Oil Change Question - "Levelness" of boat/engine and Drain Valves

[2kwik4u]

As the season is winding down for us, I'm looking at doing the oil change on it here soon. I'm at 67hrs, so I missed my 50hr change by quite a bit, and want to go ahead and get it done.

As I'm gathering parts, and reading how to's and planning my maintenance, it occurs to me. I don't have a level spot to do the work. The boat stays in the garage, but I don't want to run it in there with the water on to warm it up. I would prefer to run it on the hose in the driveway. If I do that, then the driveway slopes "downhill" considerably, and I would have to run it on the hose, then back it into the garage to change the oil on a level surface. This will involve dropping the tower, backing it in, then raising the tower back up. How long will the motor stay warm once I've run it up to temp? Will I have 15min to get it in the garage, and leveled? Can I change it with the boat NOT level and sitting in the driveway? Do I need to find a buddy that is sympathetic to the cause and change the oil in his driveway?

Here's an idea of how steep/slanted the driveway is. The garage is the only flat area I have available at home.


The next question......What part of the boat should I level when I change the oil. I'm assuming I can put a spirit level on the valve cover and make that level, and that will get me the appropriate amount of fluid pumped out once warm. Is that correct? Should I tilt the motor nose up some to get as much oil to the back of the pan as possible? What is the correct orientation for this process?

Finally....where is (or does it even exist) a drain valve on the oil pan? I know that standard practice is to suck the oil back up through the dipstick tube, however I was thinking that once I had it somewhat emptied, I could open the drain valve in the pan, and replumb that with a 1/4 turn valve, and suck the oil from there on the next change. Making it more like a full drain/replacement of the oil. Is that over thinking it? Is it possible? Has anyone else done something like that?

All my boat experience in the past has been with "marinized" GM engines where a drain plug in the pan was accessible, and used to change the oil. Typically with a small tube run through the hull drain plug and into a catch can. This purpose built marine engine is new to me, but I suspect the idea is the same.

 

[biffdotorg]

Chock those wheels and crank up the jack stand. Is that an issue in your driveway? If need be, put a 4x4 under the jack stand for additional height. Get the engine as level as you can knowing you can only pull out so much oil. Getting the majority is key.

No, there is no drain plug on the bottom that you probably have access to without pulling the engine. So the cheap oil sucker off amazon is in your future.

Good luck

 

[haknslash]

I use a level on the engine.

You could always be like that one guy who drained his engine oil into the bilge and then out the transom drain plugs lol. I’m kidding of course! Do NOT do what this guy did!!!

I use a cheap Attwood pump https://www.walmart.com/ip/Attwood-High-Speed-Oil-Change-Pump/38057100. It’s good for a beer or two. Warm the engine and the oil flows pretty easy.

 

[Scottintexas]

I wouldn't over think this to much, don't change it in on your driveway slope but many people change it cold, warm it up and move it to a somewhat level area,

If you want to pull the drain plug, on the mr-1's it in the back and hard to reach, not sure about your engine,
here's the FAQ link, it's about the 4-5 one down, complete change,
https://jetboaters.net/faq/how-do-i-change-the-oil-in-my-yamaha-jet-boat.4/

 

[mdchachi]

Your driveway is not that steep. Seems like you should be able to take it off the car and adjust the tongue to whatever height you need using the jack and/or blocks/2x4s. Maybe I will try to do this myself at some point also. 10-hour service + winterization cost me $300.

 

[Cambo]

For boats with the MR1 I picked up a barbed fitting that replaced the oil drain bolt added a hose and some clamps so that the oil could be sucked out. It worked great

https://www.treatland.tv/vespa-piaggio-CNC-d-aluminum-fork-oil-filler-nippl-p/cncd-vespa-oil-filler-nipple.htm

I used a stock hose from yamaha that had a bend and some of the clamps they sell

 

[2kwik4u]

Sounds like I might try and level the boat on the driveway. Was talking to a coworker about it lunch and he suggest driving the boat up on to ramps with the truck in the garage, then leaving the chains attached to the truck, and lowering the tongue to get the thing level with the exhaust pointed away from the house. Might try that this weekend and see how that works out. Hadn't thought about lifting the rear of the boat, only trying to raise/lower the front. Seems dead simple when he said it, and I have no idea why I didn't think of that.

This is the extractor I'm thinking about getting. Looks like it will be handy to work with the brakes on the trucks as well.

Anyone have good links to buy the oil/filter/plugs?

 

[seanmclean]

Can you not just do it in the street? Looks reasonably level (at least enough to make it level with tongue jack). Single engine shouldnt take long.

 

[2kwik4u]

Can you not just do it in the street? Looks reasonably level (at least enough to make it level with tongue jack). Single engine shouldnt take long.

Street is sloped about the same as the driveway, just at a 90deg angle to the driveway.

The driveway is sloped enough that I can pull the truck in the garage with the boat attached, and it will drain the entire boat including the front section that never dries out. Easily as sloped as the local launch ramps, probably a bit more up near the garage.

 

[Cambo]

The older boats left about 1.5 quarts of oil in the sump. The angle of the boat being off would probably at most leave a 1/2 quart.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Any chance you can just splash the boat one last time and do it out on the water? That is what I have done every year. No need to mess with the hose and you get one last fall ride...

 

[2kwik4u]

Any chance you can just splash the boat one last time and do it out on the water? That is what I have done every year. No need to mess with the hose and you get one last fall ride...

I had not considered that, but that is certainly possible. Suppose I could load up all the supplies, go for a ride to get it nice and warm, then change there at the dock easy enough.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

I had not considered that, but that is certainly possible. Suppose I could load up all the supplies, go for a ride to get it nice and warm, then change there at the dock easy enough.

It’s my dad and I’s tradition every fall. Toss the anchor and go to town.

 

[Bryon720]

Any chance you can just splash the boat one last time and do it out on the water? That is what I have done every year. No need to mess with the hose and you get one last fall ride...

This is a great idea, never crossed my mind, Thanks for this tip. Way better than doing it in storage when the lake is right there.

 

[MidnightRider]

I actually found I get more oil out by dropping the front of the boat down (level surface but trailer jack screwed all the way in). First time I tried to level it after that I've dropped the front down and seem to get about 0.2-0.3 liters more or so extracted in this orientation. So point being if it was me I personally wouldn't worry about getting it level just face the boat down hill and extract as much as you can - don't need it level to add the oil back either, just add back what you took out. I take a quart with me the next time out on the water in case I need to top it off because of oil left in the filter with a filter change but its usually really close anyway.

Edit: I'll add that when I push my extractor hose in and it seems to bottom out, I wiggle it around and am able to sneak it in another 1/2-3/4". It may be just me/my extractor hose, but that's my experience for what its worth.

 

[haknslash]

When I drain I keep the boat low on the trailer because the pickup is closer to the front of the engine. When I fill I raise the trailer until the level on the engine reads close to level. At the end of the day if you drained as much as you can out you should fill with the 4 qts or until the reading is good on the dipstick once the boat and leveled and engine is warm. This has worked for me but YMMV.

 

[2kwik4u]

Going to update another old thread today. I find closing the loop on threads is a rare occasion, so wanted to make sure I didn't contribute to that trend.

FINALLY changed the oil in the boat this past weekend. It was super easy overall. I borrowed the oil extractor from a neighbor. I'm unsure which one it was, but it worked very well. It also reversed to allow pumping the oil back into the used container for recycling. That is a nice feature, and made the process EXTREMELY mess free. I ended up pulling just a shade over 4L out of the engine. I put the entire 3.785L container of oil back in the engine. I'll be keeping an eye on the level for the first few outings, and adjusting from there. Initial levels look to be a little high.

Here's the oil extractor during the process.


I used a baby diaper under the oil filter to catch the drips. This worked pretty well and since I have a 1yr old in the house, they were readily available. I think I'm going to use one the next time I change the oil in the truck as well. It's really a great idea. Really kept the mess down to a minimum.

I was very concerned about getting the engine level and being able to do that on my sloped driveway. This was completely a non-issue. I ended up using a standard automotive jack stand to hold the tongue up. Then I put some boards under the stock tongue jack and went up higher. Ended up with about 6in of boards under the jack to get it level. I used a standard bubble level on the engine cover to judge how level I was. I mean this seriously took all of about 10 minutes to sort out.

Here's the boat setup in the driveway. You can see the boards under the tongue with the jackstands. It's really not bad at all.


I ended up letting the engine idle for 5 minutes on the hose, then bumped it to "no wake mode" level 1 for another 10 minutes. I was using the "feel" of the oil filter to gauge engine temperature. The water coming out of the pisser never really got warm, and the water coming out of the bottom of the pump/exhaust got warm, but not hot. Nothing in the engine bay got warm enough to have any concern about water flow from the hose. The oil extracted nice and quickly. I still went in for a sandwich, as I heard it could take awhile. Not sure how long it really took, but I came back out about 15 min later and it was finished.

Overall, a worthwhile experience. The dealers price was like $150 I think. Which isn't bad considering I think I had $85 in supplies (plugs, filter, oil). I wanted to change it at least once so I could get a good feel of how hard it is to do, and what all is involved. Honestly, if you have an extractor, it's super easy and not expensive.