorts it out,
Could it be a cable problem or the actual throttle itself?
 
I had a new cable installed on Old Skool and had the same issue. Thought I blew the gear. Frank was able to give me some instructions to adjust it. It has been working great ever since.
Seems the new cable was able stretch just enough to need readjustment.
 
I will check it out. RPMs increase when I push forward, but it doesn't go in gear. Keep messing with it and finally it clunks into forward. Reverse works fine. New shift cable was installed end of May during OD service when boat was purchased.

Thanks
 
OldSkool said:
I had a new cable installed on Old Skool and had the same issue. Thought I blew the gear. Frank was able to give me some instructions to adjust it. It has been working great ever since.
Seems the new cable was able stretch just enough to need readjustment.
Click to expand...

Ok so there is adjustment in the shift cable. Mine was replaced in May. Hopefully it just needs adjusting. Going to check out the ytube vid. Thanks.
 
Update-on the oil pan issue-I have the oil pan with the remote drain hose. Of course the pan is stamped steel. The plug and fitting are brass-dissimilar metals and the brass won. The rust and associated pin holes are in a perfect circle around the plug. Repatched yesterday with Marine Tex just trying to make it through this season and will have the drive and motor pulled to replace the pan. Am giving the Marine Tex 48 hours to fully set and plan to replace the plug and oil tomorrow. Will warm it up and see what I have. It never dripped a drop when it was cold. Got to be able to run the engine and then can hopefully find the shift issue. If you have the remote drain hose, you might want to check it out. A shop in Atlanta told me today that they see this quite a bit. Engine with low hours is not run enough to evaporate any moisture that may be present in the oil. Boat sits, moisture collects in the lowest point, and it rusts from the inside. Given the added galvanic corrosion and you have a major issue. Boat only has 200 hours and only 173 when I bought in May. I learned the hard way to always run a hand over the oil pan during the survey. Had the surveyor or I done this, patch/rust is found and avoid a very costly repair.
 
I just ordered an oil pan and gasket for mine yesterday. I don't have the oil drain hose on mine but there is rust around the drain plug area and also around the front of the pan. I've decide I'm going to do mine myself.
 
I think it would be best to go back with a plug made out of the same material as the pan. I am also going to look into painting the exterior of the pan with bed liner material or have it powder coated. This sounds like a good idea to me. At least you got 5 more years out of yours than I did. Once I change mine out, I will never have to do this again as I will wax it weekly if I have too!

Bennett
 
bbwhitejr said:
I am also going to look into painting the exterior of the pan with bed liner material or have it powder coated. This sounds like a good idea to me.
Click to expand...

if the pan rusted out from the inside as you stated below painting the exterior of the pan with truck bed liner will not stop that.....is there an aluminum or stainless steel pan available?......if you could powder coat the inside and outside of the new steel pan that would help prevent rusting of the pan....

cliff
 
I was told that any moisture in the oil will settle to the lowest point. In an unused boat with very low hours, the engine is not heated up often enough to evaporate or burn off any moisture. This is someone else's concept and the more I read and mull it over, more and more, not sure I buy it.

Cliff-you are correct. Painting the outside won't do anything to help the inside. I will see more once I have it changed out and the old one in my hands.
 
bbwhitejr said:
I was told that any moisture in the oil will settle to the lowest point. In an unused boat with very low hours, the engine is not heated up often enough to evaporate or burn off any moisture. This is someone else's concept and the more I read and mull it over, more and more, not sure I buy it..
Click to expand...

i am not sure of the chemistry involved, but i think this is the same agrument supporting changing out the drive oil in an outdrive at the end of each season....if there is moisture (water) in the drive oil supposedly it can start to corrode the gears in the outdrive....so it stands to reason if there is moisture in the engine oil and it sits in the oil pan for a long time i suppose the pan could begin to rust.....

again, i am not a chemist so i don't know if this is accurate but it is what i have read before....

cliff
 
Last edited:
Update-Motor and drive have been pulled and a new oil pan installed. Asked the shop to look into the "going into forward" issue while they had the boat. Mechanic asked me today to explain what it was doing and he instantly says I need a new clutch and gear pak. Does this ever end? He told me that if I wanted to take it and use it a few more times this season, I would not hurt anything. I told him that I would go that route for now. This is the same shop that wanted $500 in labor to install new trim sender/sensors even after they already had the drive off to install the oil pan. This seemed ridiculous to me. Maybe they do not want any new business. I can live with the trim readings for now. Anyway, I do have an independent Certified Merc Tech available to investigate the "forward issue" when I so choose. Hopefully, this will end sooner than later....
 
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