Clean 2 stroke oil leak

[pjmontalto]

I have a slow drip of clean (blue) oil coming from the bottom of my 2002 utopia 205. Drip looks to be coming from the plate just aft of the water intake grill. No visible leaks in engine compartment. Any ideas? This boat project is new to me and not familiar with 2 strike jets.

 

[Tim75]

We were all newbs here once upon a time.

Sounds like gear oil.
Basically, 6 places it can come from.
There are 2 screws for filling the gearbox. They are thru the intake grate, bottom of boat.
Shaft seal could be leaking.

On the stator housing-- Thru the nozzle, looking forward- there are 2 more plugs for filling the oil in the stator. They could be loose, or not have any sealant on them.
Shaft seal could be leaking.

Yes, there are 2 shaft seals. Replacing the stator shaft seal is not too hard.
Hopefully, your leak is from the gearbox fill screws. There is supposed to be a gasket washer under the head of each screw that gets lost. These are NOT o-rings.

There are threads here detailing how to change the oil in gearbox and stator.

 

[pjmontalto]

Wow. Thank you for this! Incredibly helpful. I will start with the intake grate. thanks again.

 

[jasguild]

For what its worth, I have a leak as well and unfortunately for me, mine leaks from the shaft seal on the gear box side which I was told is NOT easy or cheap fix.

The mercury guy told me with the age of my boat, and the fact the leak is small, he suggested as an alternative using a heavier gear oil such as Lucas gear oil. I know this is NOT a fix but not willing to fork out the kind of money being asked to pull the engine and replace a seal

 

[Dr Honda]

For what its worth, I have a leak as well and unfortunately for me, mine leaks from the shaft seal on the gear box side which I was told is NOT easy or cheap fix.

The mercury guy told me with the age of my boat, and the fact the leak is small, he suggested as an alternative using a heavier gear oil such as Lucas gear oil. I know this is NOT a fix but not willing to fork out the kind of money being asked to pull the engine and replace a seal

I wouldn't use the Lucas oil. The merc High Performance oil has more shear strength... and it will keep water in suspension so the gears won't rot.

Second... for a mechanic to say... "Because of the age of your boat...." He's got his head way up his butt. No it's not an easy fix... but right now, it's just a few gaskets, and your time. If you wipe out the gear box because of water intrusion... then it may be more expensive than you want to deal with.


So... if it was my boat... I would drain, flush, and refill with the proper oil, and when winter came around... fix the seal.

 

[jasguild]

So... if it was my boat... I would drain, flush, and refill with the proper oil, and when winter came around... fix the seal.

What you say makes perfect sense Dr. Honda. I would love to fix the darn thing but would prefer to do so when the engine needs a rebuild or something significant. With my luck I would fix this seal and two months down the road need a rebuild.

I will take your advice and go back to mercury and just change it 2x a season and hope it doesnt get worse.