Checking oil level

[PEARCE]

I know this subject has been brought up and discussed many times in the past. I'm working on getting the boat ready for the season and I can't remember how the oil is supposed to read on the dipstick cold. I haven't fired my engines since October and both were reading oil at the very tip of the stick. I'm thinking it should be at the low mark when cold and level and it would measure between the low and high mark when at operating temperature. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not planning to change it this season, but I want to get it at the level it needs to be before running them at all.

 

[Bruce]

Is your boat level?

 

[PEARCE]

Yes, my boat is level.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

To be sure the engines are level place a level on top of the engine cover, remove the dipstick and let the oil settle in , then check it on the stick, keep it in the middle of the safe zone on the stick, also inspect your oil filters for rust , if you even see just a slight amount of rust change the filter.
Also closely inspect every hose clamp you can find, replace rusted clamps with marine grade stainless clamps.

 

[PEARCE]

I like to check the oil levels prior to leaving for the lake and prior to first startup. My first trip or two of the season I also do the operating temperature level check. I run at high rpm, then idle speed for a few minutes, then shut down and wait another few minutes. I then finally check and add if necessary. I have no rust and all of my hose clamps look like new. I want to know where the oil should read on a cold and level engine.

 

[Scottintexas]

my 07 manual says only that you should have SOME reading on the dipstick before starting, if you have no oil on the dipstick add oil until it shows and then start the proceedure for water or land testing, it also stated if the oil temp is cold it will read lower and if hot will read higher,

I believe the common thought on the mr1's was roughly it should read at the low mark in the driveway while cold.

 

[PEARCE]

That's what I thought Scott, thanks.

 

[Jim Robeson]

My question is this...I changed the oil this past weekend. There is 87 hours on the engines and I installed two new oil filters. Should I change oil again, at the start of next season, if I put less than 20 hours on her this summer? Could I go two summers and then change??

 

[Scottintexas]

I would think you could easily, you hear many times people go years without it but I view it as to easy and inexpensive of a job for the internals of the most valuable pieces of the boat,

 

[Jim Robeson]

@Scottintexas ... that is a good point. It wasn't that hard, my first time doing this myself, and I have everything I need to do it again... minus the filters. I think you have changed my thinking and will go with just changing it once a year. Thanks!

 

[PEARCE]

I usually do it every other year. We don't put a lot of hours on it during the season and I store indoors year around. The manual says that the oil change intervals are every 100 hours. I have a little over 200 hours total on my engines.

 

[Jim Robeson]

@PEARCE ... I saw that too. But wasn't sure if that read 100 hours or 12 months, which ever comes first kind of thing. It would definitely be 12 months for me in between oil changes in a season.

 

[Zarrella]

I change mine every other summer unless we log alot of hours in a year.