Oil change

[SKS]

Hello all!
Time to do my first oil change since purchasing our boat.
The single engine is a Cummins 6BT. And we have a Westerbeke gen-set with same set-up. (See Photo).
This may sound like a stupid question, now what?
I get that I do not need to suck 18 quarts out of the dip stick tube. Yea!
My first impression is this hose pictured below is set up high enough the when I remove the cap the oil won't come gushing out (don't want to find out I'm wrong). Do I suck it out from the hose (which is large enough to not take all day) using my oil extractor? I'm thinking yes, but if so, should I use a tube that fits within the green hose or buy some adapter that threads onto it.
Finally, If I'm incorrect about tube being above oil pan and oil will flow out when I remove the cap, what is the preferred technique to collect it without creating a mess?
Thank you in advance.
Steve

 

[SKS]

Trying again for attachment

 

[Lou_tribal]

no picture

 

[SKS]

I think I got it now

 

[Sagdito]

Hi. Steve I have just done both my 6Bts,outlet is above oil level in sump I put a female hose fitting on outlet then connected to 12volt oil pump and pumped into 20 ltr drum for disposal. Then used same pump to refill engine. Make sure you fill your new filter before installing.
Cheers Phil.

 

[SKS]

Thanks Phil,
That's what I was hoping. I'll get a female adapter. My biggest threat of a mess now is removing the filter.
Good advice about filling filter first.
Thanks again.
Steve

 

[gaston]

Thanks Phil,
That's what I was hoping. I'll get a female adapter. My biggest threat of a mess now is removing the filter.
Good advice about filling filter first.
Thanks again.
Steve

Punch a hole in the bottom of the filter with a screw driver and drain it before removing .

 

[Lou_tribal]

And do not forget that you have made a hole in it if you need to restart the engine before the oil change (ask our Richard on Dauntless he can talk about it ).

L.

 

[SKS]

Sweet!
Thanks gaston.

 

[BruceK]

Punch a hole in the bottom of the filter with a screw driver and drain it before removing .

Punch it "through and through" and use the screwdriver as a lever to unscrew the filter.
Have disposable diapers and plastic bags at the ready for the removed filter and any other potential spills.

 

[dhays]

What is the orientation of the filter on the 6b? On my QSB 5.9, the oil filter is oriented in a very civilized vertical position. You can unscrew it, then poor out the oil into your waste container without a mess. If the filter is horizontal, then punching a hole works well. I suggest that you close the oil fill before punching the hole, then opening it after you have your container ready.

 

[SKS]

My oil filter is vertical. If I have room for a container below filter to catch spills that might be an option too.
Thanks everyone!

 

[dhays]

My oil filter is vertical. If I have room for a container below filter to catch spills that might be an option too.
Thanks everyone!

Cut the top off a 2L soda bottle and put that over the filter from the bottom. Leave it just tall enough that you can fit your filter wrench above it. That way any spills go into the soda bottle and just poor that into the waste oil container.

 

[jleonard]

I always used a ziplock bag under the filter but never really needed it.As long as you're careful you won't spill.

 

[Ski in NC]

Another trick on the B and C vertical filters is to crack them loose maybe half a turn so that air can slightly enter the gasket. If oil comes out, you turned it too far. Then go to the other side of the engine and pump the sump out. By the time you get back to the filter, a few ounces will have drained back to sump and it won't spill (much) when you unscrew it all the way. I put a mixing pot under it any time it is loosened, if any does dribble out it will be caught.

My personal boat engine has the same sump drain pigtail. I never bothered with an electric oil change pump, I just suck it out with one of those brass Jabsco hand pumps with the red rubber end caps. Takes ten minutes to suck out 4-5gal of warm oil. The gennie I suck out through the dipstick as the drain hose is not really on the bottom of the sump. Takes another ten minutes.

Don't ask me what happens when the filter jumps out of your grip. Grrr.

 

[koliver]

I just did my second oil change on my Cummins ISL 400. Lots of these in Marine service, I think, this one happens to be in my Monaco 43' Motorhome.


I have to explain, I broke my left wrist on May 8th, though the cast has been removed, I don't yet have full range of motion or much strength. I chose to loosen the oil filter before emptying the sump and found that loosening the oil filter allowed it to overflow what seemed a lot of oil. I positioned a bucket below to catch the oil and waited till it stopped dripping. Then I spun it off, reaching up with my left to hold it and my right to spin it off. Turned out my left isn't strong enough to hold a filter containing over 2 litres of 95° oil while my right was busy spinning it off. Hence the face full of oil.

 

[SKS]

I appreciate all the advice and funny oil change stories. My last boat was "easier" but I still managed to drip or spill some oil somewhere almost always due to the slippery, hot and relatively heavy oil filter.
I'm sure I'll do the same with the diesel but not as much because of all of your input.
Thanks guys!
Steve

 

[Seevee]

I appreciate all the advice and funny oil change stories. My last boat was "easier" but I still managed to drip or spill some oil somewhere almost always due to the slippery, hot and relatively heavy oil filter.
I'm sure I'll do the same with the diesel but not as much because of all of your input.
Thanks guys!
Steve

Steve,

Getting ready to do my first oil change on my Mainship 400. I have a pump to pump it out. Can you offer any advice?

On my Sundancer, was dirt simple, had hoses that connected to the oil pan and ran them out the transom plug into a bucket. Did both engines in less than 30 min.

 

[SKS]

Thanks again all for the advice. Did the oil changes yesterday. With all the great suggestions it went well and spilled nothing (well maybe a few drops from the gen-set. It's mounted on a piece of plywood spanning the stringers, so nothing in the bilge).
Loved Ski in NC's idea of cracking the filter gasket a bit. When I carefully spun it off after pumping out the oil pan the oil in the filter was way down so it dropped cleanly into my catch container.
Also punching a hole in the gen-set filter was helpful due to it's horizontal orientation.
Anyway, thanks again.
Steve

 

[Gmarr]

Curiosity - if someone is on the Great Loop what would the frequency of oil change be?

 

[Ski in NC]

Curiosity - if someone is on the Great Loop what would the frequency of oil change be?

Which engines and how are you running them?

Most diesels spec 250hrs or once a year. On the loop, you don't have to worry about the one year bit. I tend to ignore the one year bit anyway.

 

[Gmarr]

I actually have gassers on my current boat and hear "50-100" hours or annually- but I think that means annually due to average use. For the great Loop, I'm assuming single or twin diesels and got to thinking that if it were 50-100 miles, that would be a lot of oil changes..... so if it's 250, and great Loop is about 1000 hours...that would mean 4 times if you took approximately a year to do it in I guess. Better than the 10-15 times from the other math!

 

[BandB]

Curiosity - if someone is on the Great Loop what would the frequency of oil change be?

Wifey B: Whatever your manual recommends, but we did extra simply because we did them at times and places convenient to us.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Gmarr,
Same as always.

 

[psneeld]

Like highway driving versus stop and go of a taxi or farm truck in dusty conditions.

Using your brain and interpreting the manual is key.

If you would normally change at 200, sounds reasonable...those changing at less could go more, but sometimes a point of convenience may make one change at 150 hours and the next at 225....big deal.

If your engine shows no abnormalities, and you arent stressing ypur powerplant(s)..... going a little longer on changes is like highway driving versus severe driving...so intervals can be increased without worry.

If truly paranoid, get oil sample testing and have them tell you what is appropriate.

 

[BandB]

We have MAN's with 200 hour schedules and 400 hour schedules. 200 is a lot of checking but only thing changed is fuel filter cartridges. 400 is oil and filter, air filter, and filter of crankcase breather.

We did 200 and 400 hr before we left FLL and did 200 after 172 hours at Sandusky, Ohio. We did 200 and 400 in Chicago at 177/349 hours. Much more convenient than the Rivers downstream. We next did 200 eight months later at 177 hours on Lake Pickwick so we would be set for a trip up the Cumberland River. After that trip we will do 400 because it will have been almost a year.

Sandusky was just a convenient midpoint and we were going to stay docked there a couple of weeks. Chicago convenient and docked there nearly a month. Lake Pickwick convenient and a month docked. In each case, it would have been very inconvenient anytime in the next 50 hours of use.

When we know that we will be over 200 hours before the next convenient time and place, then we take advantage of a good opportunity. Chicago is a great example. Going down the Illinois River, the Mississippi, and the Ohio until we reached Kentucky Dam Marina was going to be 61 hours as it turns out. So, it was do 200 hour work at 177 or at 238 and we chose 177.

Also at Pickwick we adjusted valve clearance per schedule and before we start next spring will have 2 year service to do which is changing valve caps on expansion tank, and removing and cleaning intercooler, heat exchanger, turbocharger and air cooler and pipes.

Now, most will have many more hours on the loop than us. The travel above which is 526 hours so far for us would require around 1200 hours for most loopers. However, you just pick convenient times and places. So, if you have a similar schedule as ours, you'll need 5 maintenance times on just the part of the loop we've done to date.