Engine Oil Leak

Our boat came with a small oil leak on the front crankcase cover. It was more of a 'nuisance' leak and I had to add a quart of oil every 200-250 hours. I was tired of oil all over the engine and bilge especially with the amount of hours we were putting on the engine. So before we arrived in Maryland, I contacted Ian at Zimmerman Marine to arrange for a tech to determine what was leaking and where. I explained we were under a timeline and were planning on heading north in a week or two. Long story short, after spending thousands upon thousands of dollars with ZMI, he had his tech tell me, "They were too busy to fix the leak." As it turned out, we had two oil leaks!

Steven, my favorite diesel mechanics, was the one who gave me the frustrating news. But, he had someone who was a good mechanic, who could repair the leak(s) for us. So the next day, Wade Walton from Offshore Diesel showed up to inspect the problem. He seemed very promising, asked me all the right questions and assured me he could fix the problem the next week so I gave him a check for parts. That was pretty much the last time I ever heard from Wade. 

Fortunately, we decided to stay at Herrington Harbour South for the summer. Five weeks later, I ran into Richard Walton, Wade's father and owner of Offshore Diesel. Richard told us the parts had been in the shop for weeks, apologized profusely for his son's 'customer service' and had a tech start the project the very next day. Richard called me and texted periodically and even stopped by the boat after the project was completed.

Jude was the tech assigned to fix our leak. He recommended replacing the belt, belt tensioner, coolant pump and thermostat. Go for it! A wear seal was installed on the crankshaft and a new gasket on the cover. He also replaced our [fuel] lift pump (I had a spare one) and fixed another 'nuisance' leak along the bottom of the tappet cover. It is a temporary fix. A permanent fix is just not worth the cost.

After the project was complete and engine ran to check for leaks, Jude cleaned the bilge and put 'sorbs' (oil absorbent pads) in the bilge -- very professional!