Perkins 4-107 oil loss

[Christopher P]

My Morgan34 yawl has a reliable 1969 Perkins 4-107 that today lost its oil - it appears to be streaming out of the “oil pressure sending device”.
Is this possible ?

[osprey877]

It certainly appears to be��

[skipperpete]

Yes, fairly common on the low oil pressure switch but far less common on the gauge sender.

[Christopher P]

skipperpete - thank you very much .
Have not yet been able to find photo or drawing of what appeared to be streaming out oil ... there is a bronze tee coming out of the block. The upper tee has a cylinder with a domed top and a wire, the lower tee a fitting with a wire that seems to be what activates the oil pressure gage - there is no visible aperture for the oil, but perhaps it is being, as it appears, pushed through electrical connection ?
Access is constrained, but this apparently “ solid” terminal sure seemed to be source of leak ..... ! .... ???

[motretu]

had a boat and perkins 4-154 with an oil pressure switch mounted directly to the oil port. thought i'd be cleaver. add a brass nipple + tee + pressure gauge + original pressure switch. worked well until engine vibration caused brass nipple to fail at thread line while on a 50 mile transit. fortunately a crew member heard the alarm [mounted below deck] and no engine damage was done, but put a lot of oil in the bilge, some of which went over board. moral of the story, use a flexible oil line to connect to oil port, mount senders in a cluster on or off engine. note that some senders electrically depend on a mechanical connection to the engine block. easy to find two wire sender replacements.

[bongo]

What skipperpete said X2. Ours blew lube oil through the low oil pressure alarm sending units diaphragm, pressure immediately went to 0. Shut the engine down immediately. The engine room was a Huge black lube oil mess! Turns out there is a page stuck into the manual that warns of this, and says this switch should be remotely mounted, (not mounted to the engine), to reduce vibration which weakens the diaphragm. I bought a kit for an oil pressure gauge at an auto parts store and installed it. Hopefully this is no longer an issue.

[Denny Vitton]

I also have a Morgan 34cb which had a 4-107. It leak oil everywhere would of cost more to overhaul than to replace. Did replace with a Beta 28hp which is more than enough hp for the boat. Sorry no answer on your leak...

[Christopher P]

Thanks !