Trojan Boat Forum

Hi all,

Just received the oil changer and the hose is coiled like a snake. Is there any way to strenghten them out, so they won't coil up in the pan?

Larry

Larry, the ones I've seen have a thin metal rod inside each tube to help keep a shape. May just be a packing thing and will probably straighten out over time if you support it in a straight position for a while.

lay it out straight for a while , only the first few inches mater as the rest will be in the dip stick tube

When I got to use mine I tend to bend it against the coil (not a sharp bend, just coiling it like it was in the first place but in the opposite direction) which - like Paul suggests - straightens the first few inches out a bit. You only care about the 6" or so at the end; the rest of it will be in your dipstick tube.

Also, I use the my dipstick to measure and mark the hose... you know the dipstick sits about 2" give or take into the oil, so by marking the hose to the same length you know that just inserting it that far should put you well into the oil and close to the bottom of the pan, without inserting too much and just having it curve back out. Then when it starts sucking air you can gradually insert it a bit more (1/4"-1/2" at a time) to re-submerge it, until the technique stops working.

think the kinks will come out when the hose is exposed to the warm/hot oil. The trick is to get the oil hot enough so it flows easily through the tube, but not so hot that it burns the tubing material. I haven't done it for a while, but used to take the boat out for a run to get the engine fully heated up (and the oil circulating to get all of the nasties in the mix), then let it cool down enough to get the oil to the right temp so I could draw it out. It's a little bit of a guessing game.

Has anyone completely drained the oil then dropped the pan and attached a hose fitting to the pan drain itself? That's the only way I know to completely remove everything that's sitting down there, including the sludge.

What I've done a few times, is to get an aluminum roasting pan, disposable from the grocery store. The flexibility of this type pan makes it easy to slide and contort under most engines.

Slowly loosen, then open the oil drain bolt and let the oil drain into roasting pan. Once it gets about half full, install the plug a few threads, take your oil changer hose and suck the oil out of the roasting pan...then drain the rest of the oil out of engine, suck the remaing out of the roasting pan, dispose of oil properly, crumple up roasting pan into a ball and toss in recycling bin.

Good tip Jamie.

Good alternative. Thanks

In most marine engines, the dip slick tube extends directly to the bottom of the pan to allow for oil to be extracted using this tube. The pumps kits that are used to remove the oil are often the culprit when all of the oil does not get removed. For example: When using a pump with a plastic tube that inserts into the dip stick tube, the end of the plastic tube slips in right to the bottom of the pan and sits even with the end of the dip stick tube. Now you turn the pump on and start drawing out the oil. You know that you have 5 quarts in there however you start to see air bubbles in the tube after only 3.5 quarts. After pumping a little longer your getting only air and you've barely removed 4 quarts. What's really happening here is a short circuit of air. As the oil level drops in the pan and gets closer to the end of the tubes, which sit within an 1/8" of each other, air starts to travel down the dip stick tube getting sucked up by the plastic tube. Its a path of least resistance thing.

So how do you get around this problem? After you insert the plastic tube to the bottom of the pan, wrap a little electrical tape around the tube and the top of the dip stick tube. This will prevent air from being sucked down the dip stick tube and will hold your plastic tube at the bottom.

After using this method on a couple different boats, I removed the drain plug from the pan and only found a few ounces left in there.

Hope this helps.

Good workaround, Paul. Thanks!

risctaker wrote:Has anyone completely drained the oil then dropped the pan and attached a hose fitting to the pan drain itself? That's the only way I know to completely remove everything that's sitting down there, including the sludge.

Why drop the pan ? I have hoses where my drain plugs are and have done so on some of my past boats.

I have use the dip stick method and never had a issue getting the oil out .

Don't forget if you put 5 in an can get only 4 out that 5th qt in the filter . You will never get all the oil out no mater what you do as there is oil in the block , crank and cooler etc . as long as you get most out you will be fine .

"You know that you have 5 quarts in there however you start to see air bubbles in the tube after only 3.5 quarts. After pumping a little longer your getting only air and you've barely removed 4 quarts."

I was using mine as an example knowing that I have 5 in the pan and a 6th in the filter.

If you Have troulbe doing this ( or any repair) maybe call a Pro . Thats what many boaters do .

Guys in following with HMC I really think this is being over thought about. I put on avg 150 hrs on my engines a yr change the oil once a yr last season added a pint to each and changed oil in Dec . sucked 5 qts out 1 in filter.(using a hand pump ) changed the filters and refill took an 1/2 hr. This has got to be one of the easiest things we have to do. And honestly if a pint is still in there is it going to kill your engine ? No it won't. Not hitting on anybody but boaters have been suckin the oil out of these engines for years. So let's go boatin' . So if I offend anyone I don't mean to.