oil heat exchanger

This is the 1st season with my boat. I have an oil xchanger. It will drain/fill the 2 engines and the genny. I drained the both engines ok, but the genny seems to be a problem. Almost no oil came out. Just a few drops, maybe 1 cup. There is oil in the genny. I need to go back in with my "old fashion" oil sucker to get the oil out. Anyone had this happen to them? My first response would be a worn impeller. The hose seems to be hooked up to the bottom of the oil pan.

Plus, I feel I should fill the regular way. Pour the oil into the filler cap. To fill with the exchanger you would pour the oil into a bucket and push it into the engine. So, all the dirty oil in the hose is going back in. Plus, it's not that hard to just pour the oil in.

If you're not oil sampling or already have, try pushing some oil into the generator with the oil pump and then try pulling it out. Maybe there's a slight blockage of vacuum that can be overcome.

I agree with you on suck the old oil out and pouring new oil in.

Ted

My generator has a shut off valve that has to be opened to allow the exchanger to suck it out. It could probably be left open but it's easy to reach so I close it just to be safe.

Molly said:

This is the 1st season with my boat. I have an oil xchanger. It will drain/fill the 2 engines and the genny. I drained the both engines ok, but the genny seems to be a problem. Almost no oil came out. Just a few drops, maybe 1 cup. There is oil in the genny. I need to go back in with my "old fashion" oil sucker to get the oil out. Anyone had this happen to them? My first response would be a worn impeller. The hose seems to be hooked up to the bottom of the oil pan.

Plus, I feel I should fill the regular way. Pour the oil into the filler cap. To fill with the exchanger you would pour the oil into a bucket and push it into the engine. So, all the dirty oil in the hose is going back in. Plus, it's not that hard to just pour the oil in.

Click to expand...

There's another valve on our X-Changer connection to the genset drain/fill hose... located at the generator. Until I found that and opened it, the symptom was exactly as you describe.

Our X-Changer drains/fills both mains, both gears, and the generator. I tend to drain mains and genset first, then gears... since the gear oil is always clean and it at least cleans the exterior X-Changer hose before refilling. The hose run from each engine's discharge outlet to the X-Changer is relatively small, so I'd think there's not much there to worry about, maybe less than whatever's left in the oil pan.

And... we don't have routine overhead clearance to refill the mains through the top anyway, so we use the X-Changer to refill... and haven't really noticed any issues from that. I'm thinking ( hoping) anything in the new oil, leftover from the old oil, will be quickly trapped by the new filters.

-Chris

X3 valve at generator oil pan.

Thanks
I will check for that valve.
Mine is not hooked up to the trannies.
I have very good access. The Mainship 34 has wonderful engine access.