Fuel leakage

[zippy83]

Hello All,

I have an older Mercury 1973 50HP 2 stroke outboard.. It runs great and I didnt have any issues with it. However this past fishing outing I attended it was brought to my attention that my outboard is leaking fuel when its on and off. You can see it in the water.. Last year I had the fuel lines inside the motor replaced along with the fuel filter.

How can I go about and look for the leak? I understand the leak could be very small bu the impact it has on the water is great. My fuel economy is still where it was when I got it. 5 gal will laste me about 12 -14 miles

 

[oldman570]

Re: Fuel leakage

Gas and oil being burned in the motor has to go out the exhaust and into the water. It could be that the motor is running to rich and a more noticeable film on the water can be a indication of it. You can check the plugs and see if this is the case, or do a tune-up and link an sync of the motor and see if it helps. Checking the compression of the motor should be done when reading the plugs. If every thing checks out fine, then run it. It could be that the one that brought it to your attention is a dealer and wants to sell you a new 4 stroke or is a tree hugger and dose not realize that even the 4 stroke motors exhaust into the water unless the water is making more oil in the crank case, as has happened on some of them. JMO
Oldman570

 

[zippy83]

Re: Fuel leakage

Gas and oil being burned in the motor has to go out the exhaust and into the water. It could be that the motor is running to rich and a more noticeable film on the water can be a indication of it. You can check the plugs and see if this is the case, or do a tune-up and link an sync of the motor and see if it helps. Checking the compression of the motor should be done when reading the plugs. If every thing checks out fine, then run it. It could be that the one that brought it to your attention is a dealer and wants to sell you a new 4 stroke or is a tree hugger and dose not realize that even the 4 stroke motors exhaust into the water unless the water is making more oil in the crank case, as has happened on some of them. JMO
Oldman570

Thanks for the post. I do feed it a little more on 2 cycle oil then I should (3oz per gallon) but I was told tat's ok that it will just smoke a little more. I can definitely go back down to 2.7oz per gal if that is the issue here..