achris
More fish than mountain goat
- Joined
- May 19, 2004
- Messages
- 27,468
Well, it's been a long and torturous road, but (fingers crossed) I think I have finally fixed my front cover oil leak...
To summarise.
2006 4.3MPI. Developed a front engine oil leak a few months after warranty expired. Pulled engine and found (plastic) timing cover broken where the sump presses against it. Replaced cover and 30 engine hours later it did the same thing again. Very close inspection of the sump revealed a fault in the casting, a high spot. At this point Mercury Australia and the dealer wiped their hands of the problem with "it's out of warranty, we can't help you".
Since then I have had the engine in and out of the boat more often than I change clothes. This time home (4 weeks) I have had it out and back in 4 times!
I eventually conceded defeat and bought a new timing cover, sump pan and gasket, but not from Australia. I bought them on the internet from a GM engine parts supplier. The price difference is staggering. In Australia sump $700, timing cover $350 and gasket $85. From the online supplier sump $159, timing cover $39 and gasket $9.... Yes I had to pay for freight, but it was still SO much cheaper...
The last timing cover I had been supplied here was Chinese and the gasket associated with it ('built-in') was too thin and that was what was causing so much drama. The last time I did the job (3 days ago) I decided to run the engine up on the stand. This is a bit more difficult than it sounds, but I had it sitting there ready to put oil in the sump and I looked at the front cover/sump seam. I couldn't believe my eyes.... OIL leaking, and I hadn't even put oil in yet! But this time I actually saw where it was originating from, because the engine was out of the boat and I was able to get my head right in among the belts... There it was, running down the OUTSIDE of the cover gasket. So I put the engine back on the 'rotisserie' and pulled the sump and cover again... This time I put a Canadian made cover on, and could see quite clearly how much better the seal around the edge was. I put another
sump gasket on with silicon sealant (being VERY careful not to overload the front groove with sealant) and let it sit upside down overnight for the sealer to cure without having ANY fluid touch it...
Next morning (yesterday) I flipped the engine back over and finished putting the front of it back together. I connected up all the various fruit and veg and eventually got the software going on the computer so I could monitor the vitals. Fired it up, bought it to temperature and let it run for another 10 minutes. Shut it down and let the heat soak in a bit and checked for leaks... So far, so good. Left it for another 3 hours, checked it for leaks, ran it again... 4 hours later I fitted it back in the boat. That's when I was also making those videos.
My son-in-law and I went fishing today. Did ok with the fish (got a nice shark mackerel and a bag of whiting), trolled around for about 4 hours at 1400rpm and quite a bit of travelling at 3200rpm... I checked the engine a couple of hours ago, and still dry.
Here's hoping it stays that way....
The main reason for this is to bring those interested and who have been following this mess up to date, and to let people know that a lot of parts on these engine can be purchased DIRECTLY from a GM supplier, and not through Mercury (or Volvo) at significant savings. These parts are the same ones GM use for these engine when they supply them to Mercury and Volvo....
To anyone who is experiencing an oil leak on the front of the sump of a 2005 or 2006 V6, there is a way to fix it which does not involve spending huge amounts on 'genuine' parts. Just buy your parts from the people who made the engine in the first place.... GM.... Anybody wanting the part number for the parts required to do this, I have them, just PM me.... Or look up parts for a 2006 GM Silverado 1500, V6 engine....
Chris.........
To summarise.
2006 4.3MPI. Developed a front engine oil leak a few months after warranty expired. Pulled engine and found (plastic) timing cover broken where the sump presses against it. Replaced cover and 30 engine hours later it did the same thing again. Very close inspection of the sump revealed a fault in the casting, a high spot. At this point Mercury Australia and the dealer wiped their hands of the problem with "it's out of warranty, we can't help you".
Since then I have had the engine in and out of the boat more often than I change clothes. This time home (4 weeks) I have had it out and back in 4 times!
I eventually conceded defeat and bought a new timing cover, sump pan and gasket, but not from Australia. I bought them on the internet from a GM engine parts supplier. The price difference is staggering. In Australia sump $700, timing cover $350 and gasket $85. From the online supplier sump $159, timing cover $39 and gasket $9.... Yes I had to pay for freight, but it was still SO much cheaper...
The last timing cover I had been supplied here was Chinese and the gasket associated with it ('built-in') was too thin and that was what was causing so much drama. The last time I did the job (3 days ago) I decided to run the engine up on the stand. This is a bit more difficult than it sounds, but I had it sitting there ready to put oil in the sump and I looked at the front cover/sump seam. I couldn't believe my eyes.... OIL leaking, and I hadn't even put oil in yet! But this time I actually saw where it was originating from, because the engine was out of the boat and I was able to get my head right in among the belts... There it was, running down the OUTSIDE of the cover gasket. So I put the engine back on the 'rotisserie' and pulled the sump and cover again... This time I put a Canadian made cover on, and could see quite clearly how much better the seal around the edge was. I put another
sump gasket on with silicon sealant (being VERY careful not to overload the front groove with sealant) and let it sit upside down overnight for the sealer to cure without having ANY fluid touch it...Next morning (yesterday) I flipped the engine back over and finished putting the front of it back together. I connected up all the various fruit and veg and eventually got the software going on the computer so I could monitor the vitals. Fired it up, bought it to temperature and let it run for another 10 minutes. Shut it down and let the heat soak in a bit and checked for leaks... So far, so good. Left it for another 3 hours, checked it for leaks, ran it again... 4 hours later I fitted it back in the boat. That's when I was also making those videos.
My son-in-law and I went fishing today. Did ok with the fish (got a nice shark mackerel and a bag of whiting), trolled around for about 4 hours at 1400rpm and quite a bit of travelling at 3200rpm... I checked the engine a couple of hours ago, and still dry.
Here's hoping it stays that way....
The main reason for this is to bring those interested and who have been following this mess up to date, and to let people know that a lot of parts on these engine can be purchased DIRECTLY from a GM supplier, and not through Mercury (or Volvo) at significant savings. These parts are the same ones GM use for these engine when they supply them to Mercury and Volvo....
To anyone who is experiencing an oil leak on the front of the sump of a 2005 or 2006 V6, there is a way to fix it which does not involve spending huge amounts on 'genuine' parts. Just buy your parts from the people who made the engine in the first place.... GM.... Anybody wanting the part number for the parts required to do this, I have them, just PM me.... Or look up parts for a 2006 GM Silverado 1500, V6 engine....
Chris.........
