Wednesday, November 27, 2013

The One Hour Oil Change Pt.2

I retired from my "one hour" turned into entire afternoon, oil change a bit miffed at myself. How could I not complete the most elementary of tasks- the oil change. Yes I was holding my engine maintenance manhood cheap at that moment. All because I was too impatient.

On my way home I stopped into the local supermarket and picked up some tin foil baking trays. My thought was I could shape these to fit underneath the oil pan of Corleto's rather cramped diesel.
The idea then would be to remove the plug bolt and drain the over flowing engine oil in a more traditional way. Most marine engine spaces do not allow for a catch basin underneath, hence the many varieties of oil sucking devices out there on the market.

I carefully shaped my tin foil fix and carefully slid it underneath the oil pan. I did this a couple of times, practicing the removal technique as once the pan was full of oil,  I did not want to spill any and have a major mess to deal with. I double check to make sure that the 3 oil drop cloths are placed correctly so as to prevent any potential spillage from finding its way to the bilge.

My home made drain pan that I shaped into place to fit underneath the engine.


With everything in place, I take a deep breath, and begin to loosen the plug bolt. It puts up a stiff fight, but brawn overcomes the plug bolt's resistance. The flow of draining black engine oil begins to fill the makeshift catch basin. The level rising so fast that I decide to put the plug bolt back into place to stop the flow. The oil level dangerously close to overflowing in the basin. My right forearm now as black as coal, covered in old 15W40. I gingerly slide the near full tin foil pan, spilling a couple of drops onto the super absorbent cloths I had beneath the pan. Once out, I placed pan number 1 in the cockpit surrounded with more drop cloths. I then slid into place a second pan underneath to collect the remaining waste oil. It's been messy for my arm, but none found its way onto the floor or into the bilge. I smiled at that small victory.

It took several minutes for the engine to finish draining. The second pan had less than half of its available volume used. I removed pan #2 with little effort and no spillage, after replacing the plug bolt. I smiled and said under my breath, "That wasn't so bad."

New oil filter in place. 


I funnelled the oil oil in the pans into an old oil container and capped it tightly. This oil would go to the recyclers. Now I could begin to fill to the correct dipstick mark, new clean 15W40. I carefully measured out 3 litres and funnelled it into my little Universal 5411.
After a 15 minute engine run, I rechecked the level, down 1/2 litre. I made note of that on the log. Added another 1/2 and just like that my One Hour Oil Change had turned into a two day adventure.

I'll know better next time.





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