Cant find oil leak

[tollycraft]

Hi guys. Was fishing for a week and the last day we came through what I describe a quite heavy seas and the boat took a bit of a beating. I found what I believe to be transmission oil in the bildge, slightly red looking. I cleaned up the bildge so it would'nt get pumped into the lake and started to track down the leak. Can not find a leak anywhere! Not sure what I'm missing here. The tranny fluid is slightly down on the starboard engine, but not much. I felt around the bolts where the tranny bolts up to the engine and thats fine. As of now, I'm waiting to go back up to the boat next week-end and see if there is an oil trail that may lead me to the source. Any ideas of what I may have missed here or possibly a way to track down this leak. Thanks.

 

[tobnpr]

There's a strong possibility that running in the rough seas allowed some fluids that were otherwise laying in a "stagnant" area of the bilge ended up where you can now see it.

Since it doesn't sound like you already have them, it's a good idea to lay oil diapers under your engines/tranny- they'll make it evident where the leak is.

 

[JAFI]

Also dbl check all the hydraulic lines and fittings. You can run a dry paper towel over all the hoses and fittings to check for the red fluid.

 

[tollycraft]

Thanks guys, both good ideas, will do that next week-end when I'm up, will be staying over night so may find the problem the next day.

 

[Mike-n-Jolie]

If you're really worried about it,go to NAPA or some other reputable parts house and buy some flourescent(sp) dye along with some yellow lenses and a UV lamp. Add dye to the suspected systems and run the boat for a day. Then go back into the bilge area and pinpoint the leak. This is the most accurate method to find leaks in the powertrain inside the boat. Good luck with that and keep us posted. Fluid leaks are bad-just see my sig.