66 Johnson 60hp lower unit

Hello all, I fairly new to boating world (from an adult perspective) and have recently taken ownership of boat and motor, everything works great with no major issues to speak of. With that said I need to know if the following is cause for alarm. Upon receiving my new toy (1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo / 1966 Johnson 60hp VXL-12R) I changed the lower unit oil and gently testing everything. While emptying the lower unit oil I noticed that the first few ounces of liquid that came out was water followed by oil. Since it was not milky and I was only going out for a short ride to test everything I wasn?t to concerned. I figured I would I would go though the lower unit over the winter anyway.
As a last weekend for boating (at least for me) I figured that I would take my new toy out for Labor Day. While doing a once-over last night I noticed a leak from the lower unit (see photos). I am guessing that this is where the water is penetrating the lower unit, but am concerned about the location. It appears that the leak is coming from a bolt above the lower unit filler inlet. I would assume this is because the motor is at an angle due to the tailoring brace. Is this cause for alarm before one more weekend of boating before winterizing and lower unit rebuilding? I would change the lower unit oil again prior going out just to be safe.

Thanks in advance,
Matt

Re: 66 Johnson 60hp lower unit

By looking at the last picture it looks like the oil is not coming from the bolt hole. Could there be a small crack at the point of origin of the leak? It kind of looks like the oil is excess build up in the exhaust, with the motor tilted like it is the oil might run down inside the housing and leak. Keep an eye on your lower unit oil level and condition. Usually when water gets in the lower unit oil it is a milkey color, unless it has set for a long period of time and the water and oil seperate, water being on the bottom.

Re: 66 Johnson 60hp lower unit

Agree - don't think it's gear oil.

Re: 66 Johnson 60hp lower unit

Ditto...looks like exhaust crud to me.

Re: 66 Johnson 60hp lower unit

exhaust crud. nasty color

Re: 66 Johnson 60hp lower unit

That's the crankcase drain and it's perfectly normal, it's appears yours is a little extreme unless that's just years of build-up, the synthetic two cycle oils make less mess, if your engine is running rich or your mix ratio has too much oil you'll have that, take compression readings, you may have a bad ring causing excessive blowby. you'll see the oily residue of unburnt fuel and oil also draining from up under the cavitation plate just in front of the prop, if not then it could be plugged causing that upper drain to look like it does, but that's just a guess.