A charterer returned my
boat with the complaint that there was a major
oil leak and that he had to add about 5 qts of
oil to the
engine. What a mess! After sucking most of the
oil our of the
bilge and
engine sump pan I discovered a small metal and rubber thing in the sump pan. (see photo) I cleaned it up and took it over to a nearby marina engine shop and asked them what it was. "Looks like a dipstick," they said. "Nothing wrong with my dipstick," I said. Fortunately, they had a new similar engine outside the shop on blocks
for sale ($8000!). I gave it a good going over and discovered what looked like an exact copy of what I found in my sump. Under the
oil filter at the 4 o'clock position was what looked like a dipstick
plug.(I had trouble rotating the
photo 90 degrees) It seems
Yanmar just plugged that hole when it moved the dipstick to a different location up forward - maybe for better access. Anyway, you may want to be be sure your dipstick
plug is secure or else you might find a similar mess when your
boat heels over on port tack!