Changing oil in foot

I have a merc 200,sn 7090383.I am in the process of changing oil in foot.<br />I have drained oil,is the small screw about 6 inch above drain the fill?<br />If it is,what's the easiest way to get oil in.<br />Having a hard time to get oil in.

Re: Changing oil in foot

Alway fill a unit from the bottom screw to the top to prevent air lock, you will need a pump

Re: Changing oil in foot

Thank you laddies

Re: Changing oil in foot

I am a newbie at this, but I didn't use a pump to get the foot oil in. I just squeezed the bottle until the oil came out the top hole. Is there a downside to that?

Re: Changing oil in foot

No, Maloverde,<br /><br />If it works that's the way to do it, straight out of the bottle using the tapered cap...

Re: Changing oil in foot

Do you put it in the bottom hole until it comes out the small hole on top?<br />Am I supposed to fill it straight up & down, or do I put motor in certain position to do this?<br />I tried in the small hole on the top of the foot but very hard to get in.<br />It would take my whole boating season to get oil in foot this way.

Re: Changing oil in foot

You can do it any way that works. Used to be that you had the fill inlet hole on the bottom and 1 vent on top (between the anti cav plate and the water shield on the starboard side).<br /><br />You either cut off the end of a tube (16 oz roughly) and squeezed it empty, pulled it out real quick and jabbed another till it came out the top vent. Then without moving anything, you put the top vent screw in and tightened it. Then you pulled the tube out of the bottom and put that plug in.<br /><br />Or, if you were using a quart with a pump the same thing applied; you just pumped rather than squeezed. <br /><br />My manual says don't puke more than one ounce after filling in the removal and sealing process. That's not a problem if you do it as I said.<br /><br />So now with my '02 Merc, I have 2 vents. Fill till the front one pukes, put that plug in, keep filling till the aft one pukes, put that plug in, then very quickly stab the fill hole plug.<br /><br />Proper position for this process is with the engine vertical and yes it is a bit of a doing to get it filled with the drain pan right in your way....but it's been done by millions for half a century and then some. What I usually do is to snug up the top vents, put the fill screw in with my fingers and then tilt the engine up 45 degrees where I can get a really big common (flat blade) screwdriver on the sealing screw.<br /><br />And if you can, always use new gaskets on the screws.<br /><br />HTH.<br /><br />Mark

Re: Changing oil in foot

Thanks Texasmark,that's the detailed information that I needed.<br />It helped alot and I appreciate the help.<br />Problem resolved.

Re: Changing oil in foot

The 20 hp Merc 200 uses about 6 ounces to fill it. So a 16 oz squeeze tube will give you a couple of fillings with some left over. When you get tired of the tubes, you can buy a pump for about $8 that goes on the quart bottle. I find that using the pump it is much easier to do and I am less likely to put off changing the oil. Also, until I replaced a seal this winter, I needed to drain and fill the oil after each trip, so it was worth buying the pump! Also the oil is usually cheaper in the quart bottle.

Re: Changing oil in foot

I have 5 motors now,3 mercs and 2 evinrude,I think I may invest in a pump for next oil change.<br />Thanks for the help Bill

Re: Changing oil in foot

I just changed the oil on my '03 50hp 2-stroke. I filled it from the top vent till it started coming out. That works right? I hope?

Re: Changing oil in foot

I,ve always filled them from the top before,but this particular motor I couldn't get it in the top so I did it through the bottom.<br />Maybe the only issue with top filling may be the possibility of air lock?<br />Someone may know something more on this,not sure.

Re: Changing oil in foot

You can get those pumps at Canadian Tire by the jerry cans for about $10. Well worth the investment in your sanity. <br />It goes a lot faster filling from the bottom. If the passage from the top is narrow, it'll airlock. When that happens, it takes forever to burp out all the air.

Re: Changing oil in foot

Seems to me that if you fill from the top you need to put the screw back on the bottom before loading up. If you had an air pocket you wouldn't know it. Kind of like adding anti-freeze in a radiator. You have to have a vent to release air pockets. I've always filled from the bottom.<br /><br />Jerry