MacGregorSailors.com

Hello everyone

I have a 2004 26M moored in San Diego. I am over the first 10 hour service for the outboard. I changed the engine oil by buying a pump to suck the oil out. But I also need to change the Prop gear oil and I am not sure how to do that in the water because you have to make the engine verticle to make sure you fill the resevior adequatley which of course puts the resevior under water. Any ideas on how change the prop gear oil while in the water?

Thanks
Jim F.

jfitz9881 wrote:I have a 2004 26M moored in San Diego. I am over the first 10 hour service for the outboard. I changed the engine oil by buying a pump to suck the oil out. But I also need to change the Prop gear oil and I am not sure how to do that in the water because you have to make the engine verticle to make sure you fill the resevior adequatley which of course puts the resevior under water. Any ideas on how change the prop gear oil while in the water?

I suppose I could be wrong, but I don't think it's possible. Can you not pull the boat out on its trailer to do this maintenance?

--Mike

Hi Jim,

Didn't you get a trailer with the boat? You don't need to de-rig, just find a place with no overhead obstacles, and pull the boat out for the half an hour it takes to do the job...then put it back in. I did this once when I had a rock stuck in my CB trunk.

This is certainly much easier said than done with the tub being forced into the water by the lower unit.

Not only that, but the screws are way down there. Unless you have 4 foot long arms or can hang upsidedown from the topping lift or something, I just don't see how you could even reach the screws. You would need a dinghy with little or no freeboard to even work on it.

I did change the motor oil once with a floating pan like you describe, but that is a lot more accessible....and it was still a pita.

Thanks for the response. I have a trailer but storage costs out here in San Diego are through the roof so I have to drive out to the desert where it is stored. I was trying to avoid the drive.

Thanks Again
Jim F.

One other option is maybe to find a nearby boatyard that will pull the boat out with a lift and let you do the quick oil change right there... shouldn't take but 20 minutes or so.

--Mike

Jim, maybe another Mac owner in San Diego will let you borrow their trailer for the 1/2 hour or so to change the fluid. Try the membership list here.
Jeff

A ten hour service on my Suzuki 50 did not require a bottom gear oil change. It was reqiured at 100 hours. Only the engine oil is changed at 10 hours. Glad you did it yourself as my dealer charged me $225 for 10 hour service. I did not ask how much before the service. He has not seen the engine since.

jsserene wrote:Jim, maybe another Mac owner in San Diego will let you borrow their trailer for the 1/2 hour or so to change the fluid. Try the membership list here.
Jeff

Good point. People in my neighborhood do that sort of thing all the time. Like if you don't have a boat lift, and you have your boat on a trailer, you just switch places for a few days and keep the trailered boat up on the lift...while the guy who doesn't have a trailer works on his motor.

If you offered someone the use of your slip for a day or two, I'll bet you would have lots of takers to come and switch places with you..you could probably even paint the bottom if needed.

This one begs a technical solution......hehehehehehe

Sinc I see many macs moored most of the time. most with nissans it seems....

I am going to try this on the Nissan 50 to see if the proper amount of oil drains out in the raised position,

Since the fill volume is known (from the nissan web site)
seems there are 4 problems.

1) need a dink to work back there.....
2) need a collar /tray to catch any drips and tools dropped.
3) need a way to get all the oil out when tilted ( This may not be as difficult as it seems, need custom screw plugs that have a small thru fitting and a swiveling flexible draw tube to allow the old oil to be sucked or blown out. Since these are sealed, one could even lower the motor during the time to suck the oil out., Wait, dont need the flexible draw tube if I lower the motor back down......I can vacuum pump it straight out. oh yeah.
4) Need a controlled volume to install the new oil correctly

So
1) I want a new dink, hehehehe
2) Oil sorb and kitty litter on a clipped on 4 inch deep rubbermaid tray, hanging from tilted motor. Bonus, tools dont bounce off of sand.
3) Does anyone know where to get replacement lower unit oil port screws? or have measured the diameter and pitch. So that I can thread in a small tube fitting, or cut new threads on an existing fitting, attach and drain using my handy hand pumped Mighty Vac
4) and fill with a 16.9 Fluid ounce syringe (for the Nissan 50)

Remove one fill screw cap at a time and replace with the original, should only lose a few drops. In fact, tilted seems to loose less, almost none...

Wave at everyone having to take their boat out of the water to change the oil.,

I am sure somewhere this is prohibited.
if your local harbormaster does not like you working on the motor over the water, move dink under ouboard first.

Seems kits could be made for different outboards and sold here. hint hint....lol

enjoy..

You're crazy.

I measured the plugs on my Tohatsu some time ago for somebody who had lost them. I'm about 90% sure they were M6x1.

If you use clear tubing on your adapter fittings, you don't have to measure the fill amount. After installing both tubes and vacuuming out old oil through the lower tube, detach the vacuum. Attach your filling aparatus (syringe?) to the lower tube and fill in normal fashion. When you observe the oil level coming up through the clear upper fitting tube, indicating full, stop filling. Plug the upper tube. Detach filling apparatus from lower tube and plug. Tilt the motor up. Detach lower tube fitting and install lower plug. Detach upper tube fitting and install upper plug. Excess remains in the tubes. Unplug the tubes and drain the excess into the waste oil container.

Chip Hindes wrote:You're crazy.

C'mon Chip, waddya really think?

I haven't done it, but recall that the Suzuki case is refilled by attaching a hose to the lower port and pumping-in enough oil until it overflows the upper port . . . don't know how positive are the hose attachments. If they're screw attached, seems changing it wouldn't be too difficult in either position.

I think they all work like that (actually, my bigfoot has 1 lower screw and 2 upper screws - front and back).

It is worth the $15 investment into a pump that screws into the fittings...otherwise, its a big mess trying to squirt it from a tube..like the old days..

Blasted engineers!! You need a programmer in here to straighten things out. You don't have to suck that stuff out. With the motor tilted up, use a simple air pump with an attachment that will screw into the upper vent hole to push the lower unit oil out. Fill until oil is seen at the clear tube attached the upper vent hole. You don't need a syring to fill it, just buy lower unit oil with the pump attachment. Probably can use the same attachment and pump to push the oil out. Do the whole job from a dinghy with the motor tilted up. Run the dinghy under the motor with a pan in it to catch drained oil. Tilt the motor down to secure the dinghy under it. You might have to fabricate a funneling device so the oil can run down the side of the dinghy into the pan.

And while you're at it you can sing my favorite poem composed on another thread:

The Mac 26 is a mighty sailing boat.
Performance is sure and true.
I've taken it on a little lake and plan on the ocean blue.
My sailboat is the fastest in the world, she'll do 32.
If you can find a faster one, I would not doubt you.
If there is no wind, I can tow a kiddy toy.
Otherwise, sailing is just quite a joy.
If you have a girl friend like Tampa Mac.
You can take pictures of her. She has quite a rack.
If you're like Kevin, you'll watch you wife take an on-deck shower.
Then share a glass of wine and while away each hour.
In conclusion, she's a boat you just can't ignore.
What other boat can you sail all day and then drag up on shore?
Buying a Mac 26 is a decision you won't regret.
Besides being a mighty fine boat, she's a chick magnet.

Add this line:
She' such a very nice boat.
She'll even let change the oil while still a float.

Mark

yes indeedy oh bard of the bay....

After trying it both ways...... it was just a lot easier to use the vacuum pump, much better control, and only takes a very small amount of suction, Since my first attempt at connecting today, I cheated and used a plastic fitting top and bottom and used the aluminum to thread the plastic, works at low pressure, tho I will have to trim a slot for the O-rings

I had a small volleyball pump and one of those step on tire pumps, but the both required two hands for operation, and for this task I only had one hand free, So the hand held vacuum pump was a clear winner in this application. Neither pressurizing nor vacuum will entirely drain the lower unit in the tilted position.

Since I wanted to fill it on its side.....,(easier to get at, not in the water, and with the tray below to catch drips) I needed to accurately measure the amount added. since the normal fill till it drips method doesn't work when tilted..

The whole purpose of my notes was to be able to do it on the water, and tilted as much as possible.

Also, the nissan will not drain completely when tilted, you have to lower the unit for a moment or two to suck out the full amount. 16.9 Oz. That is the only reason to measure before you fill.., in the tilted position you can easily add too much... sorry if I didnt make that clear, overfilling can result in seal failure. 80 wt oil bottle was graduated in 4 oz increments... probably close enough...to guestimate. lol..



And yes.. I enjoyed the poem on the other thread........lol

Enjoy.