Sandra is an experienced sailor and wouldn't put oil in the fuel tank of a 4-stroke outboard . . . ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill & Gigi Day" <billgigi@train.missouri.org> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 12:15 PM Subject: Another sailing adventure It sounds like Sandra is describing filling the crankcase on her Honda motor. The main clue is that it only holds 8 ounces and needs a funnel or squirt bottle to fill. I'm not sure why she would need to fill it on the water, but the sight window for the oil crankcase is hard to see, and when the engine died she may have looked at the sight glass and decided it needed more oil. If the crankcase is overfilled (and that's easy to do) the motor will smoke and run roughly. I'm curious to know if the engine uses a lot of oil. It might be old and have leaky rings or something. I agree with Connie that if everything is normal, you only need to top up the oil level at the beginning of the season and check it occasionally during the year. From Sandra's description, though, I didn't get the impression that she put oil in the fuel tank. Bill Day