Sunday 11 December 2016

50 Hour Oil/filter change.

It seems a bit early to me but the "manual" that came with the boat insists it's important to change both the engine AND gearbox oils after 50 hours.... (actually - the PRM manual says after 25 for the pedants)...

SO - last week, whilst spinning many other plates, I ordered the oil and fuel filters from Calcutt boats along with 10 litres of the API CC "morris" oil from somewhere I forget - it's not cheap and given it's a new engine, I think Canaline/Izuzu/kiota or whomever,  are being a bit cheeky get the end user to pay for flushing out their new engine.

Hey ho.

IF you are going to pay someone to do this, I'd think again...  I did enquire but the "recognised Canaline engineer" wanted circa 250 quid for the "most important" 50 hour first service.  In reality,  if you can read, you can follow the checks as listed in the manual... it's mostly common sense checking tightness of bolts/belts etc.

I recorded the event photographically to form part of the "service history" and I've signed the book myself!







Quite by chance, I found the manual diesel priming thingy required to fill the new filter with the smelly stuff before bleeding it of air using that bit I broke off a few weeks ago... WHAT I mean by "quite by chance" was I stood on it when delicately exiting the engine hole and it "rasped" and gave away it's use!

  You could have knocked me over with a feather when the engine started without issue - I was half expecting a bit of a hassle but no - she fired straight into life without complaint.   The amount of oil I removed was only 6.25 litres - the manual says it's 8 ... on refilling, it took just over 7 to show as full on the dip stick.

This morning, (it had gotten dark on me yesterday) I changed the gear box oil - that was bit more of a faff as the filler cap uses one size socket (19mm  from memory but the drain bung required a 22mm - which of course my little set didn't have ... LUCKILY - my "lunchbox" full of odds and ends of spanners etc, contained a socket I bought to remove the oxygen sensor for my old rav 4 and that WAS a 22mm...  So I was able to loosen it and remove 1.5 (ish) litres into a jug.  You do need to be a bit of a contortionist though - I'm  quick wicker for my age/hair colour but how lardy festively plump marine mechanics manage down there is anyone's guess.


FILLING the blooming thing is a bit of a pain - the pipes get in the way so I ended up spilling quite a bit into the bilge ...  which I've now cleaned up with Kitchen roll and baby wipes.  *note to self - time to buy a little funnel* - When filling the engine with oil I simply cut the top off a coke bottle and used that but the gearbox hole isn't big enough so it'll have to be a funnel.

Once I was cleaned up, I decided to fit the black splash back in the bathroom where the macerater toilet will go - it'd just been getting in the way so rather than keep falling over it, I decided it may as well be in position.

That was quite a quick job and I just hope I DON'T mess it up when I cut holes through the bulkhead to take the piping from the (eventual) toilet to the tank...


I did have every intention of using tacks to hold it onto the wall but decided on sikaflex instead - I had some left over from the solar panels and rather than waste it, thought I'd put it to good use.  

Whilst I had the sikaflex in hand, I remembered the blooming pipework the webasto man had left ...

I mean it wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been the grease I'll need for topping up the stern greaser.

SO I set to, screwing a couple of blocks of wood together and then glued them to the hull and finally clipped the pipes into place.


A bit better and at least it's "properly" secured now.

It had occurred to me to ring the chap and complain but sometimes in life it's just not worth the rising blood pressure - besides, who knows when I might need his help in the future?

NEXT on my list of jobs is covering the dinette seat/bed cushions - we've borrowed Andy's mothers old sewing machine (it's a Toyota so will last forever) and I need to go searching on youtube for "how to" videos - I mean,  HOW hard can it be???

Until next time...



5 comments:

Caroline and Martin said...

this clip may help you with the dinette/seat/bed cushions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N63Cjq0QFEI

Quaysider said...

Thanks - I've been following a "box cushion" video... - It's safe to say I'm NOT a natural!!!

Even threading the cotton onto the machine needed a degree in - well something I don't have a degree in, that's for sure.

I think it's fair to say, THIS set will be a practice set and I'll have another go when the build is finished. Putting in Zips is much harder than it looks

Dave Ward said...

New parts (engine & gearbox) suffer more wear in the first few hours than in the next thousand, hence the importance of the initial service. Actually the filter change is the most critical, as that will be collecting all the crud.

If you didn't get the full amount out (were you allowing for what the filter holds?), I wonder if the drain pump pick up is going right to the lowest point of the sump? I've never been entirely happy with draining oil this way, but appreciate that there is little choice in the confines of a boat...

Quaysider said...

Thanks for the info - having "looked" at it - the drain pipe goes into what WOULD be the sump plug BUT of course that is facing uphill ... (as in the front of the boat) so I suppose it will never get totally cleaned out . I'll try and aim for an almost empty fuel tank and full water tank next time to see if that helps.

Dave Ward said...

That's a bit daft! When draining oil it's the last few dregs which contain the most debris. Longitudinally mounted engines are normally installed facing down to the flywheel, so the drain plug would normally be at that end. Many sump pans are "handed" with a deeper part for the oil pickup, and strainer, but if it is symmetrical it may be possible to reverse it. Mind you, that isn't going to be easy (or possible at all) in the confines of your engine 'ole...