Transmission oil in Bilge?

Anyone experience red oil in bilge? 2019 Craz about 250 hours was out on a hot weekend with a full crew and full ballast running the boat for a family hard 4-5 hours. Next weekend noticed the bilge pumping out reddish water. Checked the bilge and sure enough about an inch of water (which is typical for my boat) in the bilge but a milky reddish colour. Boat is running fine for now but I’m assuming there is a leak somewhere. My questions now are what is the best way to clean the oily bilge? Could running the boat hard on a hot day (35 Celsius) with a full boat somehow increase the pressure in the transmission and cause the leak and it will fix itself? Any typical places anyone found a transmission oil leak? Any thoughts on the fluid coming from the V-drive or transmission? Could I run the boat (slowly) back to the boat launch if the fluid levels are OK? Thanks all.


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It you have red oil in the bilge then it is transmission fluid for sure and you must have a leak somewhere. V-drive fluid is clear. Have you checked the level in the transmission? If you were leaking fluid I can't imagine it is something that will fix itself. My guess is a seal or gasket has failed. I'm no mechanic and don't know where to start looking other than have the dealer look at it. I would NOT run the boat if you are very low on fluid. As far as cleaning out the bilge I would put some dish soap or Simple Green in the bilge, fill the bilge with a lot of hot water, drive around the block several times to get the soap/water sloshing around, drain it out and repeat a few times.

At 250hrs you either have a failed seal or a clogged vent.

There is a vent with a steel cap that allows pressure to escape all the time. The rotating oil will pressurize and gets worse as speed and load increase. If the vent is plugged it will force oil out and damage a seal or the oil burped out of the vent.

I would check fluid levels while floating level (no ballast). If low add fluid and have someone drive as you look for drips. Be careful as the shaft will be spinning and exposed. Most likely the leak is where the Trans meets the engine.

And yes red is transmission fluid

Thanks for that, where is the vent located or is it obvious?


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Kinda obvious but it's painted the same color black as the case.

Attachment 31053

Holdmybeer you were right on the money oil ATF coming out of the vent, changed the ATF and now good to go, was also a small leak in the oil filter when I had the oil changed I believe the filter got tightened a little to much and pushed the oil ring on the filter out of place.


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Good to hear something simple.

Hopefully you can get the oil out of the bilge. Like other have said simple green works great.