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**Guest** · 05-21-2012, 12:30 AM

tank1023 wrote:
I just put my (new to me)1997 2355 5.7l merc cruser in the water Friday, wanted to make sure she ran ok before the holiday weekend. She started right up first turn (yes!) everything seemed to be going great with a 15 degree prop I got her up to 36mph here in Colorado but didn't want to push it too hard. I stopped in a cove to check the engine compartment.

To my dismay I see oil dripping. It looks like the leak was coming under the alternator. Even with my limited knowledge of motors I know the alternator doesn't have oil in it to leak. Above that is the power steering box, the fluid was full.

I took it off the water and to marina up the street the said it was in fact from the power steering line and not to worry about it for next week cause it won't hurt anything.

Huh, I'm not too sure I like taking I out with a leak. Anyone know of this issues and will it not hurt my boat.

Any advice would be helpfull.

Jerry

Well 2 things come to mind.

1. You either found a great shop tech who assessed the problem, saw it was a very small leak, not leaking on anything vital and thought you would be OK for a week based on what you told him regarding your situation.

2. You found a crappy shop who didn't want to be bothered and brushed you off.

Bottom line; If you aren't comfortable with the leak get it fixed now. If #1 turns out to be correct, and I'm not implying it is, you may have just found an honest shop and tech.

**dmcb** · 05-21-2012, 02:04 AM

Unless things have changed (and they may have) power steering fluid is tranny fluid which is red.

At best carry some extra oil (which ever kind it is) to avoid damage if it gets worst.

Doug

**dmcb** · 05-21-2012, 02:06 AM

What color was the oil?

Doug

**Guest** · 05-21-2012, 07:08 AM

It looked to be a light brown mixed with water. I wish I could get it fixed right away. Anyone that works on boats is booked thought memorial day. We don't have many shops here in Colorado.

**dmcb** · 05-21-2012, 07:22 AM

Check the color of your power steering fluid. It may be red but things may have changed.

Doug

**Guest** · 05-21-2012, 07:27 AM

First see if you can identify the oil color. If it's truly leaking from near the alternator, it's likely either power steering fluid or engine oil (outdrive reservoir is probably a bit too far away to be causing the leak in that spot?). If it's amber, it's engine oil. If it's red, it's power steering fluid. If it's too dark to tell, try smearing it on paper towel etc... Take a sample of oil from the dip stick from the engine oil and from the power steering and see if the fluid matches color.If this engine had been winterized and stored up until now, my first suspicion would be an oil cooler on the port side, fairly near but aft to the alternator. The cooler is spliced into the raw water line and is about 2" in diameter. There will be two noticeably smaller lines connecting to the cooler, and these are for power steering (I assume you have power steering since your mechanic thought it was power steering fluid). I've had leaks before at this cooler before (previous owner forgot to tighten the hose clamps upon spring commissioning). The cooler can be a bit of a bugger to see, much less get to the hose clamps, but that might be your issue. If your boat was winterized, someone may have disconnected the oil cooler (to drain the water out of it and the raw water line connected to it) and forgot to tighten the clamps. If the oil is amber or too dark to tell, then it would be engine oil and would be a different issue altogether. If it IS indeed the small power steering line(s) that are leaking, it might be as simple as tightening a hose clamp or getting a new hose clamp. If it's the hose itself that's damaged, there MAY be enough hose to allow you to snip off a half inch or so and get a new "fresh" hose end.This photo came off iboats.com and was already illustrated with the red arrows and text:

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/687039=27856-portsidedrain1.jpg[/img]The yellow arrows (added by me) indicate the ends of the cooler where the two bigger raw water lines connect. The black cylinder between the two yellow arrows is the power steering oil cooler. Straight above the yellow arrows are the much smaller inlet/outlet hoses from the power steering. In this photo, the power steering lines come in to the cooler from the top. But note that the cooler itself is basically free floating and is only suspended in place by the 4 hoses connected to it, and there's a chance it's rotated a bit (so the power steering lines might not be coming in straight from the top). Note that there is another "larger" hose completely disconnected just above the oil cooler and just sort of "dangling' there, but note this is a water line going to the bottom of the manifold/riser.For proper winterizing, the oil cooler must be drained of water. This theoretically means only one or both of the two big hose clamps and raw water hoses need to be disconnected from the cooler, but depending on orientation of everything, the power steering lines may need to be disconnected too in order to be able to drop the cooler and hoses to get water to drain properly. On my previous Merc Alpha 1 Gen 2, I had to remove all 4 lines to get it to drop and drain properly.Come spring, people often find "new" leaks, and sometimes these are simply due to due to forgotten hose clamps (or forgetting to put hoses back on at all!). So, let's just hope it's something as simple as that. That, and hose clamps simply come lose over time anyway. I think my OEM Merc manual recommended rechecking all hose clamps so often.

**Guest** · 05-21-2012, 01:33 PM

Great post Optimus I was cleaning out the boat yesterday and did notice some of the clamps were a bit loose, I'll do some more inspecting. Thank you!

Too bad I store my boat by the lake over an hour away or I'd do it toay.

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