2000 9.9 4 stroke - won't hold oil and can't pull start

Seloc manual is on order but in the meantime, can someone shed some light on this. I went to do a routine oil change on my 2000 Merc 9.9 4 stroke. As I started to refill with fresh oil, it started to leak out from the prop area. Not sure what is going on there. Of note is that the last time I had it out on the water, I couldn't seem to get it to start as in physically, I could not pull start it. It's like something was binding up and not letting me crank it. On shore, I tried to manipulate the prop by hand and it feels like a ridiculous amount of compression-like resistance. Suffice to say, its hard to turn by hand.
Any ideas in advance of the manual showing up so I can understand the internals?
Thanks in advance.

Re: 2000 9.9 4 stroke - won't hold oil and can't pull start

was there any oil in the motor when you went to drain it for the oil change?

Re: 2000 9.9 4 stroke - won't hold oil and can't pull start

hum. doesnt sound good. like above. did it have any oil in it that you drained? and was there alot or very little. sounds like a seal or something let oil drain and it was ran without oil. doesnt sound seized but being real tight. i could be wrong .

Re: 2000 9.9 4 stroke - won't hold oil and can't pull start

When I drained it for the oil change, everything appeared normal and a seemingly appropriate amount of spent oil came out as expected. What threw me off completely is when I began refilling with fresh oil, it all started coming out the prop. Fingers crossed that it didnt get run with insufficient oil but I still dont understand what happened.