seem to have a nagging oil leak starboard side
small leak but builds up in the lower cowling
have already replaced the engine mounted tank as it was also leaking

pulled lower cowling off so i had good visibility and seems to be wet around the oil distribution pump --cleaned it all up with brake clean and am considering putting it on the water hose and let it run a while see if i can see anything

is there an inherent problem with these ? any suggestions appreciated ! i hate oil leaks and dont like looking like the exxon valdez not to mention the environmental impact

That sounds like the exact same oily spot that I have. I've done the same things and cleaned it up 2 or 3 times and have yet to find any wet spots anywhere above the the cowling. I'm still not sure that I have ever gotten all of the oil cleaned up from what leaked or spilled from the oil tank replacement. Mine seems to take several trips out for the oil to start showing up again so it doesn't seem to be a big problem. I just hate stuff like this though.

put it on the hose today and let it run for about 15 min
didnt find anything
think im gonna put some uv dye in the oil tank and see i f i can trace it down

Never heard of that with the uv dye. Sounds like a good idea. Let us know.

I do recall one oil leak I found a while back. It's the small, maybe 3/16" hose, that runs up under the air intake on the front right that doesn't come with a hose clamp or zip tye. Probably to high up for what you have now but worth a look while your in there.

We have seen a few of the oil pumps leaking and have to replace them.

Check the plastic cap on the internal oil tank. Mine was cracked and caused the same type of problem. Took me awhile to figure out what was causing the problem.

http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=700203&page=3

what do yall think about this ?

Leaking around the pump was what I was afraid of since I haven't removed the lower cowling to get a real good look from underneath.

If that is where it's coming from the repair seems like a no brainer to me but wouldn't attempt it unless I was ABSOLUTELY sure I could get the exact O-rings to fit. It would be easy enough to try and monitor closely before spending $500 for a oil pump. Could still be a problem with the casting due to poor machining or heat warpage, in which case the O-rings would probably be a temporary fix. The priming is a bit of a problem though. I wouldn't care for going through another break in.

I'll bet there is a lot of this going on out there and most guys don't even pay any attention to all that oil on the splash well. Seems like that's been the rule with outboards forever.

I really didn't want to be thinking about this that much with a week long trip to Falcon coming up in less than a week.

I just had the same thing fixed at service marine in Emory. It was under warranty but the ticket for was under a $100.

just the o ring replaced ?

I have no idea what they did. It had a leak and I took it in. And now it's fixed.

Mine is definitely a oil pump leak. I cleaned it up and shoved a rag up under it. The rag caught all the oil. I hope this is not a progressive problem that's going to lead up to a total blow out. It's probably already been leaking for close to a year.

These pumps are not serviceable.

did you look at the above link ?
not possible ?

Let me rephrase my answer. There are no serviceable parts from Mercury for these pumps! Buying the whole pump from Mercury and you get a year warranty on the part!

I'm not going to trust an o-ring from Ace Hardware to work and protect my $6000.00 powerhead! Just my 0.02.