OMC SailDrive oil leak

[wejones]

I have a 15Hp (35 Hp sleeved down to 15 Hp) OMC zephyr saildrive. I am having problems with oil/gas mix ending up in the engine compartment and ultimately stinking up the cabin when the bilge blower is shut off.

I have replaced the gasket between the carb and the air intake, which has the factory oil/gas overflow. No luck.

Anyone else have this problem? Anyone with a solution?

I have thought about coupling an oversized hose to the air intake and running it above the engine. I thought maybe the oil/gas may be sloshing out when the engine is off and the boat is healing. Any other suggestions?

[WHOOSH]

Jones:

What did your local OMC fellow tell you when you asked him about your problem? OMC sail drives have left a dirty wake for Volvo and Yanmar to follow in - at least, to listen to them - so OMC by this point should be fairly knowledgeable about the problems which result from their own sail drives.

Good luck!

Jack

[mikehoyt]

My next door boat neighbour Andy has an OMC Zephyr saildrive. he has replaced and rebuilt lower unit and has overhauled his engine.

email him at andy@logangroups.com and he may be able to offer some help as he swears by these engines

Mike

[scuppers]

Sorry that I don''t have a solution to your gas/oil leak problem. At least, your OMC Zephyr runs! Mine gave out with a quiet "thunk" two weeks ago, and just stopped running--no coughing or sputtering. The local OMC guy (our only OMC guy in the area, as far as I can tell) says to junk it and throw on an outboard, which of course, he sells. He has no real interest in servicing it for me, since he needs to leave his shop and come out to the boat, then climb around in a very small space. His profit margin is higher selling outboards... you get the picture.

In any case, there seems to be NO middle ground on these OMC Zephyr engines: owners either love ''em or hate ''em. I think that one''s attitude about them depends on whether you can get parts and service nearby. If you can''t get service...well then you need to be a good "wrench." Just my opinion...

Good luck with the gas leak--be careful!

[pandaman]

if it the odor itself you want to eliminate
go to sailnet plug in cabinaire.jThe unit
will eliminate the odor but not the problem.
but it will take care of any odor in any
part of the boat. It also takes the old odor
out of walls,furniture,etc.Again it will not
solve the problem but will solve the odor.
hope that may help somewhat.best sailing
ben

[Elie]

I''ve owned such an engine on a previous boat that is still in the family. The problem mentionned has 2 possible causes.
1: The upper oil seal on the crankshaft is shot and needs to be replaced, and this is done by removing the flywheel to access the upper shaft seal.
2: Two small plastic tubing links the upper and lower shaft bearings and are used to recycle any overflow of gas-oil mix into the cranckase. These plastic tubings may get disconected from their nipple and let oil drip into the engine compartment,
It is important to note that this Zephir engine share the same powerhead(and parts) with all Johnson and Evinrude 25 HP engines of the same vintage.
Good luck.

[AJS]

Its possible that the problem is in the anti-siphon valve that is supposed to be in the fuel line. It consists of a spring loaded ball inside a cylindrical fitting located near the exit of the fuel tank. Its purpose is to prevent fuel from siphoning into the boat should a line break or the needle valve in the carbeurator fail. The force of the spring is overcome by the fuel pump when the engine is started. If your anti-siphon valve it stuck open (or not there) and the needle valve in the carb is leaking a little, the end result is fuel leaking out of the air cleaner.
Does the fuel leak when the motor is off? If it only leaks while the motor is running you likely have another problem such as the ones mentioned in the previous message.

As to the love-hate with Saildrives: I''m currently on the love side of things. They have lots of power for the weight. We have to remember that these things are old and not supported by parts and service. I like mine but would be cautious about buying a boat with one in it if you are "mechanically declined". Any piece of equipment that is not maintained will eventually fail. The OMC is stubbornly still going but they are really dropping like flies now, hence the bad reputation.
I wonder if these units were so heavily criticized 15 years ago when parts and service were still available? Does anyone know?

I currently am looking for a spare lower unit (gear case). If anyone has a recently retired OMC Saildrive with a gearcase in good external condition I would be interested in purchasing it.

Good luck.

[Jakethedog]

Hello.
I have the identical OMC saildrive zephyr sleeved down from 35 to 15 horse...I''m having problems with it starting. It tends to start up fine if it''s sat for a week, but when I motor out of the marina, sail for a couple of hours and then go to start the motor to come in, I run into problems...when it does finally start, it runs really rough and feels like it''s going to cut out. Ever run into these types of problems? Just wondering if you have any advice...I''m going up tomorrow to check spark plugs, clean the carb and put in fresh gas...hopefully that will solve my problem.

Thanks,

[thusly]

It sounds like a fuel delivery problem. Have you checked your priming pump? It may not be 'tight' due to corrosion and/or leaky diaphram. If this is the case, you can try to bypass this with a rubber priming pump jammed into the bleeding port and some gas line going to the tank.
Good luck.

[sailingdog]

Thusly-

You really need to check the dates of the posts you reply to. If they haven't fixed the saildrive oil leak in the last four-and-a-half years, it is likely that they're dead. Please don't revive old threads.