Problem Pumping Oil Out of Sail Drive

[jimbunyard]

Or you could take off the oil fill cap...

[David B]

Originally Posted by Howler

The manual offers both options (plug from below or pump from above).

Interesting. Diagram shows the genuine Yanmar oil extraction pump (crude, but works - for the engine sump anyway).

My manual insists bottom drain plug only.

[kmacdonald]

Suck it out when it's hot.

[David B]

Another point here is the output shaft seals. They should be replaced at regular intervals - some would argue as often as changing the gear oil.

As an old-timer mechanic in Croatia put it to me: "The seals are like us - its not the hours that kill us, its the years!"

So even if we are not doing a lot of hours, those seals age, and should be replaced before they let the water in and things start to get very expensive.

To that, an idea some are using is to dispense with the dipstick. Screw a hose tail in there instead, with a clear hose leading to a header tank.

With the header tank mounted up high in the engine bay, the oil level is now above the water level, and in the event of a seal failure, rather than saltwater leaking into the gear case, the oil leaks out. With the oil level just below the header tank at cold, regular checking will reveal when that seal starts to leak, and maintenance can be arranged for next lift out.

[skipperpete]

Originally Posted by Howler

Thanks for all the input. Here's the epilogue. I was able to pump out 2.8 liters of sail drive oil by using the extractor through the oil suction pipe. That's supposedly 100% which was surprising. I did seal the tube where it entered the oil suction pipe but, sharing David B's concern, I opened the dipstick to allow air to enter. I'm not sure sealing was useful in the end.

Conclusion... it's feasible, but it took about an hour and lots of pumping to get all the oil out! Draining from below is certainly more efficient.

On that note, does anybody have the reference number for the SD60 drain plug O-ring. It needs to be replaced each time.

That suction oil gallery goes to the bottom of the lower leg. You probably know that it’s not so easy to get the Saildrive oil hot, that lower housing is a damned efficient oil cooler. Good that the SD60 uses 15/40 not the heavier 90 like the SD 50.