Engine Maintenance - (With Photos) Hopefully a very Helpful Small Idea

[MikeyL]

Well ........ After attempting to put off the required oil change for a month, Saturday Barbie & I went about changing the oil & filters in Miss B'Haven (2013 242LS). It actually was a quite easy task, and yet I was still very anal about it, as it did not want to OVERFILL the oil and mess up the air filters. (Note: We have been told EACH air filter elements costs APPROX. $ 125 + sales tax, plus shipping if you do not live near a dealer. That ($275) is a lot of money. What happens is IF you overfill the motors with oil is that BLOW-BY will occur, coating the AIR filters with oil. You can Google this if you have an inclination for more details.

Let me give a few new(er) owners a couple of helpful tips ... and then I'll tell ya the mistake I made ... and how I have gone about remedying it, so it can't occur again:

1) We keep our Yamaha on a lift. So first we took her for a short ride down the lake. This gets the oil all warmed up and hot. And this was a 94 degree day.

It's important to insure you suck out the maximum amount of oil. We did, however, work on only 1 motor at a time. Extraction, filter removal, new filter, and the addition of the oil.

I used the vacuum evacuator and CONTINUED to use it MULTIPLE times, even after the initial oil extraction was done, sucking what appeared to be mostly "air" until I was sure I had extracted all of the oil that was possible to extract. Throughout this process, I continued to “push down” on the extractor plastic tube, to insure it was sitting on the absolute bottom of the motor, to make sure I could get all of the oil that was possible to extract.

We were in no hurry. Then we had already laid plastic (and by the way, an 8-gal kitchen trash bag works wonders here) down beneath the horizontal-mounted oil filter ... and also used a BABY DIAPER around and beneath the filter. The diaper IS IMPORTANT. Kroger Supermarkets sells their cheap private-label brand for like 36 diapers for about $ 2.50 ! I was CAREFUL after unscrewing the filter (!!!) as it is STILL filled with oil ! Only a little driped out while unscrewing. So I then carefully tipped it back upright immediately so as to not let any further oil get lost.
To insure we did not put back in too MUCH oil, we measured all of the oil we had extracted, including the oil filter contents. Engine 1 came to 3 quarts, and 1.5 cups total. Then we got really smart and decided to measure and fill a clean used gallon milk container with fresh oil, the exact same amount we had just measured from the removal process. After installing the new filter (and coating carefully the rubber seal rings with copious oil first to insure the filter "seats" properly), we added new oil thru the OIL FILLER CAP hole on the top of the engine. And put back the oil filter cap. ==> This last part will come into play eventually.

We did the same on motor # 2, and extracted 3 quarts and 1-2/3 cups. So we did the same thing filling back up that motor.

The diapers worked EXTREMELY well catching any oil spillage. At this price, if you don't feel 1 is large enough, use 2 or 3 per filter if you wish.

And, if ya wanna know if Barbie & I are in this together, she donated the use of her glass 1 quart Pyrex measuring cup to measure the oil we took out, and then put in.

Now comes the HELPFUL PART:

We obviously had to check the motors to insure we had put back in the CORRECT amount. We knew we were close, but would still be a little low. So 1 at a time, we cranked back up the motors and then after running for a minute or so, we checked the levels with the dip stick.

Now a couple of points that are VERY important before we continue. FIRST: The oil was VERY HOT before we started. You simply cannot extract the maximum amount of oil from a cold motor. SECOND: The day was 94 degrees in the sun when we did this. We left the new oil containers in the sun while we were extracting the old oil. That insured the new oil was WARM and would “flow” properly to make sure we got a good dip stick reading. I have spoken to a number of Yamaha authorized mechanics and they all say YOU MUST CHECK OIL LEVELS WHEN THE ENGINES AND OIL ARE HOT !!!!!

Now back to our story and WHY decided to compose this. Engine # 1 went all fine. Then Engine # 2. So I remove the OIL FILLER CAP, and wiped it off and sat it INSIDE of the boat on some plastic we had laid. I measure the oil level with the dip stick, and added amounts of oil through the hole with a funnel, a SMALL amount each time. WE DO NOT WANNA OVERFILL !!!!!

And it’s all ok. I re-check engine # 1 and again, it’s fine, level-wise. So I button ‘her up and Miss Barbie starts carrying things back up to the house. Whereupon we BOTH hear a somewhat louder CLUNK ==> as she watches the oil filler cap from engine # 2 go bouncing of the dock into the lake. Yup. I dove for like 45 minutes trying to find it. She saw where it dropped in at, but alas, no luck.

==> THE POINT OF THE STORY: I DROPPED THE OIL FILLER CAP OVERBOARD. And it could have just as easily been dropped into some inaccessible location in the engine bay.

So I mustered up all of my charm and called my Yamaha dealer, begged forgiveness as I could hear the laughter that was sure to insure as soon as I hung up the phone, and requested they send me a cap. Keep 1 thing in mind ! Oil Filler Caps are NOT A NORMALLY STOCKED ITEM so this has to be ordered from Yamaha !!! So maybe we can take Miss B’Haven out by July 4th !

NOW MY IDEA: I thought about this, and realized even if you don’t stupidly drop this cap overboard, someone else COULD easily drop it inside the motor compartment. Whereupon, any number of people might not be able to retrieve it from. This cap simply ain’t that large an item. How to remedy ??? Last night, I went out and got the remaining oil filler cap from engine # 1, brought it inside, and started drilling a hole through the center of the flat area you grasp to untwist the cap. I started with a VERY VERY tiny drill bit (1/16” or 5/64”), and kept increasing drill bit sizes until I could slip in a key chain metal ring through this hole. I then tied on two (2) separate nylon thin cords to the metal key chain ring, each cord being about 2 inches long. And I also insured the knots were pulled VERY tight (using a pair of pliers) ! Then I went back to the boat, re-screwed back in the cap, and then attached the 2 cords individually to the fuel rail that runs horizontally. I used 2 cords, to make sure if something happened to 1 cord, there would still be a 2nd one for protection.




I realize this is fairly anal, and might even take the 2014 ANAL IDEA AWARD hands-down for this year. But I felt I was not the only 1 who might have experienced this problem, and I thought it was worth of writing up. Hopefully someone else can benefit from all of this.

Sincere Best Wishes your way, Mikey Lulejian – Lake Oconee, GA

 

[KXCam22]

Good lessons for us all. Keep in mind that you might be able to match that oil filler cap to an import auto one at a wrecker, dealer or motorcycle shop. Cam.

 

[Evil Sports]

Drilled and attached the cap on the back oil port of my Honda Aquatrax, drop that baby in there and your done

 

[Boat Crazy]

I think you will find that you change your oil differently over time on these 1.8's. Using the extractor, mark the 3 qt. and 4 qt. location. (you should always be able to get at least 3 qts.). Once removed, and changed filter, add back 3 qts. and check dipstick. Run engine to allow oil to run through filter and recheck. You will be between 1/2 to almost full on the stick. That is good enough to run. Now go enjoy yourself on the water, top off oil if you chose. I chose to keep it slightly below the full mark. All this is assuming your oil was at the full mark before changing.

 

[itsdgm]

Necessity is the mother of invention. That's a bummer about the oil cap. I'd love to see pics of exactly what & how you did the mod.

 

[Boat Crazy]

@MikeyL Could you please clarify ( You Must check oil levels when engine and oil are hot). We have the 1.8's. NO WHERE in the operators manuel does it say the oil must be hot to check. Are you sure they are not getting confused by the non 1.8's? Their is a huge difference from the wet sump and dry sump motors when it comes to checking oil.

 

[bucks448]

I change mine cold, just like my vehicles. It might be faster to extract it warm, but not necessary on a wet sump (1.8).

 

[ACRDSPORT14]

I got closer to 4 quarts out when i changed mine. I only warmed it up on the hose for 1-2 min.

 

[BigN8]

@MikeyL Could you please clarify ( You Must check oil levels when engine and oil are hot). We have the 1.8's. NO WHERE in the operators manuel does it say the oil must be hot to check. Are you sure they are not getting confused by the non 1.8's? Their is a huge difference from the wet sump and dry sump motors when it comes to checking oil.

I warm up my engines before extracting, it just makes the extraction process faster and easier in my opinion. I also think you don't need to waste all the plastic and diapers for the oil filters, seems a little non-environmental friendly. All I do is unscrew the oil filter using a ziplock freezer bag. If I get a little oil in the bilge, I use the oil extractor and basically "vacuum" the oil and water out of the bilge. Works great. Then I wipe up the rest with a few paper towels. I place the oil filler cap on the floor on a paper towel at the base of the engine hatch.

 

[ACRDSPORT14]

If you use the zip lock bag trick and a couple of rags underneath, oil doesn't get anywhere.

 

[Gym]

Whereas I have an MR 1 I don't replace my oil filters until after my first trip in the spring after my fall oil change. That way, any minor oil overflow (I've only had one) would not affect my filters. I keep the filters on board and replace them either at anchor or after that trip.

 

[scokill]

Xl incontinence pads do the trick better than diapers. They have plastic outer lining and absorbent material inside and cover a larger area.

On the MR1 I don't notice a difference hot or cold on ease or volume.

 

[MikeyL]

For those who asked, I have added photos of this teensy-weensy modification (see my original write up above). Hope this helps someone else !

 

[itsdgm]

@MikeyL thanks for posting the photos. Now I know why I couldn't understand what you were talking about. The oil caps on my engines are flat on the top and have a built in dipstick underneath. I was thinking yours were the same.