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Camilo
 
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Default My motor - leaking oil near lower unit? (with photo)


"Robert 7" wrote in message
.rogers.com...
It doesn't drip anymore.. only one night. Color is black as you can see,
really freaked me out!!! very annoying. See my latest post, I forgot to
tell I did something really stupid I switched to "off" and I tried to

pull
the cord for many times until I realized.. so could that be the cause of
unburnt oil?


Hey Rob - those motors can put out a surprising amount of filthy black oily
residue out of the exhaust - and as you've probably figured out, it's
sometimes tough to figure out where the exhaust is - there is probalby one
or more actual exhaust ports on the leg as well as through the prop.
Therefore, it can drip off the lower unit in places you wouln't expect and
look like it's leaking around the prop shaft, etc. This very same thing
fooled me when I first inherited a Merc kicker (my big motor puts out a lot
of this crap as well, but it's more obvious that it's coming out the
exhaust).

As you have said, the gear oil is quite a bit different color than that -
that's probably your main way of telling. Second clue is the thickness. In
my experience leaking gear oil is still thicker than exhaust oil. I also
think (but am not sure) that if your black residue doesn't have that
distinctive gear oil smell, that would be a definitive clue.\

Hoping it's "normal",

Cam