Re: marine quick lube
Let me count the ways this could go wrong.
Cars come in while running, and are warmed up and ready to drain the oil. Put them up on a hoist, pull the drain plug, remove the filter, put in new filter and new oil, game over.
Not going to happen with a boat.
First of all, they are cold, and may not have been run for a year or more, batteries are probably dead, boat is full of toys (fishing, tubing, vacationing stuff), may be covered with canvas with a million snaps. OK, you got the batteries turned on, and the drive down.
Now, you have to hook up water to the outdrive to run it, unless it has a through hull pickup, then it's different, but it could be both. Don't make a mistake, or you will be replacing some expensive pumps and impellers.
Assuming you have the muffs on properly, you turn the water on and run it for 10 to 15 minutes to warm the oil. Shut it off and now pull the oil out of the motor.
HOW???? Well, it may be easy, maybe not so easy, depending on how old or new. Can take from 1 to 20 minutes to get the oil out of a warm engine.
OH YES, the oil filter. Some unwritten law is that the filter is put in a place that can only be touched by 1 finger of one hand and unseen. Good luck, and don't drop it, or you have a bilge full of black oil. What do you mean the drain plug is out and you have oil running down the driveway in all the water you had to use to warm the engine. Bummer, that'll cost you big if it hits a sewer somewhere along the line.
Ok, that may go ok this time, but it WILL get you eventually.
Remember earlier I said it might not have been run for a year? well what happens if you start it and water gets in the oil because it wasn't winterized properly, or the plugs were left out of the block and the bilge filled with water and you can't find the plugs.
Then there is the ever popular dead battery, locked up engine, won't start, etc. etc. etc.
Even if all went well up to this point, you still have to run the engine the second time to make sure the oil level is correct and the filter doesn't leak. Then you have to pick up all your drop cloths to keep the carpet clean and clean up all the oily finger prints, get all your pumps, old filters, dirty rags and oil absorbers out of the bilge.
This all takes TIME, people never think about. and TIME is MONEY.
