1983 35hp leak

1) I went and checked out the boat today. It seems that my friend's dad put the motor in the upright position sometime in the past few months. When I looked around the gear case, I noticed some greasy/oily looking stuff on the backside (opposite side of the propeller). It is up on the top of the gear case, the little ledge there. I am guessing the seal or gasket right there may be bad? There is no fluid on the floor and there is only about 1/2-1 teaspoon of fluid bulit up there. <br /><br />What could be the cause of this?<br /><br />If this is bad, how hard is it to change that seal and/or gasket? Easy enough for a semi-handy guy? <br /><br />What if I put on the muffs and start it up to see if it leaks any, could that hurt the motor? <br /><br />2) If I can't change it, how much would someone charge me to change it do you think?<br /><br />3) How much are general tune-up on these motors?<br /><br />I am going to go look at it tomorrow again and see if I can make sure that's where it is coming from.

Re: 1983 35hp leak

Hi Zias.....<br /><br />If the stuff is a gooey black stuff, may just be exhaust oil finally migrating out of the exhaust cavity. What I would do is drain the lower unit and see what shape the gear lube is in and if it matches the stuff on the engine. If not, then you can refill the gear case and go boating.<br /><br />Cost of a tune up varies from shop to shop. Really can't quote a price to you. Shop around for the best price. But be aware that some shops will not work on the older engines.

Re: 1983 35hp leak

Thanks OBJ, you certainly helped me have hope! I went down to the boat shop today and grabbed some gear lube. Before I went down, I talked with a guy down there on the phone and he said the exact same thing you did.<br /><br />I also will take a picture tomorrow and post it to show you what I am talking about. In addition, I will follow up on how things progress in case someone else runs into this on their motor.<br /><br />In addition, I bought a maintenance manual here on Iboats to help in the future.

Re: 1983 35hp leak

Well, I went and checked out the motor some more. I drained the gear lube and refilled it. The color of the lube was a brownish/gold color. The new stuff was a greenish color. Did they used to use brownish color lube? I filtered it and ran a magnet through it and found no metal shavings in it. <br /><br />The stuff that I talked about up above looks like it could just be exhaust goo that drained out. I am going to go and start the engine tomorrow for a final test. <br /><br />No pictures though... I forgot the camera.

Re: 1983 35hp leak

The new BRP gear lube is a greenish color....the older stuff was an amber color. Was the old lube opaque....couldn't see thru it? Kinda heavy looking?

Re: 1983 35hp leak

Yep. It is opaque. The more I look at it, it is maybe a brownish/greenish/gold/pearl color. I hope that is confusing enough. Depends on the light I am in. Does that sound ok? It is a consistent consistency. No water settling or anything. I have it right in front of me. <br /><br />Also, what spark plug should I get. The manual shows I need a Champion L77J4 or AC-M40FFX. Auto-zone doesn't have these. Would I have to go back to the boat shop to get one? Is there a replacement I can get at Auto-Zone or somewhere? What gap should I put on a replacement? Manual shows I need a 0.040 gap. I have heard of people running a .035 though.

Re: 1983 35hp leak

Stay with Champion. Use a QL77JC4. You can gap it at .040 and get a better idle at low end and not effect the top end. Recommended gap is .030.<br /><br />That's a beautiful color oil you got there..... Sounds maybe like it's got a little water entrained in it. After the next trip out, check it again after letting it set upright for a while. Just crack the drain plug and see what comes out. When was the last time it was changed out?

Re: 1983 35hp leak

Nice. I am going to be doing a lot of trolling with it, so slow speeds are pretty much my realm. I will gap it at .040 then if it helps at low speeds and idle. Thanks again.<br /><br />No idea the last time the lube was changed since I only bought the boat last year. I imagine 3-4 years?... maybe. The guy I bought it from owned it for 3 years and never did anything to it since he already had a boat. He inherited it from a friend who passed away. His wife said he took it out maybe 2 times in 3 years. The motor looks in excellent shape. No rust or anything on it anywhere. <br /><br />Anything else you think I should look at? Gonna do a bit of greasing on it before going out but besides that everything looks ok. The startup test tomorrow should be the real test I know...

Re: 1983 35hp leak

Consider a carb overhaul.....when ya' ain't fishin'...LOL! No telling what the bowl gasket is like after all these years. Is the bowl gasket black?

Re: 1983 35hp leak

I got out there this evening again and got to fire the motor up. <br /><br />She kicked over on the 3rd hit and ran a touch rough in the beginning but seemed to come around after a couple of minutes. At first it sounded like vroom, vroom, bang. Vroom, vroom, bang. Do you think that is anything to worry about, since it pretty much went away?<br /><br />It did seem to mellow out pretty good but I still have to change the plugs before heading out on the water. <br /><br />I didn't get to check the carb gasket. I was kind of in a hurry.