Help pumping oil out of engine

[jakwi]

I had the same exact issue with my vacuum extractor and my mercruiser 5.7. The first time I changed the oil I couldn't figure it out, and eventually changed it with a pan like you would on a car. As you can imagine that was a total disaster, and I spent more time cleaning the bilge than changing the oil.

Later I looked at the official Mercruiser approved oil change pump and started to understand how this was supposed to work.

If you have an extractor like mine it looks like a garden sprayer, expect it pulls a vacuum on the container and sucks through a plastic tube.

My suggestion is to wrap some electrical tape around that plastic tube from the extractor about a foot from the end. build up a layer that allows you to seal the dip stick tube to the plastic tube when you insert one into the other. Once you have a proper seal you won't need to insert the plastic tube all of the way to the depth of the oil pan.

The other trick I read about, and wished I had known about is to pop a hole in my oil filter at the top so that the oil that is in the filter drains back into the motor before being removed. If yours is like mine it is mounted vertically with the threads at the bottom. I simply unscrewed mine and added another mess to clean up.

Good luck, I hope my written explanation makes sense.

 

[Scott06]

A couple of thoughts:

oil filter unbolt the lines remove filter adapter from the boat and put in a vice. Can use heat etc. I had this on my fuel filter when I bought my boat likely had never been changed had to cut the filter and grab the sheet metal with a vice grip and hammer the vice grip to break it loose

on the oil problem is the extractor and oil being cold any heat you can put under the oil pan or heat the pan with heat gun will help when u get a better extractor

worst case if you can get at the drain plug drop it in the bilge and outbthe boats drain plug

 

[GA_Boater]

At this point I would consider wasting an oil filter and after getting the old one off, stick a cheap one on to warm the motor.

Some motors have an oil drain built in and I have no idea if you have one. A drain tube is attached to the dipstick tube fitting, the circled stuff below.

 

[andrewterri]

Thank you guys. And no, the genius that ordered this boat did not get the $15 option to include the drain hose. I would figure out a way to get to the drain plug and do it old school but there is no way to with this boat and motor without major part removal. I am about to go try the shop vac and garden hose. If that does not work i will order a good pump. I do a couple oil changes a year from using the boat so much and towing a lot since oil is cheap and motors are not. I am going to try the hair dryer and see if that gets the filter warm enough. If not i will get a heat gun tomorrow, I found one in stock locally. Next option would be to remove the mount and try that way. If that doesn't work a new bracket is $64. Pretty sure i can get it though. I had to order parts the one local dealer did not have so i have plenty of time to get it.

BTW, i work with a guy who's dad was an engineer at mercruiser when they were still in stillwater, ok and he was one of the lead designers on the remote oil filter i.e.. upside down oil filter. I have conveyed everyone's thoughts to him. LOL

 

[harringtondav]

When all else fails, you can pull the oil pan drain plug, after you pull the bilge plug and place a large oil pan under the transom. You'll end up with a messy bilge, but replacing the bilge plug, pouring in couple gallons of hot water/'Simple Green' cleaner, scrubbing with a toilet brush, and draining and flushing your bilge with a garden hose will clean it just fine.

Also, once you fight off the old oil filter, lube the new gasket well and follow the std recommendation: Spin to contact and continue for 3/4 turn. It won't leak and will come off easy. ....took me way too long to figure that one.

 

[andrewterri]

Update...I decided to take the panels off the boat i needed to so i could gain access to the port side of the engine in case i needed to get to the plug. Found two things, first, I can not get access to the drain plug that is attached to the dip stick because of the fuel cooler. Second, i found one of the lines from the remote filter is leaking where the metal meets the brass fitting for the rubber. Not what i wanted to find but i guess thats why we do maintenance so we can catch problems before they cause damage. I am going to start a new thread to ask if there is anything i need to know before doing the fix. Thank you guys again for all of the help and advise. I could not do this without your guidance.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Looking at the engine diagram and dipstick your best option is to connect a hand or vac pump directly to the threaded adapter on the dipstick or to the end of the dipstick tube

 

[thumpar]

I've used the hand pump that screws to the top of the dipstick. They actually work pretty well, just a little more work. The tubing is large enough to flow well. It doesn't take much time and they are cheap.

 

[poconojoe]

I use this fluid extractor and it works great:

5060TS Topsider Multi-Purpose Fluid Removing System
Costs $49
You pump it up, it holds the vacuum which then sucks up the fluid. No electricity.

 

[andrewterri]

I got the shop vac rigged up and hooked it to the dip stick and turned it on but stopped because i dont know if i will mess up a pvc valve or crankcase vent or anything else putting that much suction on the engine. When i put the dip stick in after turning it off and unhooking it, sure enough it was working. It pulled the oil about half way up the dip stick. What do you guys think? Is it safe? those shop vacs have a lot of suction.

 

[thumpar]

It's only actually able to suck as the oil comes up. Same as any other pump. Once it is out of oil to suck it will get air but only as much as it can through that little tube. It won't be much. You should just have an elbow and not a PCV in the valve covers.

 

[andrewterri]

So you think by loosing the oil filter and the oil fill cap on the valve cover it will be okay?

 

[thumpar]

It will be fine even if you don't remove them. Shop vacs are high volume not high vacuum. It won't pull any harder than a good pump would since the tube is a huge restriction to it. Image plugging the shop vac hose and putting a hole in it the size of the tube. It can't pull hard with that restriction.

 

[andrewterri]

Thank you thumpar.

 

[Lou C]

I have a Topsider vacuum pump to which I adapted a female garden hose connector, you have to use a larger hose than what the unit comes with to make it work, just some plastic hose you can get at the hardware store. The engine dipstick will have the male threads at the top of the dipstick tube. You have to make sure there is a gasket in the female end, to make a good seal to hold vacuum. Once set up properly this will work perfectly and fast. It is important that all the hoses fit tight so no vacuum is lost.
As far as the stuck filter, I'd try to remove the housing off of the engine (exhaust elbow?) and put it in a vise to work on it, you can heat the base with a heat gun to soften the gasket. For the record I've been changing oil since 1972 on all different types of vehicles and never had to do surgery to get off an oil filter.

 

[andrewterri]

I was able to use a heat gun to really heat it up and she came off. The shop vac could not pull the oil all the way out. The fact the oil is cold is not helping. I will keep taking out a little bit at a time. I will diffently be getting a good pump before the next oil change.

 

[Lou C]

A trick I used to get oil out of an engine that I did not want to or could not run:
CAREFULLY, use a heat gun or infrared heat lamp with an IR temp gun to keep track of temperatures...heat the oil pan to approx 125-140*, this is warm enough to get the oil to pump but will not burn things but do not heat up any non-metallic substances that hot. I did this when I was repairing my engine with blown head gaskets and had to get the oil out of it one last time and did not want to run it having blown all the water out. Worked just fine but have to be very careful to monitor the temps.

As long as you have the male garden hose threads on the top end of your dipstick tube, a good vacuum pump with the female garden hose adapter will work just fine. It pulls the oil out of mine in less than 5 min usually. As long as its warm.

 

[andrewterri]

I think that's my problem the oil is not warm. Next time it will for sure be warm. Its just going to be a slow process no matter how I do it. Thank you for the heat gun trick. I will try it tonight

 

[Scott Danforth]

a good pump will pull ice cold 90 weight up the dipstick tube. I threw away two 1/3hp gear pumps for changing oil on I/O's September of '17 as they were in WI when I flew up to empty out my storage area. one I built from various bits I had laying round, including the oil pump from a chevy, the other one cost me about $125 back in 2003. looks like they are about $600 now

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=4380096

 

[wrench 3]

I've been using an old chev v8 oil pump with a 3/8" drill chucked onto it for about 20 years now and I winterize 20 to 25 boats a year. It sucks it out hot or cold and a hot engine doesn't take much over a minute to empty.