Sucking Oil out of a Perkins Marine Engine

[John A]

A 4-108 engine used in trucks where the engine is subject to ectreme loads at 2500 rpm, requires an oil cooler. A 4-108 turning a prop does not.

If there is over heating in a marine 4-108 I doubt it is connected to any oil cooler issue.

[billwa]

I have just totally stripped my engine, and can attest to the hard sludge that grows in the oil pan (from the previous owner).

My oil pan now has a small cock installed in the bottom to attach a suction line to. This can be intalled where the drain plug is. I built an electrical 12v suction pump from a fish tank aerator by reversing the valve direction. Uses an 8mm line, so heaps bigger than what fits down the dipstick. Also great for cleaning the bilge.

However, will have to invesigate that side plate, that sounds good too.

FWIW, I have just removed my oil cooler heat exchanger, and will report on how the donk performs without it at a later date once I have run the engine for a bit.

[lancelot9898]

I have a 1985 4-108 that has a drain plug in the front of the engine which is easy to get to and drain, however because of the angle of the engine there will always be some old oil left in the sump. While it may be a good idea to completely remove this oil by several methods already discussed, I have always just added fresh. My reasoning is that prior to changing oil I always warm up the engine so that any contamination is equally dispersed in the oil so that a sludge concentration is less likely to develop. It seems to have worked for over 25 years. Two other points...when the engine was new a mechanic told me to over fill the oil beyound the high oil mark on the dipstick since the engine is mounted at an angle ...and there are two different size filters for this engine and I now routinely use the larger capacity one. Even with the larger capacity filter I just use 5 quarts of Rotella at each oil change.