Patent ID: 7118435
Filing Date: 2006-10-10
Classification: B63H,F01M

Abstract:
1. An outboard motor comprising: a main part, the main part including an internal combustion engine, a lubricant pan for reserving a lubricant for lubricating the engine, a lubricant level sensor for detecting the level of the lubricant in the lubricant pan, and a main switch for turning on and off a power supply to the internal combustion engine, the lubricant pan being positioned below the internal combustion engine and being configured to collect the lubricant that has drained towards the lubricant pan from the internal combustion engine; a lubricant tank disposed separately from the lubricant pan to reserve additional lubricant; a lubricant replenishing pump configured to replenish the lubricant pan with additional lubricant from the lubricant tank; a lubricant replenishing passage configured to lead the additional lubricant delivered from the lubricant replenishing pump toward the lubricant pan; a control device operatively connected to the lubricant level sensor and the lubricant replenishing pump, the control device configured to detect the lubricant level upon the main switch being turned on and to supply lubricant by the operation of the lubricant replenishing pump from the lubricant tank through the lubricant replenishing passage toward the lubricant pan by a specified replenishing amount according to the lubricant level; and a tilt angle sensor that is configured to detect a title angle of the main part of the outboard motor and wherein the control device is operatively connected to the tilt angle sensor and is configured to determine the specified replenishing amount of the lubricant according to the tilt angle detected with the tilt angle sensor.