Maintenance Suggestions with Motor Pulled

[Cadence10m]

As part of many boat projects, I yanked my Yanmar 3GM30F out today. As much trouble as it was, I now have amazing access to all sides. I'm wondering what little things I should do now as preventative maintenance.

I think it's a 1997 engine, there's 1032 hrs on it and it runs great. It was getting a bit hard to start, but I've been told that was carbon in the exhaust elbow. I pulled that off today and will clean it.

I've also ordered an oil pan gasket, since it'll be a quick job to replace it now and a terrible job with is stuffed back in the boat.

Another thing I'm going to do is take detailed photos of all sides and note the size of all fasteners.

Any other items that come up on this engine that are hard to deal with, with poor access?

Thanks,

Craig

[GordMay]

Install an oil drain fitting (c/w pet-cock) in the oil pan sump.

[Euro Cruiser]

Craig, here are a few things that come to mind...

1. Replace all oil hoses; they have a finite lifespan; use Goodyear or similar store to have the hoses made up properly re: end fittings
2. Remove the injectors and have them pop tested; might need to be rebuilt after 1000 hrs; this could explain your starting problem
3. Paint the entire bilge area surrounding the engine bed with light grey 2-part epoxy paint; Fiberglass Coatings makes wonderful (and wonderfully inexpensive) epoxy paint
4. I would have mentioned adding a drain line as Gord did...but I did that when repowering and have been disappointed with how poorly it works, even with a good fall; I think the problem is the ID of the fittings on the hose, given that the hose itself must be of a relatively small ID; when I'm back in the land of inches vs. mm I will add an reversed reducer and larger hose to see if that makes a difference; my suggestion is to think about this a bit before selecting the pieces
5. How old is the fresh water pump? Time to replace?
6. Use a stainless brush, zinc rich primer and regular paint to touch up all areas of rust; surely that oil pan can use a bit of paint.

Taking pics is a great idea, especially of areas hard to access and/or see when installed.

Jack

[Vasco]

I've always shied away from these thinking it's just another thing to go wrong. I know with my mechanical ability I'd probably cross thread it trying to tighten it. I've found oil changes very easy on the 3GM30 using either an electric drill pump or a vacuum pump. The engine only takes 2.7 liters of oil so it's sucked up in no time. Having a metal tube (rather than flexible plastic) that goes to the bottom of the sump helps. The plastic tube tends to curl up at the bottom of the dipstick tube and suck air resulting in a lot of jiggling around.

[GordMay]

Size oil drain fitting to match pump inlet hose. Select fittings as an assembly: drain fitting, hose, & pump.

[Euro Cruiser]

The point of a oil drain line, installed in place of the oil pan drain plug, is to drain (all, not most) of the oil in the pan without using a pump. With both a valve and also a cap at the end of the drain line, there's not much to go wrong.

Jack

[GordMay]

Many engines do not have enough elevation to allow convenient gravity drainage & collection - hence my suggestion of a pump. When it’s not necessary ...

[Strygaldwir]

Do you have a water heater? Is it in the engine room/space? Ours was a lot easier to service/replace with the engine out.

How about your counterpoise. I wish I had installed mine while my engine was out.

Do you have service lights in your engine space? VERY helpful. Have you checked your fuel lines for degradation/cracking. Is you fuel tank in your engine space. I pulled mine while the engines were out. Flushed and cleaned it.

What condition is your sound insulation in? Good time to check up on it.


Good luck.

Keith

[Jentine]

with both Jack and Gord. Draining oil from the bottom of the pan is best, but being that I am impatient, gravity doesn't work fast enough, nor do hand pumps. On my last boat, I installed a small pump that removed all the oil in a couple of minutes with no labor. It was so easy that I changed oil more often than not. Look at http://qwikdrain.com/qwik-drain_pumps.htm for your solution. You will need the accessory banjo fitting for the pan plug replacement.

[Cadence10m]

OK here's my list:

1. Oil drain plug pet cock, lines, etc - I do have the vertical space for it to drain, so I think I'll install this.

2. Replace all flexible hoses

3. Remove, de-scale, de-rust (is that a word?) and re-paint the exhaust manifold

4. Touch up surface rust elsewhere on engine

5. Test injectors

6. Bilgekote under engine

7. Light in engine area (Great idea!)

8. Foil type insulation to keep engine heat out of fridge

9. Repair cracked fiberglass mounts (the reason I pulled the engine in the first place!)

My fuel lines are already new (had to replace them last Spring), and my hot water tank is in a cockpit locker (already have the new one waiting). Fuel tank is getting pulled out for a steam clean this winter (it's small and should come out "easily").

I know that a counterpoise is a ground, but what is it exactly (got a catalogue reference or link)? My wires were all just bolted to the transmission housing. Is there a better way to do it?

Thanks,

Craig

[Strygaldwir]

Counterpoise is grounding for an SSB radio. If you have plans to install a n SSB radio in the near future, it might be useful to put in the grounding now. This way you could even paint over it and make it last a LOT longer, if you are using copper foil. There has been some recent discussion on the topic. Mostly under SSB ground.

Sounds like you'll have an engine room you'll be proud of.

Fair winds

Keith

[FREEPORT DAVE]

If this engine has time on it replacing the front and rear oil seals would be on the top of my list. Front transmission seal also.

[Cadence10m]

The work is well underway. The engine came out quite easily, and it sitting on cinder blocks on the cabin sole.

At this point I have cleaned and re-painted most of the rusty parts and replaced a few little items. I've decided not to test the injectors since I've improved access to the engine 1000% and the injectors will be easy to get at now. Besides I want to make sure I get other little jobs done (like repair the 3 holes left by removing unwanted thru-hulls!) before she has to go back in the water in a couple months.

While cleaning the exhaust elbow I found a large crack, and lots of interior metal had been eroded as well. So I have a new one. I'm glad I found that - exhaust and water spewing out of the engine compartment wouldn't have been very much fun.

The raw water pump seemed to be working OK, but it had a few small leaks. Turns out they were caused by a slightly bent shaft and a couple other problems. So I have a new one.

The zinces were incredibly bad. I'll take a photo of them when I get my camera back home.

Re-assembly starts today. In a few weeks when the engine's all done I'll take some "after" photos and post those with the "befores" for you.

[delmarrey]

New brushes for the starter and altenator.

Maybe some up grades like a Packless Shaft Seal (PSS) and flexable coupler for the prop shaft.

[Cadence10m]

I'm definitely going to get a PSS-type of seal. I'd prefer the kind without a hose running to the seal. My understanding is that you only need that hose for power boats with much higher RPM than a diesel sailboat. I'd like to have fewer things to go wrong, but I'm told PSS doesn't make that model anymore.

Does anyone know of a source for the older style without the hose? Maybe a store/website still has some? Or is there a company that still makes a hoseless product comparable to the PSS one?

Thanks,

Craig