Oil in bilge

[Mark]

Hi there!

Forgive me, I'm rather machanically retarded, but learning a little season by season.

Anyway - I went abourd my C&C 27 this morning to find at least two inches of oil in the bilge. I checked my oil and the level seemed fine. I then starded the engine to see if I could trace a leak. Nothing stood out to me! I ran the engine yesterday for about an hour plus (motorsailing) and had no problem. Can anyone pleas advise me on what I should do next? Thanks in advance.

Mark

[castinemarine]

Oil in bilge

How deep is your bilge?
How deep is the water in your bilge?
How deep is the oil floating on top of the water in your bilge (it's hard to tell the difference between a sheen of oil on top and 4 quarts causing an inch of oil above the bilge water level)?
What type of oil is in the bilge?
What are the other possible sources of oil that could leak into the bilge?
Could it be the transmission (my A4 the transmission shares the crankcase oil)?

[MikeB.330]

you may have had too much oil in the engine and the extra oil leaked out of the front engine cover. The A4 does not have an oil seal on the front end of the crankshaft.

Mike

[tenders]

I had oil in my lower bilge area two weeks ago. Boy was I worried--that's a long way from the engine! Turned out a partially-empty bottle stored in a compartment had tipped over and spilled.