Mercruiser alpha 2 main seal leak

[Jay E.]

It appears my main seal is leaking. I have oil that drips down behind the large flange at the back of the engine when the engine is run. After a couple of hours of running, I am getting about a shot glass full of oil in the bilge. I understand that the repair would include pulling the engine out of the boat and am trying to avoid that cost for now. Will the seal continue to leak slowly and advance over time such that I can forgo the repair for now and just keep topping off the oil? Or, is there a chance the seal will totally blow while I am running causing all the oil to leak out and seize the engine?

 

[Bt Doctur]

very hard to ceve see the seal itself, are you assuming thats where the leak is. Pulling the engine is about 2 hours, has to come up high enough to remove the rear housing, coupler , flywheel, and seal seal carrier. pop the seal out and pop it in.

 

[Jay E.]

Yes, I am assuming that is where the leak is. Can't find any oil anywhere on the engine except at the way back. Also, can hitting sand bars (at low speed) jar the shaft enough to cause a leak in the main seal?

 

[Bondo]

Also, can hitting sand bars (at low speed) jar the shaft enough to cause a leak in the main seal?

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... That, ^^^ is Extremely unlikely,.....

 

[achris]

Oil at the back of the engine could also be a rocker cover leak, a head gasket leak, intake manifold leak.

The only way to tell is pull the engine.

Will it just keep leaking at the current rate, or get worse? That my friend, is in the lap of the gods...

Either spend 3 hours pulling it all out and fixing it now, while it's still a cheap fix, or maybe spend 3 hours and a shed load more money fixing it later... If you have a problem, fix it while it's a small/cheap one. Why wait for it to get bigger/expensive? (Sometimes I don't understand that mentality. :facepalm

Chris....