it seems that the gasket for my oil pan has a slight leak. of the course of the engine running for maybe 3 or 4 hours, a few drips of oil were landing on the rubber tube where the stuffing box exits the engine, then dripping onto the engine room floor.
Last month, when the transmission was out for rebuild, I tightened slightly (taking care not to over tighten) all of the bolts that hold the pan in place… apparently this made the leak a bit worse.
The drip seems to be originating around one of the bolts that holds the pan in place to the underside of the engine (toward the forward end of the boat). I could see it in one of the photos I took.
I cleaned the underside of the pan, wiped as much of the oil from the bolts and lip of the pan as I could, but the drip came back. The underside of the pan, the engine, and around the filter and dipstick all remain clean
During our 3+ week trip to Nantucket and back (we just returned - awesome trip!), we motorsailed quite a bit to stay on schedule… the pan seems to drip a little more now. I put a pad down on the floor of the engine room to catch any oil drips - this worked very well during the trip as no oil reached the bilge water.
The drip is not bad… but I am sure it is an indication that it will get worse not better… upon daily checks of the oil dipstick, I only added about a half cup of oil midway through our 3 week trip. The dipstick never showed a lower level to be of any concern. Even for the last day’s trip home down the East River, I checked the oil level prior to departing Oyster Bay and didn’t feel the need to add any oil as the level was only slightly below the top-level line on the dipstick.
With the winter lay-up coming in a few months, I thought perhaps I would tackle replacing the oil pan gasket…
Has anyone done this themselves? It seems like it would be pretty straight forward if all of the bolts can be reached (my main concern).
If you have done it (or had it done) I would like your input, and possible areas that may trip me up to watch for, please.
Thank you,
Peter Grabow
S/V CAKE WALK III
1987 30U 430
Jersey City, NJ
I think that if it was my boat, I would live with it. Placing oilzorb pads underneath takes care of the symptoms. To replace the pan gasket involves an awful lot of work which may include raising the engine and removing the tranny.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
Thanks Joe!
A very reasonable solution. I didn’t take into consideration that the engine may need to be lifted, and since I just re-installed the transmission after rebuilding, I do not want to do that again unless absolutely necessary! I have plenty of pads on board, and it they seemed to prevent the oil from ‘escaping’ into the bilge on our long trip, so I will continue with those, and monitor the rate of the leak. Hopefully it will stay as it is now which is very managable.
OK I will climb out on a limb … Paul’s o ring, and smear the bolt and area with silicone. Silicone expands in the presence of petroleum products. Its a lousy adhesive but the expansion does make it a good gasket. Unless there is room to remove the pan completely replacing the gasket could be a big job.
Thank you Thor.
I’ve always shied away from using silicone on the boat. I wasn’t aware of the expansion properties of silicone when in contact with petroleum products. I will give this some consideration. Any thought on using a bit of gasket paste or form-a-gasket on the bolt instead of silicone?
The Blue RTV gasket maker has worked really well for me. Wherever I have used it in diesel and oil it still looks like new and never leaked.
It would work well on the oil pan bolt if you can clean the area somehow. It cures with moisture just like the other silicons so must be exposed to air for a while to let the curing reaction start before you screw the bolt in.
A previous owner used something like white bathtub silicone on many of the pipe and plumbing connections, maybe it was 4200? This works well for sealing hatches and deck stuff but I wouldn’t use it near the engine. Whatever it was turned yellow and cracked.
The information regarding silicone came from a engineer who designs gaskets for the auto industry. I used plain GE silicon to seal the inspection ports on my fuel tank.. Been 15 years now now and not a sign of a leak. I suggest anyone using 4200, 5200 or 4000 read carefully the technical data sheets as there are significant differences between each one
Apparently synthetic oil contains additives to promote gasket efficiency due to the high viscosity of the oil. My 1983 Westerbeke has been on synthetic since 2013 and not a leak.