Oil Change Question

[ralphy670]

I have about 3 -5 hours on my boat this year. Oil is very clean and no evidence of moisture at all. Do I really need to change the oil for winterizing? Seems kind of pointless if with so little time on the oil.

Thanks for any info.

 

[Volphin]

Some change the oil during winterization, some in the spring. I do it in the spring. If I had that little time on the oil I would skip it, but inspect it closely in the spring before startup. Some will say moisture builds up blah blah blah? It's OIL. Condensate on a boat is no different than a car sitting over the winter. Once it reaches operating temp, what little condensate has formed will evaporate away.

 

[ziggy]

Some change the oil during winterization, some in the spring. I do it in the spring.

ya do it in the fall. assuming ya use yer boat. put some hours on it. it's not only the moister, it's the contaminants of the combustion processes that mix with the oil. ya want rid of these contaminants. hence the oil change at end of season.

imho, with only minimal hours on it. i'd still change it if it were my boat. if not just on general principals. boats are expensive, an oil change, not so much, and i use merc. oil and i'm poor, and i still feel that way...

fwiw. i didn't use my boat at all this year. it's still winterized from last year. that, i'm not going to change the oil on. agreed, any moister will burn off when i get ontoit next season.

 

[Scott Danforth]

The byproduct of the combustion process starts to acidify your oil. Hence the reason you change oil before storage

 

[thumpar]

Change oil, add green stabil, run, fog and then drain the block. Has worked for me for about 10+ years.

 

[Merc4ever]

, and i use merc. oil and i'm poor, and i still feel that way...

I switched to racing oil, 25W-50 weight Mobil 1 full synthetic because it's easy to get, it's cheaper, and I think it's better than Merc brand.

 

[ralphy670]

Thanks guys. Changed the oil and winterized today. I remove the out drive and store it in my heated garage, would I need to change the drive oil with 5 hours as well or leave the oil which I changed last fall. There is no water in it.

 

[ziggy]

Changed the oil and winterized today.

great, imho, ya did right....

I remove the out drive and store it in my heated garage

imho, another really good idea.... i do that too, but mine goes in the basement of my house.

would I need to change the drive oil with 5 hours as well or leave the oil which I changed last fall.

guess, now i'd wanna know what drive ya got.. i can only speak for my mercruiser w/ an mc-1 drive. i would let well enough alone, as long as yer sure there's no water in the lub. another question would be how old is my impeller. in alpha1, mc-1, there only good for 1 or two years. i changed mine last year, didn't use my boat this year, so won't change impellers or lub, but next year, i'll do an impeller for sure. bet mines takin a set just sitting since i did it in feb. or so. if it's a alpha1 genII, the impellers are a bit more robust and i think ya can get 3-5 years out of them. any other drive, i don't know about...

oh course, that's imho......

 

[ralphy670]

It's an alpha 1 gen2 and I just did the impeller in June this year. I did buy new drive lube as well it just seems crazy to change it after 5 hours of use when they recommend changing it after 50.

 

[Fun Times]

It's an alpha 1 gen2 and I just did the impeller in June this year. I did buy new drive lube as well it just seems crazy to change it after 5 hours of use when they recommend changing it after 50.

If you didn't/don't run through a bunch of sand, debris, etc. and your last impeller seemed to have looked alright, then chances are you're good to go on the Alpha Gen 2 impeller for a few more (light to moderate uses) years.....Don't skimp out to much on either of the oil changes though...The more, the better.

5 hours would typically be too soon though...The harder you run the boat under load, the more you want to change the oil/s.