How do I: Siphon engine oil up through a threaded dip stick tube?

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cr2k

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Re: How do I: Siphon engine oil up through a threaded dip stick tube?

If the dipstick has threads on the upper end it DOES go all the way to the bottom of the pan.
 

Lou C

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Re: How do I: Siphon engine oil up through a threaded dip stick tube?

Yes they do and basically when you hear it sucking air you got as much out as you can using a pump. Now if you could get more out by draining it I do not know, but if you do regular changes with good oil and the engine is in good tune and not running too cold then it really should be a non-issue. I can drain mine with the pump shown in my pic above in less than 10 minutes. I may add a remote filter to make changing it a bit easier but since I can remove the rear seats and dividers and then slide the battery back on that side its not so bad as some newer boats with the molded in 'glass around the engine...
 

wire2

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Re: How do I: Siphon engine oil up through a threaded dip stick tube?

I use a suction pump on a 2 gallon container I bought at West marine. works perfect. $40.00 or so. You can't really "siphon" it..it requires some kind of vacuum.
Actually, you can. Years ago I did it that way. With the boat on the trailer, I put a 12 ft long ?" ID clear poly hose on the inner dipstick tube, brought the other end out of the boat to the ground and sucked. And sucked...
After several minutes I could see the dark oil coming over the side of the boat towards me. Once the flow was below the engine, I placed the end in a pan on the ground. I left it 24 hours, the tube was clear (sort of) and there was 5 quarts of dirty oil in the pan.

I have since "graduated". I now put the same hose into an old 25 lb disposable Freon tank, with a 2nd fitting to a 1 HP vacuum pump. It takes 2 minutes.
 

TeeJayDubya

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Jun 19, 2023
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The cheapest and quickest (my active time) method to suck oil out of the dipstick tube (if your boat is not in the water) is to:
1) buy 8 ft of polyethylene tubing of the largest diameter that will fit down the dipstick tube (in my case 5/16"OD, 1/4" ID)
2) cut the end at an acute angle (maybe 45-60 degrees)
3) run that end up thru the hull drain hole and shove it all the way down into the dipstick tube (the acute angle end will keep it from plugging itself)
3) suck on the end that protrudes from the drain hole until you see oil at about a foot or two from the exit end (use your mouth, or a hand-vacuum pump, or a rag & shop-vac, or blow 100 psi shop air across the end of the tube for a venturi effect)
4) put that end into an oil catch container (automotive drain pan or 5 gal bucket, etc) that has more capacity than the oil capacity of your engine
5) Go to bed or go golfing and you'll have the engine empty of oil when you return :)

Advantages:
1) This takes less than 5 minutes of my time.
2) This costs less than $5
3) The tubing can be thrown away or coiled up into a 1 gallon zip-loc bag.
4) You don't have to warm up the engine.
5) It allows sucking out more of the metal particulate flakes in the oil (from normal engine wear) that otherwise are dispersed throughout the engine if you warm it up.
6) you don't have a oily pump or garden hose to clean and store
7) you don't get air bubbles in the oil stream, as happens from the garden hose fitting because they are not sealed onto the dipstick tube but only crimped on to it with a center punch
8) you don't have used engine oil within the boat hull with possibility of spilling

Hope this helps!
 
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