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Water pump - leaking oil?

Old 11-07-2022 | 07:56 AM
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Default Water pump - leaking oil?

I have a little leak somewhere after the motor went back in and think it may be tied to the water pump - it looks as though some oil flung off the belt in this general area. First question, do they have any type of fluid in them other than water? Seems to have some residue on the outside of the casing as well. Before I pull it off to inspect futher, wanted to see if it's even possbile it's coming from here.

Can't stand a dirty bilge and trying to clean up all the little small leaks that turn into a mess.

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Todd
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Old 11-07-2022 | 08:00 AM
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If you have the sea water pump that has a fuel pump attached to it, then yes, there's an oil reservoir for the fuel pump.

The older style bravo pump with no fuel pump attached has no oil in it.
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Old 11-07-2022 | 08:11 AM
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If its not the fuel pump mounted style then the bearing seals have probably gone bad and water is getting inside the bearings, you could be pushing out what looks like oil but is grease mixed water out of the front bearing seal as well.
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Old 11-08-2022 | 05:44 PM
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I took a closer look today. The pump is a Sierra 18-3150. It appears the hose that runs to the back of the engine has a decent amount of oil/fluid on it, mainly on the underside of the hose. To be honest, not sure exactly what the contraption it runs to is called. I'm guessing it's an oil cooler of some sort since the filter is mounted right off it on the port side. Based off what was mentioned with the bearing seals going bad, would I see oil in this area on the hose?

I checked the PS pump, thinking it was possible fluid was hitting the belt and slinging over, but I do not think that's the case. I need to pull the sea pump off and give it an inspection, but wanted to run it by the group.





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Old 11-09-2022 | 09:10 AM
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That style pump is not full of oil but grease. You can usually tell if its engine oil or power steering etc by the smell....wipe it with a white paper towel and look at the oil's color and give it a sniff if the color doesn't give it away...hopefully it will narrow things down from there.
Is there any oil in the bottom of the bilge?? maybe a front crank seal is leaking and oil getting slung outwards all over the place.....
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Old 11-10-2022 | 09:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Wally
That style pump is not full of oil but grease. You can usually tell if its engine oil or power steering etc by the smell....wipe it with a white paper towel and look at the oil's color and give it a sniff if the color doesn't give it away...hopefully it will narrow things down from there.
Is there any oil in the bottom of the bilge?? maybe a front crank seal is leaking and oil getting slung outwards all over the place.....
Great point here. It’s definitely not red PS fluid or clear / grease. Interesting it didn’t have much of a smell to it. There is a little oil in the bilge from time to time more like slinging small droplets. When I drained oil at the end of season it definitely wasn’t down in fluid but I only had maybe 10 hours of run time.
ivr never used that ultraviolet dye before but may give that a shot.
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Old 11-10-2022 | 11:40 AM
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my buddy had a valve cover leak on his truck he didn't know about but it was making a mess under the engine. He thought it was a leaky head gasket or rear main seal. Until he took it to dealer for an unrelated issue and they gave him a list of "things that need attention" and noted that right side valve cover leaking...he fixed that and no more mess!
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