Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Johnson 5.5 leaking gear oil › Re: Johnson 5.5 leaking gear oil
If gear oil is coming out the #29 water inlet screen, it most likely is coming from the drive shaft seal #22. The screen leads to the space under the water pump, and that’s where the drive shaft seal is located. Do you see anything coming out the long narrow plate on the side of the gearcase? That is in the same passage.
However, the inlet screen is right close to the exhaust outlet. It would be reasonable to think you might be seeing oil draining from the exhaust. That is the oil that you put in the gas that has gone through the engine, done its job and discharged out the exhaust system where it picks up carbon particles that turns it black. All perfectly normal.