My father-in-law toasted an engine owing to the pin hole oil pan leak issue. That plus he did not check the oil often enough. The engine was +-35 yrs. old in a 80 yr. old classic wood powerboat.
Most engine manufacturers allow for the possibility of a small amount of lube oil consumption being “normal”. Calypso’s 20 yr. old 2,000 hour 4-108 uses about ½ quart every 40 hours and leaks another ½ quart in the same time. The leakage went up when I mistakenly used Delo 400 instead of the intended Delo 100. The difference seems to be the % of detergent with the 400 formulated for engines with turbochargers. The extra detergent cleaned out all the goo that keeps the Perkins leaks to a minimum. To reduce the risk of pin hole in the oil pan I change the oil after each season to reduce the amount of combustion related acids in the oil. With salts from the outside and acids in the oil on the inside old oil pans don’t stand a chance. The Perkins 4-108 also needs to have its valve cover bolts tightened from time to time. That oil leak often shows first down the back of the cylinder head. Martin DeYoung Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Seattle [Description: Description: Description: cid:D1BF9853-22F7-47FB-86F2-4115CE0BAF2F] From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Gary Russell via CnC-List Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2015 10:39 AM To: C&C List Cc: Gary Russell Subject: Re: Stus-List Oil leak in M4-30 Consider the possibility that the oil pan has a pinhole rusted in it. A small amount of salt water in the oil is all you need. Gary S/V High Maintenance '90 C&C 37 Plus East Greenwich, RI, USA ~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~ On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 12:32 PM, David Knecht via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> wrote: I moved my boat to its winter home yesterday and then tried to change to oil after I arrived. I had no issues along the way- engine stayed cool and ran smoothly. However, I got almost no oil out of the pan and the dipstick showed it was below the low point. I am thankful that this did not destroy my engine but now have to figure out what to do. I noticed some oil in the bilge in the spring so cleaned up and put 2 oil absorbing sheets in the space under the engine and one in the bilge. My boat came from the PO with a hose attached to the oil pan drain plug so I could remove the cap from the hose and run a thin tube into the hose to suck the oil out. I thought that I had not tightened the drain plug under the oil pan when I changed the oil last year and thought that was the cause of the leak. The pads under the engine now have oil in them and I added a quart of oil to the engine a month ago when I checked and it was low. It is still possible that the drain is the source of the leak, but the leak is slow enough that I am having trouble verifying the actual site. Has anyone had this problem with a Universal M4-30 or similar engine? Of course I am concerned that I might be burning the oil, but the pads underneath with oil in them leads me to think it is a leak. Still, I am not sure I can account for several missing quarts of oil in the pads. Dave Aries 1990 C&C 34+ New London, CT [Description: cid:image002.png@01D110A5.1E39D590] _______________________________________________ Email address: CnC-List@cnc-list.com<mailto:CnC-List@cnc-list.com> To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go to the bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
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