1959 Evinrude Sportwin grey sludge leaking from gear case??

MarkS.

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Jul 29, 2014
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I have a 10 hs evinrude sportwin and I believe its year is 1959. There is a small hole on the bottom of the gear case behind the screen. Not sure if it is supposed to be there but it is slowly leaking a grey colored sludge like substance and it drips on the prop. I drained the gear oil and the gear oil was good. Not sure if it a problem, if it is what could it be? I can post pictures of the hole if it helps. But I don't have pictures of the sludge since I wiped it down when I drained the oil. Thanks for the help.
 

bbstacker1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Mar 7, 2010
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Sounds normal for one of those, it is especially bad if you only run it in a barrel. You said the gear oil looks good so it should not be anything to worry about.
 

MarkS.

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Jul 29, 2014
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Well that makes me feel better. I started it in a barrel due to it wasn't running very well. It was fouling a cylinder at an idle. Trying to adjust the slow idle mixture. Didn't seem to work right. Went threw the carb and new plugs and now it's running good. Idles great. Is there a better way to run them other than doing the trouble shooting on a lake? Also I went to a hotter spark plug hopping it wouldn't foul as much. Is that going to hurt anything?
 

Chinewalker

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Hotter plug, by how much? Original recommendation was the J4J (current J4C), and I find the J6J (current J6C) works well. Going higher may be a problem... If you continue to foul plugs, your issue may be ignition related, not plug related.
 

MarkS.

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Jul 29, 2014
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My cowling said J6J. I pulled out J8J and put in 9LM thinking the J8J was the original. Would the 9 be too hot?? I am learning the two stroke thing so maybe the black on the plug is normal for burning mixed fuel. So maybe I had a starvation problem on the idle end vs a fouling issue. After I cleaned the carb it ran great. Maybe I should put the J8J back in and see what happens.
 

MarkS.

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Jul 29, 2014
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I will put the J6C in it......ok back to the grey sludge. I took a pic of the hole where the sludge is draining and I found another hole a little farther up the shaft by the bolts. Both are circled red for their locations. I drained the gear oil yesterday and the sludge was still dripping ever so slowly. No sludge is coming from gear box holes and the gear oil is good. Are these holes supposed to be there? Should I plug them? Just want to make sure there is not a problem. Thank you so much for all the tips...
 

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Campster

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Jul 14, 2014
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I think this is all normal operation . Not familiar with this particular model, but with others of this vintage, and they all have multiple drain points to let un-combusted fuel and combustion byproducts drain into the lake-as much as 20% of fuel in tank in some older models ends up in the lake in the form of sludge, so they are messy all around. Simple, but messy. Some lakes have banned use of these motors, allowing only DFI 2 stroke or 4 stroke engines - not advocating, just mentioning. I still run my older engine from early 60s, but my engine from mid 90s with three times the horses leaves less fuel in the water (and it is still uses carburetor too).
 

pro-crastinator

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Dec 12, 2013
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453
From my younger days, swapping main jets, running alcohol, drilling holes in piston skirts:
The "perfect" temp range for spark plugs in a 2 stroke engine is when the plug insulator is a tan color after a short test run running wide open throttle.
If the color is "too light" it tells us that the combustion temp is too high. - cooler plugs advised.
Internet searches will reveal the color ranges you are looking for.
Slower motor operation will produce more soot - which tends to foul the plugs - which is why you test at WOT.
The danger you are avoiding is melting the piston during a long wide open run.

Have fun with it.
 
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