Oil Leak!?

[Hike]

I noticed a fair amount of oil under my MR-1 engines yesterday. No noticeable oil leaks over the last three months, so this came on suddenly. Cleaned it up and ran it again to find that it seems to be leaking from around the oil filters on both engines (significantly more on the Port engine). This season I switched to Hiflofiltro racing oil filters HF204RC from Island Racing. I'm also running full synthetic Mobil-1 10w40 for the 2nd season.

Went out today and picked up OEM filters and Yamalube 10w-40. I hate to switch back to Dino oil, but I've read some threads about synthetic possibly drying out seals. I'm assuming the previous owner used Yamalube. I figure it's gotta be either the filter or the oil, so I changed both tonight. I'm using a Harbor Freight oil extractor that works great.



Yamaha oem filter on left, Hiflofiltro on right. The o-ring was removed before the picture for inspection and appeared to be fine. It's hard to tell in the photo but the OEM filter is more recessed than the Hiflofiltro. Not sure if this has anything to do with how much it can screw in due to the nut around the threads on the engine block.



I'm using Puppy training pads to catch oil. they work great.

I'm putting her back in tomorrow to see if this solved the problem. Stay tuned!

 

[Gym]

I also have the MR-1 engines. I switched from pure synthetic to a blended oil due to oil pan gasket seepage. The problem is nearly gone now. If you're a seasonal oil changer the minor advantages of pure synthetic oil for the short seasonal use are not worth it. The later Yamaha motors may have a different gasket composition so may not be affected by synthetic oils.

 

[Liveto99]

Well being a huge fan of synthetic lubricants and using them almost exclusively in my vehicles, I did find out that the gear oil holds heat a lot more heat and therefore cannot use it in the Dana 44‘s in my jeep. When regearing it voids the warranty on the new gears.

 

[Hike]

@Gym What brand of blended oil are you running?

I change my oil every year and average 65 hours/year. How many here are running yamalube?

 

[captras]

I use Yamalube exclusively in my boat and jetskis.

 

[Babin Farms]

I would say that your filter is bottoming out before it’s tight enough for the gasket to seal. I ran into the same problem when trying to run different filters on equipment. There’s so many additives in the new synthetic oils that it’s very rare for the seals & such to be seeping

 

[Gym]

@Gym What brand of blended oil are you running?

I change my oil every year and average 65 hours/year. How many here are running yamalube?

I've been using the Castrol blended in the 5 quart jug. Let's not forget...you would put this oil in your cars, drive 3 to 5 thousand miles between changes and think nothing of it. Now, because we're putting it in our boats, running it for 100 hours (maybe 3000 miles a season) we need oil designed to be used in the space shuttle? Who makes Yamalube? Not Yamaha.

 

[Hike]

Had the boat back in the water today, no more leaks! @Babin Farms had it right, must have been the aftermarket filters. Thanks for all the input!

 

[Liveto99]

Once the government got involved meaning the EPA and they took the zinc out of motor oil, we lost two motors in our high mileage vans. Now I use regular oil for one or two oil changes so that the motor breaks in and then switch exclusively to synthetic. No more engine losses.
It really hurts on the bigger trucks when you put 5 gallons of oil in them but a new motor is 20 grand.