I am leaking oil from my boat engine after I shut down.?

Question

It dumps most of the oil into the bilge and is difficult to find the leak. What is the best way to diagnose where it is coming from without damaging the engine? It is a 1991 8 cyl. small block chevy 350, fresh water cooled, marinized by "marine power". The boat is an '83 26' Chris Craft straight inboard.

Answer 1

Can be several things,

Are you sure it is from the engine and not from the shift gearbox.

Oil filter (not tightened)

Oil sender, oil pressure switch.

Valve cover gasket

Oil pan gasket

Oil drain plug washer !!

Crankshaft seal

Dipstick tube

Distr cover gasket

ehhh...

I had a leak once and only when hot it dripped oil (1 per 5 minutes), it was the oil drain plug , it was tight already but needed another 1/8 turn to shut properly to keep the warm oil from leaking thrue.

Clean the engine as much you can

Shovel a piece of carton board under the engine so when it drips you know the point where to start looking from.

Good luck!

Frank

Answer 2

You may as well take it out and take it apart, replace all the gaskets including the head gasket.

you have a blown head gasket, so this means a rebuild.