Accessory drive?...Elusive water pump oil leak

[Mo]

Installed an engine in the boat 2 weeks or so back. Had a small oil leak and after a few days of investigating and trying to zoom in on it I found it coming from the water pump area. Tried new gaskets etc with no results. It may even have been coming out the weep hole but I really couldn't tell decisively.

Took the boat out of the water and winterized the engine last weekend however that oil leak was nagging at me. This am at 8 am I fired her up running freshwater through the engine and ran it for about an hour. At this time I was also noting a low idle knock / rattle and although hard to pinpoint I suspected it was from the accessory drive. I was getting that when taking it out of gear as well when it was in the water (only with this newer engine) and it went away under load or after a few seconds in neutral.

Now I had to ask did I want to go hauling that apart? I'd just put the engine in and sure didn't feel like hauling it apart. Made the call and started to remove it the accessory drive.

First I removed the hoses of the water pump and the two 9/16 bolts holding that on...removed pump. (A small stubby ratcheting wrench makes that lower bolt an easy job).

Then pulled the distributor with cap and wires attached...removed 1/2 bolt and set fork and lifted it out. I know the where it goes back (location of #1 wire) and will have to set timing once I fire it up.

Loosened the alternator belt.

Removed upper and lower 9/16 bolts on the accessory drive and wiggled it back pulling the alternator belt off the pulley.

With that I was able to lift it out and it took about 30 minutes. Took it home to my garage for a look and there was slight, ever so slight play in the shaft. Not sure if it was done or not. Took another accessory drive off the engine Id just removed from the boat and it was real tight...certainly tighter than the one just removed from the boat.

Took another water pump and the accessory drive of my old engine back to the boat and installed them...that took about an hour. By this time people had been coming down around the club and were cleaning their boats etc so I didn't have a hose to run it up and see what I had...OR don't have.

That leak has been ticking me off for a couple of weeks. The only thing I can think of is that the accessory drive bearing must have been getting bad and causing slop on the water pump shaft...thus allowing oil to get past a seal. I didn't hear any squealing from the accessory drive, there might have been a slight tick but I didn't get close enough to determine the origin.

Overall the engine sounds good, it has compression of better than 100 all around...sounds pretty good....just one leak and that sort of knock that I didn't have on my old engine.

[Mo]

That worked out OK

Wish I'd taken a video of that engine this morning. I've since started it up and it ran perfect for an hour after I did a slight timing adjustment. That clang or knock or whatever we want to call it is gone. No more oil leak, although that pump I put on there will need a set of seals as it weeps water.

Any thoughts on this welcome. It had me stumped for a couple of weeks as I tried a few different ideas to find and stop that leak. When I put both accessory drives in vices there really wasn't much difference between them, slight difference but the one I took out wasn't falling apart or real sloppy.

EDIT: Correction. I just came in from the garage where I checked that accessory drive again. The bearing is shot. I just wasn't putting enough pressure to feel and see it move. I grabbed the gear and was able to noticeably see and feel it move within the housing....it's done. When I get a chance I'll pull it apart and see what makes it "tick".

[JOHN COOKSON]

R\E TIMING

Mo
You didn't mention the advance so thought I would. How long since you serviced it?
Fair winds bro.

ex TRUE GRIT

[Mo]

John, I had a look at the advance and sprayed it down when I changed over the EI about 3 weeks back. I took my EI off my old engine and put it on this one so got right in there. It was in good shape anyway because my winterization list does that yearly.

[Mo]

Pleased with outcome.

Fired the engine up this morning and ran it for about 40 minutes on the hard from a bucket....running well, no oil leak after that so I'm confident I sorted that out. I'm actually very pleased with it.

Winterized the engine with antifreeze again. Also removed the carb and poured some oil into the spark plug holes...placed a small container under the manifold where the carb bolts on. Turned over the engine and a little oil came down into my container....that's why I remove the carb. When you do this oil gets in around the valves everywhere and it really makes a difference come spring start up. Turned the engine over about 20 times and made sure the top end was well lubricated.

Took the carb home to my garage, took apart and general cleaning then I actually reinstalled it ... in the spring when I fire it up the engine will smoke like the dickens for a the first few minutes and then clear and run perfect. Some years I removed and then cleaned the plugs after that first start but in recent years I haven't...they don't foul much and pretty much burn a nice tan afterwards...healthy engine.

This year I will remove and clean the plugs after start up. This current engine sat in my garage 11 years and I installed it about 3 weeks back so I have to treat it a little differently as I have to see if it has any MORE quirks.