I changed my oil in the lower unit at the first part of this month. I went right by the manual for everything.

I have been to Fork for 4 days and a local lake out here in West Texas since then and everything worked just fine.

Today I walked outside to see a small area (about the size of my entire palm) of oil on the ground beneath my motor. I traced it up to the vent screw in the lower unit. After cleaning up the little oil that had gotten out, I got my screwdriver out to check the screw for tightness.....LOOSE!! I didn't have to apply any pressure to the screwdriver to turn the vent screw!!

I then checked the drain screw...LOOSE!! Same as above!! I tightened them back as much as I could... What gives?? Surely this is not normal...

There are no certain torque specs in the manual for this. It didn't take much to get them off when I drained the oil the first time, but they didn't come off this easy. I assumed from this that a good "hand tight" works in this area.. Am I wrong?

I'm lost..... By the way, it's a Yamaha 200 hp. Any help is greatly appreciated..

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It's only fishing.....

My initial concern would be whether or not water got into the new oil since the screws were loose. Other than that, I have always been told just to hand tighten with a screwdriver.

Hopefully you replaced the little washers under the screws. Make sure there aren't any traces of the old washers still stuck in the holes.This can cause a leak. I don't have a torque spec for the fill/vent screws but a generic chart for fasteners of that size shows 50-60 INCH pounds of torque.(not a whole lot obviously).

I recently replaced the plastic washers behind the screws on my Evinrude 120 when I changed the oil. I always worry about the tightness because of the big screw slot and not having a matching screwdriver. I used a torque wrench this time and it took a lot more tightening than I thought. I don't have my book here at the house, but 60 in-lbs sounds right.

I agree with scott01, better check for water that may have gotten in.

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steve pine

I just drained everything out and re-changed the oil again. No water and it seems that it gave me back all of the oil that I had put in the last time minus what I found on the driveway.

I tightened the screws as tight as I could. The washers are new...or they were new when I changed the oil earlier this month. I went ahead and left them the way they were.

Thanks guys for the advice and help. I will check them again in the morning for tightness.

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It's only fishing.....

Charlie, does it have a o-ring on the screw. If not I have always just tightened them like you did. Guess you just have to tighten them tighter or put a drop of Locktite on them.---Smitty

I think the new washers compress and have form to the taper of the hole and that's why the screw has to be cranked on to get the proper torque.

Glad to hear you didn't have any water.

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steve pine

Locktight on the lower unit screws?!!! NO WAY...not even the mild blue stuff. The reason you always use new washers is they have a small amount of "squish" to them that seals the opening and acts as a lockwasher keeping backpresure on the screws so they don't vibrate out. In fact, I'd use a SS flat washer with a SS lock washer on top of the new sealing washers before I'd ever consider "glueing them in with Locktight.