OIL GONE! ZIP! NADA!

[northchannelsailor]

Hi guys. The A4 is all new to me with the new to me boat. Last summer I started to get oil in the bilge. The leak began to get worse and worse. There is no visibility of the bottom in the Hughes 38, the engine is in the bilge basically. This spring I found ALL of the oil in the bilge! It was properly winterized etc. What a h-e-double hockey stick mess! It had to come out of a loose pan or drain right? for it to empty just sitting there??

[joe_db]

My guess is the oil pan rusted out. That can happen - ask Shamrock owners, their V8 engines basically sit in the bilge
Easy fix if you don't count the work needed to get at it.

[Dave Neptune]

North, the pan rusting out does happen. For what it's worth I have seen a few engine pans patched with fast epoxy and glass cloth.

When they rust through it is usually in the low spot if from the inside and pretty much anywhere it sits if immersed in the bilge.

Dave Neptune

[Mo]

2 cents

Pull the engine and get another base pan. Should be lots of them around as neglect killed many old A4's. I'd talk to South Shore Yacht's there in Ontario as they might have one around, or give you "a guy" to call.

[northchannelsailor]

Thanks guys. Yes I am thinking I have to pull the engine. But I want to sail! Lol. I really doubt it has rusted through. There is very little corrosion anywhere. Yes it is low in the damp bilge area but over top of the keel forward of the deep bilge area if that makes sense. Great access to the top of the motor but hardly any to the bottom. I can get a few fingers under there but I don't feel any rust. I will try to get a a view with a mirror this weekend.

I also feel oil on the bottom of the flywheel and there is the typical oil running along the carb side of the motor. All this is higher than the oil pan so that's what has stumped me. I also plan to check that drain plug near the flywheel before doing anything yet.

[sastanley]

NCS, Welcome. I've done a few races on a Hughes 38 way back in the day.

I am hoping that your oil pan hasn't failed, but maybe..also, any of the other oil outlets, like for the oil pressure gauge, or a possible pressure switch, if you have one, can fail too..sometimes those gauge senders are attached to iron pipe which might fail. Check the port side of the motor.

Does the oil drain out with the motor running (maybe one of the above) or not running (maybe a failed oil pan)?

[northchannelsailor]

[QUOTE=sastanley;113057]NCS, Welcome. I've done a few races on a Hughes 38 way back in the day.

COOL!

It has done both. It started by leaking while running then started to leak just sitting. Now it drained completely sitting.

I will also clean up as best I can(no access underneath) and as they say "pour water into the bucket with a holes in it" to hopefully find the leak. Hope a mirror gives me a view of it.

[northchannelsailor]

I also put a wrench on everything I could get to. I did see some weeping around the oil sensor inlet. I also feel oil underneath the flywheel and oil that has run underneath all the way to the the transmission.

[northchannelsailor]

When they rust through it is usually in the low spot if from the inside

I guess it might not be apparent from the outside without getting a good view of the leak. Like I said it sure looks decent on the outside with very little corrosion anywhere.

[northchannelsailor]

Engine location

[ndutton]

I hate to tell ya but this:

. . . . then started to leak just sitting. Now it drained completely sitting.

tells me it's the pan. I'll bet it sat in bilge water in its past and this is the end result.

[northchannelsailor]

Yes I'm thinking I may have had several leaking areas and then finally the pan. I wonder if a pan leak would be like a pin hole? From what I can see and feel it doesn't seem like there is any rust.

[roadnsky]

..I wonder if a pan leak would be like a pin hole? From what I can see and feel it doesn't seem like there is any rust.

If it's in a low spot, it won't take a very big hole to create a serious leak.
It's possible what you can "feel" isn't corroded but where you can't reach is.

Can you get a Selfie-Stick and get your phone/camera under there in video mode?

[joe_db]

There is no way for oil to leak out of a non-running A4 other than a hole in the pan that I can think of.

https://www.amazon.com/Endoscope-Inspection-Smartphone-Borescope-Waterproof/dp/B01HGHWX54/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1530021906&sr=1-4&keywords=usb+endoscope

Stick that under there

[tenders]

Some A4s had a factory oil removal pump. Maybe yours? Or perhaps an aftermarket pump was installed? Perhaps that fitting corroded, or loosened, or a hose coming out of it failed, etc.

Hard to tell with the engine in the foxhole like that. There's a lot to like about that method of installation, I'd guess, and a lot to dislike about it too. (Same as all installations, I suppose.) Must be a bear to align.

The oil pan is generally VERY robust. You won't have any trouble finding one, if that's what you need. They're the last thing that's ever going to fail in many engines.