Johnson 1980 9.9 lower unit leaking oil out of small hole

[bsousa]

I had the lower unit off standing upright in a bucket waiting on my new water pump which came in today. I did pull the drive shaft out prior to installing the water pump but replaced it before starting. It slide in easily but floats up a bit due to fluid pressure it appears. I noticed some lower unit fluid in the bucket but thought that i had spilled some when i did the initial fill so didn't worry about it. Did the water pump install and mounted the lower unit back on the engine. All good until i noticed oil weeping out of this very small hole at the bottom of the lower unit. Attached a drawing showing the location of the hole. Did i pump up some oil somewhere when i removed and replaced the drive shaft? Your thoughts ?

 

[rolmops]

The oil you see is most probably a mix of exhaust and water. The hole you see is made in there to drain the gunk that tends to build up in the exhaust housing specially when the engine runs at a low rpm. Just to make sure, do the smell test. Open your lower unit gear drain just enough to drain some oil on your finger and smell it. It should be the smell of very heavy gear oil and it should be clean. now put your finger on the oil coming out of that hole. It probably has a bit of a burn smell.

 

[bsousa]

it looks like dirty lower unit oil in the bucket, the oil weeping out looks fairly new and does not smell burnt. I bet I have a 1/4 cup oil oil in my bucket.... two pictures. I wiped off the lower unit and it does not seem to be coming out any more. I wonder if when i pulled the drive shaft out (there was fresh oil in the lower unit) that i spilled oil into another cavity ?

 

[jimmbo]

Get the case Pressure tested. 2 ounces of Oil is a lot. You may have pressurized the case by pumping Air into it, by R&Ring the Driveshaft, which could push some oil past the Seals, but 2 ounces... Does it Stink to High Heaven like Gear does?

 

[bsousa]

Get the case Pressure tested. 2 ounces of Oil is a lot. You may have pressurized the case by pumping Air into it, by R&Ring the Driveshaft, which could push some oil past the Seals, but 2 ounces... Does it Stink to High Heaven like Gear does?

Looks like dirty gear oil. Smells like dirty gear oil. I used Lucas sae 75w-90 Looks like that except darker.

 

[909]

Sludgey.

 

[Crosbyman]

run the engine for a while & recheck gear oil... if ok don't worry about it. keep that drain hole clear with a pipe cleaner ...even moreso if you store for winter storage. hole is a LU water drain.