Outback - oil in bilge water

[mimoomba5203]

Over this past weekend I have had two issues - unfortunately I think they may be related!

I have only had the 2006 outback in the water for about an hour this year (before this weekend). Friday night the boat started ran great. Saturday we had the boat out 3 or 4 times - no problem - pulled one skier and one wakeboarder. Saturday night pulled 2 tubers for about 20 minutes.

The engine stalled once Saturday night, but it restarted no problem.

When I stopped for the night, I noticed that there was an oily substance in the bilge water.

Sunday morning the boat started, but then stalled right away. It would always start and would idle ok, but under load it would stall right away. I was able to run it for maybe 3 minutes without stalling once.

I had refilled the tank with fresh gas and put in a can of sea-foam gas conditioner, but it didn't seem to help.

My neighbor thinks that I may have blown a head gasket and that it what caused the oil in the bilge water and the shutting down of the engine.

Any ideas? I have about 160 hours on the boat total.

[Sled491]

Blown Head gasket on an Outback would be very easy to spot as you have so much access to the engine. Lift the clam and take a look for any obvious blow through points where you can see oil originating from. After that run a leak down test, similar to a compression test but will let you know if there are any openings.

Last is the boat carb or EFI

[dtlaine]

Over this past weekend I have had two issues - unfortunately I think they may be related!

I have only had the 2006 outback in the water for about an hour this year (before this weekend). Friday night the boat started ran great. Saturday we had the boat out 3 or 4 times - no problem - pulled one skier and one wakeboarder. Saturday night pulled 2 tubers for about 20 minutes.

The engine stalled once Saturday night, but it restarted no problem.

When I stopped for the night, I noticed that there was an oily substance in the bilge water.

Sunday morning the boat started, but then stalled right away. It would always start and would idle ok, but under load it would stall right away. I was able to run it for maybe 3 minutes without stalling once.

I had refilled the tank with fresh gas and put in a can of sea-foam gas conditioner, but it didn't seem to help.

My neighbor thinks that I may have blown a head gasket and that it what caused the oil in the bilge water and the shutting down of the engine.

Any ideas? I have about 160 hours on the boat total.

The stalling sounds like it may be a fuel filter issue. If you haven't changed that in a while, that's a good, cheap place to start.

[mimoomba5203]

This is a carb engine.

Is it easy to change the fuel filter? I will probably try this first.

Thanks for the quick reply's!

[ian ashton]

Welcome to the forum! I've never had oil in my bilge water, but I had a similar issue with my Outback running rough, however mine is fuel injected. I think I was experiancing vapor lock, as it was intermittent and has not returned.

What part of Michigan are you from? I keep mine on Cass Lake, in Waterford.

[mimoomba5203]

My cottage is in mid-michigan on Big Lake (actually a pretty small lake) - between Mt. Pleasant and Cadillac.

[dtlaine]

If I remember correctly, you should have an in-line filter between your tank and fuel pump. Once you find it, it should be simple to replace.

[danimal365]

I had a problem with my oil sending unit leaking on my 08 Outback. Seems like that was a fairly common complaint with the 08 indmar.