Begining season check up/ fluid change

I have a 2001 Ski Sanger DLX with a Mercruiser 5.7L MPI rated at 315 HP.

I was told I need to change the oil and filter.

Do I have to use a marine oil filter? I had a friend tell me I could just buy an AC filter for a 350 chevy and it would work fine.

What about the oil. My service manual calls for Quicksilver 4 cycle 25W-40 marine oil but says I can use a good quality straight weight 40W oil.

What's the easiest way to get ALL the oil to come out of that drain tube and not make a mess?

Anything else I should consider before I start the season?

The boat has 46 hrs on it.

Thanks

Use a marine quality filter. should be listed in your manual. Do you have a quick drain kit on your engine? Warm the boat up and stick the hose out of your drain hole and open that hose up and let the oil drip out. Don't change the filter right away. It will be hot and all of the oil will be in the filter so it will be messier. Change those two, add new oil, turn the engine on again to check for leaks and oil pressure then top off the oil. Check all of your hose connections and make sure your plugs are tight. Make sure your impeller is staying cool while you run the boat. By they way, your probably a smart guy but I will say it anyways: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE WATER RUNNING THROUGH YOUR ENGINE!

Did you say 46 hours? Damn! You need to enjoy life more.

A/C filters work great, others swear by Napa Gold filters and there are other good brands out there (not Fram). The motor will be perfectly happy regular 20/50, nothing special nothing marine. Remember that is an automotive motor. A multi viscosity oil (20/50) is a more modern oil than a straight (40). When was the last time the oil was changed? If the oil has low hours on it there should be no reason to change it as the oil does not go bad sitting. Of course it never hurts to change it. You will need to warm the boat up in order to change the oil. To do this you MUST have water flowing into the motor. Without warming it up the oil will be next to impossible to drain. Let it drain for hours.

#1 thing to do REPLACE THE IMPELLER!

I was told and my manual also confirmed to use straight 30w.

nice color boat also. same as mine.

nice color boat also. same as mine. do not forget the fuel seperator also...

Put a large freeze zip bag over the filter that way you wont make a mess in the boat. It works very well. Change the trany fluid also once a year, make sure you put int he same amount you take out. Use a 2 liter plastic bottle to messure. It will only cost you 5 bucks to change it so why not?

REPLACE THE IMPELLER AND ALWAYS CARRY A SPARE IN THE BOAT, ALONG WITH A SPARE DRIVE BELT.

Yes drain it now if you didn't at the end of the season (which is generally accepted as better so you old oil, which is breaking down, isn't in the engine for a long period of time).

Yes any good quality oil will work - doesn't have to be marine grade, just stick with the weights that the manufacture suggests

If you pan has an oil drain tube, that will make it easy. Find the tube (usually zip tied to one of the hoses on the front of the engine), remove your plug (on dry land obviously) and stick the tube through the plug hole. Crawl under boat and remove cap to drain the oil.

Change your impellor too before starting the season off. If the old one looks OK, keep it as a back up. The impellor is in the raw water pump usually right on the front of the engine where the raw water hose goes into. Purchase a new one at www.skidim.com - call them to get the right one for your boat.

lol...I have already replaced the impeller. It feel apart right at the end of the season. I need to buy a spare though. They only had one in stock when I went to buy it.

I see that one person says use marine grade filter and one says an automotive one is OK. I need some more replys on this please.

Ty...my manual says 40W above 50F air temp (BTW..great minds think a like :-) )

I do have one of those drain hoses on my engine.

and I have a fake-a-lake. I tried to run my boat once every two weeks during the off season for 15 minutes in the driveway.

Thanks

i use auto-grade filters and 20w50 oil. there's no need for marine filter. check your manual or manu. on the oil for a recommendation.

this is one of the few areas where we don't have to get ripped on marine parts.

need new plugs too?

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/31129.html?1031263703 Read the bottom two posts on here. Not sure about where you live but 100 degrees outside is plenty warm enough to run 20/50 as it is good down to 10 degrees. Most of my mechanical friends run something similar to Castrol 20/50 in their boats. On the back of my PCM it said right on it 20/50. Run what you want but neither oil is going to hurt the motor. I would not run a straight viscosity, although it will not hurt the motor either. LOL

http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/oil_filter_study/#sae Here is a writeup of oil filters. Notice OE GM (A/C Delco) gets a good rating. Marine Bah! it's a car engine. We had a great discussion on this a long time ago but I could not find it in the archives.

Spark plugs are good for hundreds of hours.

http://www.go2marine.com/frameset.jsp?servletPath=/g2m/action/GoBPage/id/85435F/hiLiteSku/85435/categoryId/13693/

Here is the brand I use and my local dealer uses. Not sure if this is the same model or not. Don't remember without running out and uncovering the boat.

pretty sure it is 7875 on a GT 40 engine.

what,s so bad about fram oil filters?
ben.

I bought 40w Castrol and an AC PF1218 oil filter. I used a 1997 chevy 2wd 1500 series truck with a 5.7 350 sfi as reference. The oil filter is a little bit longer than the one thats on there.

Boy is that oil slow to drain.

Brian S. thanks for the idea of putting the oil drain hose through the drain hole.

Hey you should call the factory that built your boat!! Doesn't the warranty cover normal maintenance and stupidity? I'm sure if you contact Aaron Nielsen he can help you extort some money from them he wasn’t even the original owner of the boat he bought and I understand he has convinced them to pay for his maintenance!!!