I am preparing to change the oil in my Westerbeke 27A on my ‘88 30 U. Haven’t done it before myself but it can’t be rocket science, I guess. I have a oil extracting pump which is generally used by inserting a tube into the dipstick tube. I can do this, but it appears that there is a drain tube in the bottom of the oil pan which runs toward the back of the engine and rises as it emerges from under the engine to a point right next to the transmission. Very accessible. The tube is plugged at the end.
Question : Is it safe to remove the plug from the tube end and then just insert the tube from my pump into the engine drain tube, pushing it to the bottom of the loop, and pump from there? Any chance that oil will come out before I can pump? It is the easiest place to access, but I can get to the dipstick tube also. Recommendations?
Fred Rachwitz
Concerto, NS 30 U #445
Harbor Springs, Michigan
Northern Lake Michigan
The 13hp Westerbeke on La Reina had the same tube connected to the bottom of the oil pan. As long as the top of the tube is above the oil pan the loop will not come out unless it is pumped. The oil extracter tubes on the
Pella pump came in different sizes. I picked the biggest that would just fit into the end of the engine tube. I then taped it in place to keep the seal. This allowed my to siphon out the oil faster then if I selected a tube that was small enough to go the bottom of the oil pan. I found that the extratrator tube that was small enough to fit into the dipstick tube was too slow. I hope that explanation makes sense.
Fred
My method is to remove 99% of the engine oil with the extractor pump via the dipstick hole and the allow the small remaining amount of oil to drain from the bottom of the pan via the drain you describe into a small receiving container. This way, on my boat, the 5 L volume of oil is managed and no spill. You should run the engine to warm the oil before extracting.
A couple of years ago someone (Joe Valinotti?) mentioned using the tube to change the oil. It sounded good but when I checked it I had second thoughts. The tube had not been used by me for the 20 years I’ve had Catharsis. She is a 1985 30U. My concern was the tube, spending all those years in that hot engine compartment, might crack. I don’t know about you but I have zero access to replacing it if this would happen. I continue to use an extracting pump.