help on 100hrs maintenance on a SAN 210

Can't afford to take my boat in to get service, so I'll try to do it myself. There's nothing in my manual to show me how or what to do so I hope some of you mechanics out there can help me out.

It comes with a hose to drain the oil. But I don't know where the drain plug is. Then I need to change the impellor, so if anyone out there knows where the impellor is and how to change it, that would be great. Other than that I don't know what else I need to do so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also pictures would be nice.

Thanks again guys.

Check on the maintenance section of the forums on planetnautique.com. It has a lot of information as well as knowledgeable people.

Damn, that's a beautiful boat!!!!!

... Don't skimp. I do my own maintenance, but don't buy the cheap oil, or the cheap XXX. Just get the good stuff, and save your money on the labor.

Besides, doing it yourself, will teach you to be self sufficient. If I can do that, maybe I can also do ....

Good luck.

Hey Robb, I will take you out to dinner if you take care of my annual service!

Eagle, I checked that site for hours and they seem to be talking over my head. I just want to do a simple oil change and impellor replacement.

Robb, I totally agree on quality parts. When I took my boat in to get service by a local dealer; they only change the oil and check the rest, and it cost me almost $400. I figure I can do it myself for alot less and knowing that I'm using premium parts.

John- I am not sure off everything for your boat since the engine is different than mine but here is what I would for sure do:

Change Oil- This should have been done already and every 50 hours.

Change Transmission Fluid- I do this every 100 hours

Change V-drive Oil- This is done at 100 hours and then they say every 500 but I would probably do it every 200 it isn't too hard to do.

Impeller- should be changed every season if not then every other depending on how many hours you log. It should be located in a housing that has a belt going around it. I am sure if you take a picture of the engine where the belts are someone can tell you where it is. You will probably have to take the housing of and remove a couple of bolts then the impeller will be behind a plate. Not to bad of a job on my GT-40 engine probably 30-45 minutes once you know what you are doing from start to finish.

Those would be the main things I would take care of. You could call your dealer and ask what they do for the 100 hours service too incase there is something else that should be done.

You are going to need to buy a pump to extract the oil if you don't have one already. You can also use it for the tranny fluid change. something like this http://overtons.com/modperl/overtons/detail/pdetail2.cgi?r=detail_view&item_num=24770&fcat=

It should come with a fitting that threads onto the hose coming from the bottome of the oil pan. If not you can go to the hardware store and find one. Then for the tranny just stick the hose in through the dipstick hole and suck the fluid out. Pay attention to how much you take out and then replace the same amount providing it wasn't low to begin with.

Good luck with it. Once you've done it once it is pretty simple to do again.

(Message edited by sbt3 on October 26, 2006)

Oil Changes should be every 50 hours or once a season, so you should change the oil at the 100hr mark if only for the reason that this will give you a good point to know when you next one is due. You may have a hose that leads to the bottom of the oil pan. If so, easiest thing to do is to take the drain plug out the back of your boat, fish that hose through the hole. Drain from there. Be sure to warm the engine first as the oil will move through the hose faster. This will take a while to drain. When you’re done re-plug the hose and fish back through and BE SURE TO PUT THE DRAIN PLUG IN.

When checking the oil do so while on the trailer first and again while floating in the water at the dock there may be a change in angle in the pan.

Make sure to change the oil filter as well. Always put a small ring of fresh oil on the rubber ring on the filter. You can get a filter from your local dealer. Also be sure to document the service well.

The tranny fluid should be changed as well. This can be done using one of the pumps. Or there may be a drain plug toward the bottom of the unit. You should be able to get to that directly under you back seat.

For the impeller, the housing should be at the back of the engine (boat) right about where the cam shaft would come out. There are two hose attached to it. They may be a Black with green line and Black with white line, one on top of the other. Mine has four screws that hold a plate on the house. Each screw also has a small lock washer on it so be sure not to loose those. Also right inside the housing is a rubber ring that will act as a seal when attached, be sure that is there when you reassemble. Before taking it out not the direction it is turning. Also when putting the new one in find a light lube that won’t clog your lines as this will run dry when first starting and the lube will help to not damage the new impeller on startup. It might be good idea to order an extra impeller as they are cheap insurance if you ever take the boat out of town.

Hope this info help and is not to confusing. Although, if you are not comfortable doing this it may be best to suck up the cost for your peace of mind. A Couple hundred dollars is a lot less than replacing a engine.

John, on the Planetnautique website, they have online versions of the owner's manuals. The one for the 210 showed some info about how to change the oil and impeller, including the locations.

Good luck!

That's a gorgeous boat you have.

John, that's why I started doing it myself. I read the fine print. Change oil. .... then the rest says CHECK. I was pissed.

I can do that, so now I do.

Attila... Ok.

It only takes a couple hours. I change my oil, change the tranny fluid, change the cap & rotor (Carb), change the spark plugs, change the impeller.

... Like I said, about 2-3 hours worth of work. Saves me $300. And, it's kinda fun.

Thanks guys. I'm gonna get all the parts and work on it. I take it that the impellor is in the housing where the belt goes around, if that's the case do I need to adjust the belt when I put it back?

sbt3, I take it that the engine oil and the v-drive oil is the same?

Eagle, the manual looks like the same that I have and mine doesn't go into maintenance on my boat, but I'll check again. And thanks.

John wrote: "It comes with a hose to drain the oil. But I don't know where the drain plug is."

John:

I also have SAN, so we probably have the same setup. The drain plug is at the end of the hose.

If you look closely you should see that there are two brass fittings at the end of the hose. The last one is a cap. You will need two wrenches, one to hold the inner fitting and one to turn the cap. Just remove the cap, then either poke the hose out the drain or connect a pump to the end of the hose. I always use the pump method, only takes a minute or two.

John-


"sbt3, I take it that the engine oil and the v-drive oil is the same?" NO at least not on mine. My v-drive unit takes straight 30 weight oil. You need to check your manaul to see what yours takes.

In case you are sure what I am talking about this is the unit that the transmission goes into. It creates the V part of the drive train.

Oil change:

Start engine and allow it to warm up to normal operating temperature. Be sure to supply a source of cooling water during this process. Products such as Fake-A-Lake or Flush-Pro can be used, however the preferred method is to disconnect the raw water hose from the thru-hull fitting and place the end in a five-gallon bucket that receives a constant water source (like water from a garden hose). Be sure that the flow of the water is enough to keep the engine from being starved for water. Allow the engine to run this way until normal operating temperature is reached and the thermostat has opened fully.

Shut down the engine, and change the oil using the following procedure. Locate the engine oil drain hose. It should be clipped on the side of your engine. It will have a metal drain plug installed, and will lead down to the bottom of the crankcase. Unclip this hose, and run it down through your bilge and out through the bilge drain plug hole. Open the plug on the end of the hose, and allow the engine oil to drain. Due to the size of this hose, it takes a few minutes for all of the oil to drain. Let it drain as long as possible to ensure that most of the old oil is out of the engine. While the old oil is draining, replace your oil filter with a MotorCraft FL-1A (or similar) filter. Even though your engine is a GM, the oil filter relocation kit that PCM uses accepts FORD size oil filters. Be sure to coat the rubber O-ring of the new filter with a light coating of fresh oil. Also, be certain that the O-ring from the old oil filter comes off with the old filter. Do not allow it to stay on the filter mounting location. Do not overtorque the new filter. Once all old oil has drained out, replace the plug on the end of the oil drain hose, and pull it back into position inside the bilge. Clip it to the side of the engine. Add the proper amount of fresh oil to your engine. The Excalibur takes four quarts, the ZR-6 takes five quarts, and the Python takes seven quarts. Be sure to check the oil level with the boat level, and add any additional oil necessary to bring the level up to the full mark on the dipstick. Follow the chart below as to which viscosity of oil you should use in your engine.

Replace the oil with 15w-40 oil of your choice for California climates (my choice is Chevron Delo). The oil filter is a Ford filter because of the remote mount. I prefer Delco, Motorcraft FL1a, Sierra, Wix or the original PCM (R077001) filters (cross reference the others for numbers).

Change the V-drive and Transmission at the recommended intervals, no reason to get excessive. It's heat and combustion deposit that causes lubrication to wear out, neither is an issue with these well cooled gear systems.

The impeller change is easy, just did mine the other night. Take a 15mm box wrench and release the belt. Take a 10mm socket with a 4" extension, remove the bolts and pull the front off the impeller. Replace the impeller, lube and re-install. Should take about 20 minutes now that you know which tools to take to the boat. Do the impeller when the engine is cold.

I would highly recommend that you print this manual:
http://www.planetnautique.com/CorrectCraftManuals/2004PCMManual.pdf

These boats are much easier to work on than cars.

Raw water pump bolts & washers are stainless steel. Be careful, don't drop them in the bilge, you won't be able to pick them up with a magnet.

Small amount of anti-seize on the threads will make removal easy for years to come.

To add to Tackleberrie's advise. I put a small piece of duct tape in the socket prior to removing the bolt. I had to dig for two bolts one day and don't ever want to have to do that again.

I found out the hard way, too...

I found that by taking the boat to a dealer it does cost more than doing it yourself, but it can sometimes pay for itself in one trip if during their service they find something (through their extensive experience and by being professional marine mechanics) that you might miss. If you do all the maintenance yourself for an extended period of time it is sometimes worth letting a dealer do it once in a while, this just my IMO and experience. I had a bad tracking fin that was cracking and covered under warranty on a SV-211 that I had once. Without having the dealer do the service I would have never know about the defective tracking fin that was under manufacturer recall.

Another thing that you might want to do is to do all the trailer maintenance that would often be included in your dealer’s service; like greasing the bearings, checking the brakes, checking the electrical system, tire condition, etc…

i worked at hammers service in petaluma this summer. i knew the basics of boats but i learned alot also... in our services we checked the shaft alignment, checked all the underwater gear, checked the packing (if not dripless), changed the oil and filter(ford filter as earlier stated and special marine approved 25-40), change atf, check the spark plugs (replace if needed), clean the raw water strainer, clean the flame arrestor, check the belts and hoses, check the pcv valve, check electrolyte level in batteries, check all electrical connections, check the air in the tires on the trailer, check torque on lugs on trailer, and grease bearing buddies if needed.

Mikeski, great info. I feel much comfortable now. Thanks!