1973 mercury seal leaking gas

[zippy83]

Hi everyone.

I have a 1973 Mercury 50 hp outboard. Today when I was putting the boat in the garage a noticed that it was leaking some fuel from the outboard. Its in the upper part above the exhaust. There seems to be an rubber seal that goes around the whole thing. Here is a picture

does anyone know what this could be and hiw to fo about fixing it?

Thanks
zipp

 

[merc850]

It's just a seal to keep water and vibrations away from the driveshaft housing, the fuel must be leaking from a line or carb. Does this happen when the motor is tilted up all the way - if so it's carb drippings. Is that gas on your finger?

 

[zippy83]

Hi. Its dripping while it’s tilted down. Whenit was tukted up I did not see anything but when I came home from the lake and tilted it down to store it that is when I noticed it dripping. I had put on some ear muffs on and ran it outside and I would see a drop or two when its running as well.

Yes that is gas on my finger.. its a little
thicker then what I have in the tank. The seal that goes around poped out on one spot and I used a dull flat head screw driver to bump it into place.

 

[The Force power]

I don't remember..but I think they already had a catch-basin for the fuel under the carburetors.
if the carbs. are not leaking when the motor is down, it must come out of them when the motor is up.
the fuel get collected in the basin & will drain when the motor is back down, some of the catch-basins have a drain hose attached to them and is connected to a drain port.

remove the wrap and have a look follow the leak
the wrap is held on with 4 screws easy accessible

 

[zippy83]

Thanks for the reply. I was always told to unplug the fuel line from the motor before storing it and let the motor stall so that there isn't any buildup in the carb. I always did that until today since I was planing on going out this weekend again. My question is should it be leaking through the seal on the bottom, and should it be leaking while the motor is running? My assumption is no, that I should not have any fuel leaks while the motor is running but I have been wrong before many times.

I can look today and see if I can see anything in there.

 

[The Force power]

Locate the source of the leak first, there should be no fuel leak while running the engine or engine sitting trimmed down.
(what you see leaking out could be left-over fuel leakage finding its way out.)

it is better to leave gas combined with fuel conditioner in the Carbs. when stored, don't run the carbs. out of fuel. (it is not possible to do that anyway. there's residue left in the Carbs)

 

[merc850]

Your motor might have a fuel filter on the starboard side of the block which could be leaking (yellow section) pump the bulb and watch for leakage.

 

[zippy83]

I will look into that as well..