Best way to drain the oil?

[brsox88]

I did a search, didnt find anything. I have done plenty of boat work, but believe it or not this will be my first oil change. Its a small 19 foot 4.3l merc so whats the best way to change the oil besides letting it all drain into the bottom and pour out the back into a bucket? Or is that the best way? I was thinking take a clear house that fits onto the end of a funnel and have the house just come out the back hole into a bucket?

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

You can purchase a device to draw the oil out of the dipstick tube. They have all kinds- manual pumps, electric 12v ones, etc.
That's probably the "easiest". How accessible is your oil pan drain bolt? They also make kits that attach a drain hose to the oil pan drain hole. You leave one end permanently attached to the drain port, the hose runs thru the bilge and you fish it out thru the bilge drain. Oil runs out the hose which you place into a container. My boat has that- it was attached at the factory- but it drains out very slowly.
Otherwise I"ve heard of people lining the bilge with heavy duty plastic trash bags and draining the oil into those. I personally wouldn't like filling my bilge up with over a gallon of dirty oil. That would create a horrible mess.

 

[brsox88]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

Yea I saw that, but is it just me or does a hand pump that sucks out of a dipstick not seem very effective? I feel like its going to leave quite a bit of oil at the bottom..

 

[Doernuth]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

I have one of the vacuum type hand pumps and it works great. Just make sure you get the tube clear to the bottom of the oil pan. It is not a fast process though so if your in a hurry may want an electric unit. Mine can take a half hour to suck out five quarts.

You do not want oil in the bilge if you can help it, for any reason.

 

[mike64]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

I made a similar post to this last month. Ended up buying a cheap 12v oil pump with clamps that attach to the boat battery. Cost around $27, worked fine- pumped all the oil out in a few minutes.

 

[gshldon]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

I bought the hand pump model, the first few times i changed the oil, i pulled the drain plug after i thought all the oil was sucked out, and only a few small drops came out of the drain plug, so now i dont even check the drain plug, just make sure you do a good job of making sure you are at the bottom of the pan...

 

[lilgervais]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

i just purchased a pump from a local marina that goes threw the dipstick tube and sucks out the oil cost around $50

 

[matthysone]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_390306_390306

the above oil changer works great. pump it 30 times, run tube down dipstick, open valve. easy

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

I have the permanent drain hose system attached in place of the drain plug. Run the hose out of the transom drain plug hole into a container. Has worked for me for 20 yrs. No oily tool to store. And I can let it drain for hours if I want. Of course you still have to get thru the first oil change so you can install it.

 

[mtp9302]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

I was thinking take a clear house that fits onto the end of a funnel and have the house just come out the back hole into a bucket?

I did the hose and funnel thing my first time, ended up with an Exxon Valdez because gravity filled the funnel faster than the hose would empty it. After I cleaned everything up, I replaced the plug with a quarter-turn valve and hose barb fitting sized such that the mating hose would fit through the transom drain hole. I think this is similar to the kits others have described; not sure how much the kits cost, the valve and fittings cost me ~ $10 at the hardware store. This was last fall so I haven't used it yet. Seems like it will work fine even it is slow, but I can do other parts of winterization while it drains. Definitely don't do the funnel if you want to keep oil out of the bilge.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Best way to drain the oil?

Howdy,


I use a PAN drain hose permanently connected to the normal pan drain on the engine.........The hose will not fit through my transom drain................... The other end of it is clamped to the port riser so I can hook up my Moeller Vac pump to it.
(about 15 strokes hot or cold, the oil is sucked out in about 5 min......and because it's at the "regular drain point, I get it all!)