Major Oil Leak
 

I was out yesterday in the intercoastal going for a couple adult beverages with wife, short ride 2 or 3 miles never went over 3600 RPM,

backed into the restaurant running fine 25 Oil psi at Idle, 140 degrees, turned engines off

came out found 3 quarts of oil in bilge, never would have noticed it before start up except engine wouldn't start, opened hatch and what a discovery, idled back to marina on 1 engine
pulled boat out filled 3 quarts and engine still wont turn over, the solenoid isn't even clicking, all electrical is working gauges etc.

my first question is any direction as far as leak might be the motors are fresh from the previous owner with only about 25 hrs. on them could it be the rear seal,

1993 32 fever, bone stock Gen IV 502 with Bravos

I know I have some major work but should I start with the starting issue first?

Direction please

Your only hope is that a line came off the oil cooler. That does not expalin the no start though. I think you are going to find a major problem.

Had full compression and leak down test 4 months ago was fine, I am perplexed as everybody says the rear seals don't leak, I haven't been able to get in far enough yet to see if one of the oil fitting lines is cracked at all down under the block. I have blown up plenty of motors in the past and this isn't acting like that. I was wondering if the hot oil may have shorted something, burnt a wire?? I am not sure, but I have heard of some small freeze plugs behind the flywheel leaking oil. Like I said I am just hoping for some direction

Pull all the sparkplugs and see if you can turn over with a pull handle...Good luck

I can turn the motor by hand with a huge breaker bar off the harmonic balancer, it's not cooked

I would pull the coil wire and jump the starter and see if it turns over. It could be something as stupid as a ignition switch. (I had that problem once)

There may be enough engine oil inside the starter if it is a low block mount. The oil insulates the brushes. The starter solenoid gets its ground through the starter brushes. This could be why your gauges work, yet your engine does not crank.

Have someone crank the key while you hold a test light at the slave solenoid for the starter. See If you are getting power to and from the slave solenoid. Also, check the grounds on the block, connection at the starter, and at the battery.

Last year being a dummy, I replaced a starter on my Chevy truck because I figured it was bad. Without doing the proper checks (and I know better), I installed the new starter. Still no crank. Although the battery positive connection looked good from the outside (side mount terminal), and all my lights worked, the culprit was a corroded positive battery connection. Cleaned it, and voila, she fired right up.

Not ...

Might double check the teathered kill switchs, seen that happen to a guy after he was at the resturant one time took him till mid week to trace it down.

I am not worried about the starter, if it's a starter no big deal, the motor turns over by hand with the exact same resistance on the other. Like I said when I turned it off it was pushing 25 to 30 psi at 600 RPM, 140 degrees. My main concern is this oil leak I am probably going to suck the engine out by the end of the week. Is there any suggestions as far as the oil leak is concerned.

Pull the distributer , put a pre-oiler in the hole and look for the leak ...I would think with having lost three quarts the leak would be obvious...quick

On a Mk IV, the two piece ream main seal is a common culprit for leaks, especially if they managed to put it in backwards - it happens. Likewise, I have seen other "doh!" moves like putting the wrong main galley plugs in the back of the block - the ones with the oil holes that are supposed to go in the front. Either can result in a massive leak. Another place to look is the oil lines and block adapter. Have you made sure that it wasn't pushing it out the breathers or the dipstick tube? Blowby from rings that have not seated can cause this. I guess until you diagnose the issue that is keeping it from turning over you have no other way of observing for a leak than motor's suggestion, and that is not likely to reveal the leak if the culprit is a seal or blowby.

It's definitely not coming out of the dipstick or breathers, I am dropping the exhaust manifold so I can get access to the starter and bypass to check, and tomorrow pulling the engine.

This is a quick and easy way to find an oil leak.

A little update, I had one of those duh moments, neutral safety switch was a fraction out of adjustment. Motor starts and pushes great pressure. Tomorrow will run on the muffs and try and find leak. Thanks for all the help so far

brain cramp

That has happened to me so many times that I naturally jiggle the shifters now by habit...

The kill switch still gets me once in a while though after I clean the boat - duh...

My Father has a lake house, and a pontoon boat. He told me the engine wouldnt start (outboard). So i go check it out for him. Just crankin like a sob. Boat is on a lift, so i am leaned over like a monkey fiddling with the engine. Checked for spark, no spark. I start digging deeper into it. After about 15 minutes of being upside down, I yell to my father who is sitting at the helm.....

''Dad, is the kill switch fob in place properly??"'

He replies "Uh, wait, Uh no, its on the floor''.

Me "'WTF Dad".

He removed it while cleaning lol

LOL - For some reason I HAVE to remove the FOB when I clean the dash.

I did the lever thing. Had just switched my props to spin back out at the helm by swapping cable mount points. Put it all back together and p would not start, was pissed... And was sweating my b&$$ off.. Pulled levers back out while sweat is now pouring off my head and that damn lil switch has slide out a lil, pushed back in and vrrrroooom vrrrrrooom,

A little update for all, yesterday I dropped the exhaust manifold on the port side of the port engine, the bottom of the pan was dry. So then I removed the distributor and spun the oil pump like recommended to do and WOW the remote adapter was leaking like a sieve, ordered a new one with lines and hopefully on the water by this weekend. Thanks for all the help, and I especially appreciated the DUH stories, makes me feel like I know I am still not the most intelligent guy out there...............LOL. NOW off to a great summer for all

I'm assuming you also ordered the two seals .One is like a thick oil filter gasket for perimeter of adapter the other goes on the fastener/sleeve up the center of adapter

I ordered some kit that had several seals etc. had to come from Fond du lac. So I am assuming it has what I need

Don't feel bad about the neutral safety switch, I was at the lake with my Scarab and a family was at the dock swapping the battery out of their truck into their boat, and it still wouldn't start so they were about to pull the battery back out to put in the truck and back the trailer back down to get the boat but I talked them into letting me check it out for them first and all it was is the shifter wasn't in neutral. they didn't even know it had a neutral safety switch or that you could push the throttle only button to throttle up without going into gear.
The only reason I even thought of it was I had done it myself once after selling my jet and getting an IO boat.

Don't feel bad about the 'doh' moments... my exploder wouldn't start one day...thought I trouble shooted it to the fuel pump. spent 2 days dropping the tank 3/4s full, to replace the tank laying on my back in the street. got finished, still didn't start. called a friend who is a mechanic by trade. He came over, opened the hood, tapped on the fuel pump relay and said give it a try. fired right up. 2 days work, 200 dollar pump for nothing.

Well all fixed, rockin and Rollin, awesome oil pressure,. Thank to all for all the help