Oil leak

[William Walter]

On my 480 ce I have had an oil leak on my port engine since purchasing.It seems to be the rear main seal as it’s leaking from the bell housing and is dark. I lose maybe a pint in a season so I put a hose on it and let it drain into a milk jug. Now I have started to notice a minor leak coming from where my starter bolts on. Not sure if this is from the leak into the bell housing or if from somewhere else. Not sure how oil would get to that spot any other way. I have heard of starters burning out due to oil. The starter was replaced once on that engine and was wondering if it could be susceptible to that again due to the oil. First picture is of starter area and second is of oil leak looking up to where starter is bolted on.Bill

Topic

[William Walter]

Oil

What I did to monitor how much was leaking was put a hose to a garden hose repair end which screws into a barb I screwed in slightly to the plug in bottom of bell housing.The picture shows the hose going into milk container in bilge. I will monitor as I have been. Not enough so far to do anything about.Never noticed oil by the starter before so that’s why I mentioned it.Thanks for the reply.Bill

[Tony Athens]

100% do not worry about some oil drops or ? flying around inside the bell housing hurting your starter–Just the opposite if anything.. Just wipe it up for now and keep an eye on it–Absolutely NOTHING to worry about.

Exactly how are you “collecting” the oil, assuming you have a small real crank oil seal weep or leak?

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