Prop shaft seal on Mercury???

[Jose]

I have a 2001 Mercury 150hp saltwater and a 2001 Mercury 8hp kicker...both are 2 strokes and less than 20 hrs. I have changed the lower unit oil about 8 weeks ago and have been stored in a vertical position since. I have noticed a small oil spot under both motors. While the spots are small, enough to cover a spot about 1.5". It takes about 2 weeks for the spot to appear...I am still concerned. I have placed something under both motors to capture the oil to inspect it. It is definitely lower unit oil coming from between the prop and lower unit. My question is...Is this normal when a motor is stored in a vertical position for a long period of time? I ruled out the possibility of it being excess oil from the change. I have had the lower unit of the 150 pressure tested prior to the oil change and it passed. Should I demand my dealer to change both seals??? I feel that it is a coincidence to this happen on two new motors.

Jose`

[ebijack]

if your aboslutely sure it's lower unit oil (you really don't have enough hours of break-in done yet for the extra oil from the break-in to possibly to not be coming out the exhaust..around the prop...my first guess)
you could pull the top vent plug on both and make sure oil is not coming out when in the vertical position. causing a over fill condition. check that and if nothing, i'd call your dealer and have him check it out. the seals unless torn by fishing line etc which is unlikely on both motors at the same time makes it sound like a dealer slipup.
hope that helps

[Stormsearch]

I would place my money that this is fogging oil coming out of the exhausts and not lower unit oil coming out of the seals. I can't imagine both engines doing the same thing. But is very typical after peforming end of year service. What happens when you fog the engine, there is excess un-burnt oil that passes out of the exhaust.

However, normally the lower unit oil is pretty distinguishable from engine oil in color. You could double check to make sure both props are properly tightened and not over-tightened. The only time I have seen an issue on a newer engine causing lower unit leaks was the guy overfilled his lower unit, basically pumping oil into the lower unit under pressure and then capping. Under operation, the grease heats up, expands, and leaked out back thru the prop seal.