Oil change

[Bolo]

New video on my YouTube channel on changing the oil in my auxiliary. Some of you "old salts" and backyard/driveway mechanics might find it old info but some of you newer boat owners with limited experience in changing oil on an engine you can't get to the bottom of to drain might find it useful. Also some of the mistakes I made along the way. It's a simple but very necessary operation to keep the engine running and gets you familiar with where things are and what do they do. Embrace your auxiliary! It may make the difference between a good and bad day on the water.

 

[Loren Beach]

Thanks for the "real world" version of an oil change! Complete with a missing funnel and a trip to the store.
"Been there done that."
Our '88 boat also had the stock Universal M25XP. Every year I would slurp out one gallon via the hose from the banjo fitting, and then pour in one new gallon. This would show as just a tad (over) full on the dip stick, after a restart to check for leaks and get the new oil circulating into the filter. After a warm up the oil level is then just under "full."
You use the same plastic baggie trick that I use.

I suck out the old oil with an out-of-production Tempo oil remover and I note that WM still sells a slightly larger version of it. Mine holds one gallon. Luckily our new Betamarine has an attached hand pump to empty the crankcase, so now the old changer is only used for the transmission ATF (oil) changes.

 

[Christian Williams]

Yep, can't live without it.

 

[Kenneth K]

A note on engine oil and the breather tube (which most of us have re-routed back to the air intake). A few years back I added a fancy drip loop and oil catch to the breather line, on its way back to the air intake. After a while, the oil catch got clogged and it obstructed the breather tube. When the breather gets blocked, the crankcase pressurizes to the point where it pumps oil out the dipstick silo. Always helpful to give a running engine one last visual check before leaving the dock.

 

[Bolo]

Got these comments (below in bold) about my YouTube vid, which is at the beginning of this thread, critiquing my oil changing routine. Again, I want to make the point about all my advice given here and on my YouTube channel, I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do, it’s just the way I do it that works for me. Always open to learning new tricks, even at my age, but also retain the right to not take advice given for a variety of reasons I won’t go into here. I don’t know if the person who made these comments is an Ericson owner but some of them seem maybe useful. My comments about his advice is below his.

Very easy and simple to avoid and get out of that mess. Once the oil filter is loosened:
■ looking at the side of the filter punch a hole with an awl at the 9 o'clock mark and then make it bigger with a punch
■ then make another hole on the face/bottom of the filter at the 12:00 o'clock position; this facilitates a vent for faster draining.
■ place a small catch device under the filter
■ spin the filter so the 9 o'clock hole is pointing downward so it can drain The filter will drain nice a cleanly into your catch device. Place it in a gallon zip lock and discard accordingly. I have seen far TOO many times oily bilge water making its way into the waterways, even though the boater felt they were able to contain and clean up any spillage of oil in their bilge. One quart of standard motor oil will slick over 2 acres of water.

I‘ve used the punch hole method before on cars that I’ve owned and was never really comfortable with it. I also found that sometimes it made a bigger mess depending on the orientation of the filter. “Place a small catch device under the filter”….like what? A cup, a bowl, and who’s gonna hold it in position? There is no convenient place to set down a “small catch device” and so a second set of hands is required which isn’t possible if you’re doing this job alone. As for oil spillage, not much gets out of my plastic bag technique and any that does is caught using the “boat diapers“ that I place around my work area. Plus, the oil bilge picks up any drips where there is another boat diaper that always stays there.

There was another comment he made (that I couldn’t copy from YouTube) about the dark color of the oil on the dip stick after I made the oil change. He said that it was obvious that I wasn’t getting all of the old oil out of the pan and that after adding oil and checking the stick it should be honey colored. Well, that’s never happened on my boat or in any car I’ve changed oil on. Granted, because of the engine tilt I’m probably not getting all of the old oil out even using the banjo fitting but I don’t see this as a big problem since I’m getting most out and replacing it with fresh.

Now maybe I’m doing something wrong or there is a better way. If so I’d like to hear it for other Ericson owners who know their auxiliaries “intimately“…if I can use that work in this context.

 

[G Kiba]

Bob, Good job on the video. Removing all the old oil, or as much as you can, is difficult. I too, have a hose and banjo bolt arrangement. However, the person that installed it also included, an in-line valve, a small electric pump, and another valve at the end of the hose in that order. So draining the oil is pretty easy. I save the previous oil container to drain the old oil into and use those wonderful blue paper towels they sell in auto part stores just reduce single-use plastic waste. Replacing the oil filter on my M18 is the real challenge. I actually now remove the alternator to make it all a bit easier. It is always a mess removing the filter and I would only punch a hole in the filter if i wanted a bigger mess! My oil stays clean and clear for maybe two or three motor outs to sail. It then gets as dark as the old oil I just removed until the next time it is changed (yearly). I am told it is just the nature of diesel engines for the crank case oil to look dirty.

 

[Kenneth K]

“Place a small catch device under the filter”….like what? A cup, a bowl, and who’s gonna hold it in position? There is no convenient place to set down a “small catch device” and so a second set of hands is required which isn’t possible if you’re doing this job alone.

Sure it's possible when doing the job alone. First, loosen the filter with a wrench until it's loose enough to turn it by hand (but not so loose that it starts dripping oil).

Take a small aluminum baking pan and scrunch it up so that it fits tucked-up behind the oil filter and against the block. Put a rag behind the scrunched up baking pan. Hold the pan in place with one hand while unscrewing the filter with the other.

I've never punctured the old filter before removing--seems messy.

Edited to add: I guess I should have watched the video first--I do like you do (not puncturing the filter) but I hold a flexible aluminum pan below the filter instead of placing a bag around it.

 

[Loren Beach]

Sure it's possible when doing the job alone. First, loosen the filter with a wrench until it's loose enough to turn it by hand (but not so loose that it starts dripping oil).

That is what I have done for years. Next step is to fit a plastic baggie around it and turn the bag-and-filter off as a unit. Some does drip down, but I put some paper towels under it to catch that bit of oil. The filter and all clean-up paper towels go into a larger zip lock bag for disposal.

 

[Christian Williams]

Baby diaper. Ties around the filter.

If the filter wrench slips, tape some sandpaper to it for a better grip.

Awkward on the 381, but what isn't on a boat?

 

[southofvictor]

I’ve been using some purple synthetic for the last couple changes. Takes the worries out of seeing dark oil after a couple of trips out