What is the best system and or way to change oil in my mains an gen

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45 Blue Water
Houma, Louisiana
Mile Post 60 ICW

Edited: 06/15/2012 at 10:47:59 AM by Kartracer

Marina mechanic and money.

Why:

1. It's a once a year thing.

2. He knows what he's doing

3. You don't have to own or maintain equipment/tools.

4. You made yours let others make theirs.

5 Have a nice day!!!!!

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OLD HOUSEBOATER

Edited: 06/15/2012 at 06:21:29 PM by OLD HOUSEBOATER

^ I second

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Dan
Lake Monroe
Bloomington, IN
1986 Gibson 50'
Twin 454's

The marina and money approach works well for some. For me, not so much. The mechanics at my marina charge $100 an hour from the time they leave their dock to the time they get back. My boat is in a buoy field. It takes the mechanic about a half hour to get out to my boat, tie up, and get his tools out. It's another half hour to do the reverse. So I'm into my oil change $100 before he can pick up a wrench. I can pay him for a half hour of actual work if I'm willing to have him do the oil changes cold. I'd rather have the engines warm, which takes a bit more of the $100 per hour time. That all gets kind of expensive for what I'm getting for my money, especially since my marina always puts their least-experienced man on jobs like oil changes.

Even if I had so much money that I felt good about spending $250 to $300 for an oil change, I see maintenance work as a good time to better know my boat and equipment. If I have trouble at my favorite lake spot, 80 miles from the nearest marina, I am grateful for the time I've spend learning enough to be more self-sufficient.

I use a Marina Pro Oil Changer. It looks like this:

It works well for me. My friend uses a Suck Up. It works a little better but takes a little more space:

The Marina Pro is about $50. The Suck Up is about $60. Either way, I can buy a filter wrench and still be below the trip charge my mechanic has to charge me to get to and from my boat for just one oil change. He of course takes no offense that I save him for bigger jobs where it makes sense to pay for an hour of time that he has to spend that doesn't get any work done.

I have a Mercruiser which has a threaded dipstick rod, to which I screw on a little hand pump. I put the end into a gallon jug, and pump a few times. Changing the oil filter takes about a minute. Add a few quarts of new oil, and I'm done. I change my oil yearly, even though I only put about 20 or so hours on the boat each year. If I got fancy I would use synthetic oil. The regular oils that are sold now adays are nearly as good, so once a year for my use may be overkill. Most of my friends change theirs once every other summer. The generator takes a suction tool like those suggested by Endurance. Still pretty easy to do.

Edited: 06/18/2012 at 05:30:31 PM by ShoreBound

I do my own. Mostly for the reasons that Endurance listed. Plus I like to do it. I have one of the Jabsco units - five gallon pail with a 12v pump.

I bought a Jabsco a few months ago, works great! (just make sure the oil is good and warm)



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1988 SkipperLiner 53x14
1995 Tracker Party Cruiser 32 *for sale*
2003 Chaparral 260 SSI
2000 Allegro Bus 40' DP

Thanks "Frantically Relaxing" I just ordered one

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45 Blue Water
Houma, Louisiana
Mile Post 60 ICW

Yeah - and make sure that you flip the switch in the right direction.

Problem I've run into with my engine is that when the oil is warm, a good amount of it is still in the top of the engine. By the time it all drains down into the pan, it's cold.

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Willie
She's a tired old barge but she's paid for! http://s71.photobucket.com/alb...p;current=ef324993.pbw

You are so right. There is a sweet spot when the oil has run into the pan but is still warm. If the engine has run for an hour or hours, that sweet spot is wide because the whole block is hot and conducts heat into the pan for a long time.

The worst of all worlds is if you just run the engine for five or ten minutes. The oil is up in the heads but you haven't made much heat.

This all tends to handicap a mechanic trying to do a good oil change. Most owners don't want to pay a mechanic another $100 to drive their boat around for an hour until the block gets fully hot. But as owners, we have no problem using our boat for an hour or even hours.

I quit worrying about it. I had a hose connected to the factory oil drain and use a $10 drill pump. It couldn't care less if the oil is cold. IMO the dipstick thing is a PIA.
Once the oil is out I reverse the pump and put the fresh oil in the same way.

But I LOVE my genset... no oil, and no oil changes!!!

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Willie
She's a tired old barge but she's paid for! http://s71.photobucket.com/alb...p;current=ef324993.pbw

i also do my own with the jabsco, it works great.after i get all out i can with the pump i use a cheap aluminum pan from the dollar store and fold it to get under the oil pan. i then remove the plug and let what little is left in the oil pan run into the cheapo pan.it takes all of 30 min to do the mains and generator.

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1991 gibson 44 executive
454's
norwich,ohio
docked on the good ole ohio river in marietta

Edited: 06/21/2012 at 04:54:36 PM by 42gibson

The trick is what Endurance just mentioned, the engine needs to be GOOD and warm. Just idling it, even for 1/2 hour won't get the oil all that hot. This fact was hammered home to me by the Jabsco...

Back in March when I bought it, I ran the Chaparral on muffs in the driveway for 1/2 hour, then proceeded to try and suck up the oil. It did, and the oil felt "warm", but it was pumping at the rate of about 1/2 cup a minute. I thought I'd bought a bum pump! So after about a quart I stopped, warmed it up some more, and finished up. It was slow, but sure.

Then 2 weeks ago we took the SkipperLiner out for a cruise. Only about 2 miles out, but it started getting a little breezy-er than we like so we came back in. Total time of no wake plus cruising at 2500 rpm was about an hour, oil was very warm. I spent about 15 minutes tying up and stuff, perfect for oil drain-down time. It took the pump about 5 minutes to empty the 4 quarts from each engine. WAY faster than before. And the 2nd engine's waiting time didn't cool the oil enough to make a difference...

And Kartracer--- If your dipstick has a threaded top (same threads as the male end of a typical garden hose) then go to Home Depot, and buy a plastic 1/4" compression fitting and a brass garden hose fitting, just like these...



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1988 SkipperLiner 53x14
1995 Tracker Party Cruiser 32 *for sale*
2003 Chaparral 260 SSI
2000 Allegro Bus 40' DP

I was just talking with a friend of mine that has been boating for years. He raced a blown alcohol drag boat for a number of years. He told me on his drag boat he would use a hefty trash bag, hold it under the crankcase pull the drain plug and let the oil fill up the bag. He said to be very careful not to snag the bag but it worked perfect for his 12 quart oil pan with 50 weight oil. Interesting idea.... I may try it on my ski boat and will report back in.


Fred

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Yesterday was the best day of my life..... I bought a Houseboat!! Check out our blog of our houseboat refurbish!! http://fredsfriendlyblogspot.blogspot.com/

The trash bag trick might work but to me it sounds like a big mess waiting to happen... I'm glad I won't be there to clean it up!

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Willie
She's a tired old barge but she's paid for! http://s71.photobucket.com/alb...p;current=ef324993.pbw

here's a tip, open the oil fill cap when you use small plastic tubing fed into the dip stick tube.

the open fill cap will give u a much better draw.

also if u use the same system on your westerbeke,that has a factory drain hose,
the same tube fed into the drain hose makes a cleaner job and is even more efficent

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"Come OOON Back............

I do my own with a dipstick pump similar to the ones above. It's very easy. IMO the more time you can spend in the engine room doing easy tasks like this the better as it keeps you on top of the condition of the drive systems.

Here's the pump I use:
http://www.defender.com/produc...918|314179&id=1345777
It takes a few times of filling it up to drain both engines. I take a 5g bucket with a lid on board to transfer the oil into when the pump fills. By the time I'm done I have nearly 5 gallons which I dump at the nearest AuoZone.

I know there are people out there who drain the oil from the pan by pulling the drain plug but I'm not one of them; I feel there's just too much risk of compromising the factory seal by pulling the plug. Besides, the dipstick tube is much more accessible on my boat than the drain plug is.

I use Shell Rotella 15W-40 oil for what it's worth. I've read that this oil, engineered for diesel engines, contains additives that are beneficial to a gasoline marine engine. I also only use Mallory oil filters for my Crusaders; I'm a believer in running good oil filters and they're only a couple bucks more than automotive filters.

Edited: 07/05/2012 at 06:58:28 PM by stp012