Kerry Kukucha
Member II
Had a rather oily issue arise when motor-sailing on a beam reach in a very sloppy following sea – tide was fighting wind resulting in a 5 – 6’ chop (there was not enough wind to just sail…). Arrived at my destination after five hours, did an engine check and discovered oil, lots of oil, all over the engine, engine compartment, engine bilge – big mucky muck! Oh joy, 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] day of holidays and just what I needed!
Cleaned up all visible signs and as best I could; had a mechanic on board the next morning: no visible leaks – ran the engine up to temp (oil was showing just to the bottom of the dip stick and was nice and black) oil filter, oil pan gasket - all clean and no signs of leakage. Added1.5 litres/quarts of oil to the dip stick top; ran engine again – not a drip or sign of leakage – anywhere!
Conclusion: mechanic noted that the Universal 5432 dip stick was very low on the block; there is a cylinder/metal bottle I have installed that the blow-by tube is inserted into, in close proximity to the dip stick that had a bit of wiggle room – in the very sloppy following sea, it must have jostled and dislodged the dip stick enough to allow oil to escape.
Tightened up the blow-by cylinder, carried on and all was good for the balance of 2.5 weeks!
Cleaned up all visible signs and as best I could; had a mechanic on board the next morning: no visible leaks – ran the engine up to temp (oil was showing just to the bottom of the dip stick and was nice and black) oil filter, oil pan gasket - all clean and no signs of leakage. Added1.5 litres/quarts of oil to the dip stick top; ran engine again – not a drip or sign of leakage – anywhere!
Conclusion: mechanic noted that the Universal 5432 dip stick was very low on the block; there is a cylinder/metal bottle I have installed that the blow-by tube is inserted into, in close proximity to the dip stick that had a bit of wiggle room – in the very sloppy following sea, it must have jostled and dislodged the dip stick enough to allow oil to escape.
Tightened up the blow-by cylinder, carried on and all was good for the balance of 2.5 weeks!