Injector oil reservoirs

[Gumbo]

I've got a Lund 1950 Tyee with Yamaha 200 Prov. The boat has an injector oil reservoir under the splashwell and the motor has a small reservoir under the cowl. Can somebody explain to me what the reservoir is under the cowl? Does oil flow from the boat's reservoir to the motor's reservoir and then into the motor? There's a switch on the back of the motor under the cowl that says something about pumping oil from ?? to ?? for emergencies or when one of the reservoirs runs out.

I'm clueless how this all works and hope somebody can explain it to me. I'd like to drain some of the oil out of the motor's reservoir because when I tilt the motor all the way up it leaks out the top (less than perfect seal on the rubber cap).

Thanks.

[whitetips]

Emergency reservoir in case you have pump problems, use your main reservoir. Check your manual in case an alarm for low oil pressure turns on.

[T-Mac]

The way the system works is this:
The upper reservoir (on the motor)has a float in it that turns the oil pump on when your upper reservoir gets down to the lower line. Oil is then pumped from the main reservoir up to the upper, and it fills until it gets up to the upper line. (See those lines on your upper reservoir?) Then it shuts off..kinda like your toilet.(LOL).
If you are leaking oil out when you are tilted up, it may be over filling your upper.
I'd have it looked at.

[Starfish]

Like T Mac said, the Yamaha uses the motor tank for feed to the motor, and automatically refills the motor tank from the reservoir tank when it gets to a certain level. If you're leaking, you need to take it to the shop-- probably a bad gasket.

One thing I learned-- I always assumed that when the main reservoir tank runs out, you can still run home on what's left in the motor tank. Wrong! Once the reservoir tank is empty, the "low oil" buzzer will sound and the motor RPMs will be automatically limited to very low RPMs. The good news is that it won't let your Yamaha get damaged, since it still has plenty of oil from the motor tank, but the bad news is that it takes a while getting home AND the buzzer will drive you nuts. Always throw a contingency bottle of oil in the box behind the reservoir tank!