Spitting up oil

[John]

Help! My Universal 25 is spitting up oil through the overflow tube.I went to the boat after three weeks and tried to start the engine.I had noticed during the first crank after holding the glow plugfor about thirty seconds the engine was rolling over very slow.After further examination I found that the shore power was off,so I reset the breaker and tried to crank the engine again.It didn't fire off again, so I let it set for about a minute.This time it started, pushing out several gallons of waterthrough the exaust. Shortly after that my wife noticed thatthere was oil coming out of the flip up engine access door.Of course I shut the engine down, and it appeared that theoil had been coming out of the top of the engine, wherethere is an overflow tube that routes around by the air intake.The oil seems to be black but it doesn't smell burnt. And theoil might have some water in it. By the way the boat is in freshwater.Thank you for any advise or help you give me!

 

[Jeff Walker]

check the oil dipstick

Hopfully there is no water mixed with the oil. That would cause what you described and the level on the dipstick would be well over "full". I would also pull the injectors and make sure the aqualift filter is not full of water and that the compression release on top of the engine is in the closed position.Good luck and please let us know what happened.Jeff

 

[Todd Osborne]

Do you close your through hull?

You might be filling your muffler & even engine with water if you1) don't close your through hull to the engine when you turn the engine off for long periods2) don't have a functioning anti-siphon valve on the water intake line.My boat does not have an anti-siphon valve so I have to be dilligent about turning off the raw water intake valve or my muffler will fill up & make the engine difficult to turn over. Worse yet, if left to fill, the water level would eventually back up into my engine & kill the whole thing!

 

[Big-O]

Possible source of oil leak

The oil leaK MAY BE an indication that you need a valve job. The head is leaking oil around the valve guides.