Oil Everywhere!!!

[Nereussailor]

I have a Yanmar 2GM in my Hunter 30. I'm not sure what all work was done to it before I owned it, but I have done regular oil and filter changes and general maintenence since I bought it. I've had no problems, but all of a sudden I've got oil spraying out of the aft starboard side of the engine. I tried to see where it was coming from but couldn't see anything with the limited access while running. I thought that I might not have gotten the dipstick in tight but it was. It runs smooth and starts right up. It doesn't blow much smoke, a little on start up but within a few seconds it disappears. Has anyone had this issue with a Yanmar 2GM? I have searched the FSM and can't seem to pinpoint anything. I can troubleshoot repair and rebuild any gasoline engine, but haven't dealt much with marine diesel engines.

 

[Dan Hill]

This is how I would precede. Clean and dry the area you think its coming from with brake cleaner and compressed air. Be careful with vapors, proper ventilation...blah blah. Close sea cock for cooling system(prevents flooding engine exhaust). Open both decompression levers(easier on starter). Pull shut down cable(prevents firing). Crank for 20-30 seconds while watching the suspect area. It should build enough oil psi in that time to find leak. I suspect a head gasket maybe.

Good luck!

 

[woodster]

there is an oil line on the out side of the block that runs from the lower port side stating about the oil filter area and runs to the rear and up behind the rear of the block you may need to check that and see if it is leaking from its banjo fitting ..if so get some new crush washers and reload them and see if that stops it or the line could rusted through and need replacing .....

regards

woody

 

[kloudie1]

Ditto Woody.. The external oil line would be my first suspect. Next, check the fuel pump mounting bolts .. A loose fuel pump flange can get oil all over the stbd aft side of the engine.

 

[Nereussailor]

Thanks ya'll. I will head down to the boat this afternoon and start troubleshooting. The hardest part will be the clean up so I can find the leak. The foil covered foam has holes in the foil and the oil has saturated the foam. It would help if it wasn't still summer here. We're supposed to be in the mid 80's and sunny here today with a nice little breeze. That's sailin' weather, not fixin' weather

 

[sailaway78]

Simple first

All good suggestions. Start with the simplest/easiest first. One more thing that is a pretty easy fix is the valve cover gasket. If it lets go, you will get a lot of oil out of it. I once had the rubber grommet on the valve cover hold down bolts go away, and it blew all the oil out. Fortunately, the buzzer came on just as I was anchoring at the end of the day, and I had oil on board.

 

[ggrizzard]

Nereus,
If you changed your filter just before the time when this happened, check the diameter of the oil filter vis a vie the block where it mounts. The regional Yanmar dist. sent me the wrong size, but I caught it before installing.

 

[Nereussailor]

Thanks for the help everyone. As it turns out, the dipstick was out. I thought it was seated, but it wasn't in. When I go to push it in it feels like it's seated but it's not. The rubber seal on it seems really hard and it doesn't feel tight when it is seated all the way. I've got a Yanmar dealer a few miles south of here so I'm going to see if he has one. I am going to replace the sound absorption/heat shield inside the engine compartment though.