Changing oil, no access to sump?

[Moosemiester]

Drill pumps are OK, but they are slow, and if you have a battery drill they take a long time. The vacuum pumps rock.

To prevent the messy hoses use a piece of stiff wire to push a little wad of paper towel through the hose after use.

My engine was setup with a rubber hose connected to the drain plug with a brass plug on the other end, great idea until the sludge in the bottom of the pan plugged it...

YMMV

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by Moosemiester

great idea until the sludge in the bottom of the pan plugged it...

YMMV

Now how did THAT get there if you're doing regular oil changes

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by Blue Stocking

The needles that are used for crochet- type knitting can be had about 12 " long, and 1/4" hollow diameter. Cut end off, fits the dipstick fitting on my Westerbeke W46.

Good "tip" (pun intended)

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Good "tip" (pun intended)

Yeah, yeah, we get the point ...

[DenverSailors]

Originally Posted by Quadrille in JB

I use a 12vdc pony impeller pump from Harbor Freight. It costs about $36 and works great. It has garden hose fittings for the inlet and outlet. I purchased a dishwasher adapter which was garden hose to 3/8" hose for the inlet and connected it to a piece of 3/16" copper tubing that will fit down the dipstick hole. The pump came with 3' of garden hose which works great for pumping the oil into a container.

Do yourself a favor and buy a couple of female garden hose blank off fittings to cover the pump inlet and outlets when not in use. The garden hose connects to itself to prevent leaks.

This rig empties the oil in well under 1 minute.

Like!

[Jacana]

When finished extracting oil from the sump use the siphon pump to extract oil from the old filters to empty them before disposal then I put the hose into the fuel container for the dinghy motor and a quick pump sucks up a smidgen of petrol which cleans the hose internally and then ready for next oil change.

[J Clark H356]

Originally Posted by Winf

On a similar theme, the oil filter on our Yanmar 3HM is a pain to get off. Have two types of filter clamp and neither work well. Just can't seem to get clamp to a good position to get a good grip and some movement at the same. Any good filter clamps out there?



Winf

I had similar problems with filter wrenches of all types. In my case they are just too hard to get in the proper place with the correct tightness on the band. I’ve used all sizes of rubber and metal, infinite adjustment etc. I now use large Channellock slip joint pliers to get it started. Also you must be tightening it too tight. Just hand tighten with a little use of the Channellocks - then start the engine and see if it drips. Err on the side of too loose rather than too tight and check it a few times until you feel comfortable that it won’t vibrate off or leak.

Another technique I have used to get things started is a large screwdriver stuck all the way through. Use that to start it turning. The screwdriver will spill oil, but as a last resort, it usually works for me.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Sailorbob8599

Yes, an interesting subject this, I've often thought about connecting a permanent drain tube in place of the "plug", with a shut-off cock at the end of the tube, thus allowing one to drain the oil into a container in an accessible area of the bilge. I can see no reason not to do this, but I've never gotten around to doing it myself. One would need to make sure the shut-off cock would not/could not open itself, either by accident or otherwise. Has anyone else ever considered doing this or maybe even done this?

Done all time on aircraft, here are valves of different sizes.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...clickkey=27591
They open by simply pushing in on them, slip a hose on the end and push it, the oil drains out, pull to close. About half the time putting the hose on and taking it off opens and close the valve.
My Nexgen generator came with a short hose permanently attached with a plug on the end of the hose, take the plug off the hose and the oil drains out, neat thing is if you hold the hose up, no oil flow, place end of hose into empty oil container, lower it and have a beer while you wait.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by basssears

I use this Jabsco pump (seems very similar to the on West Marine sells) down the dipstick hole:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O8F562

That looks like the actual pump I have except they have gotten smart and put a guard on the switch so it won't get broken when it gets knocked over.

BTW: You can buy replacement impellers for that pump.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by rwidman

Go to a good auto parts store and find one that fits your filter better. There are some that are operated with a ratchet and extension.



I will guess that you are screwing the filter on too tight in the first place. There are usually instructions on the box or the filter but it's typically two thirds or three quarters of a turn past where the rubber gasket touches the mounting.



I can usually get my filter off with my bare hands. Not easily, but I can do it.

If you really want the easiest way to do it, a K&N oil filter has a 1” nut welded to its end, it’s a copy from aircraft oil filters, it like aircraft filters has a provision to safety wire the filter also if your at all concerned about that possibility, although I have never heard of a filter loosening itself.
https://www.knfilters.com/wrenchoff_oilfilter.htm
K&N and Mobil 1 are among the best filters you can buy, and are priced accordingly.

[BlackHeron]

I like the idea of using brake line to suck the oil out the dipstick rather than the plastic stuff.

I have a Volvo-Penta evil 2003t green demon engine and I'll have to see what size best fits down in there with the largest ID. The plastic hoses tend to deflect on the bottom of the oil pan and don't want to find or keep at the bottom very well. I imagine the thinner wall of the metal brake line would allow for a larger ID and better oil flow as well as a little more weight, being metal rather than plastic, to keep it resting down to the bottom of the pan when pumping my hand pump. The glass jar idea for the drain oil is interesting too as it is all too easy to tip the jar too. I like to wire the handle to something to keep it where it needs to be. It's bad enough the hose tends to want to jump out of it when operating the hand pump.

I wanted to buy a nice vacuum pump like the ones they sell at WestMarine but I was over-ruled by my wife who said it takes up too much space on a cruising sailboat. Space is tight and they are quite large for a device that has limited utility. The hand pump packs down much smaller.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by BlackHeron

............ I wanted to buy a nice vacuum pump like the ones they sell at WestMarine but I was over-ruled by my wife who said it takes up too much space on a cruising sailboat. Space is tight and they are quite large for a device that has limited utility. The hand pump packs down much smaller.

Who changes the oil, you or your wife?

If my wife started telling me what tools I needed for maintaining the boat, I would turn the task over to her.

[basssears]

Originally Posted by BlackHeron

I wanted to buy a nice vacuum pump like the ones they sell at WestMarine but I was over-ruled by my wife who said it takes up too much space on a cruising sailboat. Space is tight and they are quite large for a device that has limited utility. The hand pump packs down much smaller.

Definitely the downside to the big vacuum pumps, I wouldn't have one if I were cruising full time, but since we're coastal cruising from marina for now it's fine to leave in the dock box, so far (unfortunately) have not been away from home port long enough to need oil change while traveling (always used to be a sign of a good long road trip in our camper van, if we needed to hit a random Jiffy Lube during a trip!)

-- Bass

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Sailorbob8599

Yes, an interesting subject this, I've often thought about connecting a permanent drain tube in place of the "plug", with a shut-off cock at the end of the tube, thus allowing one to drain the oil into a container in an accessible area of the bilge. I can see no reason not to do this, but I've never gotten around to doing it myself. One would need to make sure the shut-off cock would not/could not open itself, either by accident or otherwise. Has anyone else ever considered doing this or maybe even done this?

Valiants came from the factory with a hose on the drain plug with a cap on the end. However there’s no lower point to put a receptacle within reach of the hose. I put my extractor hose into it which does a better job than through the dipstick tube.

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Done all time on aircraft, here are valves of different sizes.
SAF-AIR OIL DRAIN SUMP VALVES from Aircraft Spruce
They open by simply pushing in on them, slip a hose on the end and push it, the oil drains out, pull to close. About half the time putting the hose on and taking it off opens and close the valve.
My Nexgen generator came with a short hose permanently attached with a plug on the end of the hose, take the plug off the hose and the oil drains out, neat thing is if you hold the hose up, no oil flow, place end of hose into empty oil container, lower it and have a beer while you wait.

Hey thanks a64pilot, that looks like it would do the trick. I now need to find a way to pull the plug to see which valve to buy ... Which means performing an oil change ... Which will likely result in making a mess again ... but it might be worth it. Could also result in becoming a 'selling' feature when showing boat to potential buyer.