2007 Sea Ray 185 with 4.3L Alpha I MCM Sterndrive - I have come to end of 20 hr break-in period and need to change engine oil and filter along with gear lube. Oil filter is on port side of this V6 engine. It looks like I need to remove the port side vertical longitudinal white board in the engine compartment and the long blower hose in order to access the oil filter. Any tricks or work arounds for this? Is is better to drain engine oil or pump it our through the dip stick tube?
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2007 Sea Ray 185 - V6 oil filter access
- Thread starter gpurdel
- Start date
I hope this is not too late to be of help, haven't been in here in a while. I have a 2004 185 with 4.3L Alpha 1, the board you refer to on my boat has a huge hole in it with a piece of carpet snapped to it, I can drop that and get to the filter. I drain my oil by pulling the tube out of the bilge drain with the plug. This is a small hose so either warm up engine before drain or set up a drain bucket the night before, if the oil is cold it drains very slowly. Get some rags in the bottom of the boat to catch the oil that will come out of the filter when you take it loose, also a pan to put the filter in so you do not string oil all over the boat. I drain my oil, I feel that I get more used oil out of the engine that way.
Ours is a different boat/engine but same filter setup. Found a baking pan like might be used for banana bread. It's about 4W by 6L and 3"Deep. If I remove the bilge blower suction tube, I can get that pan right under the filter mount. Loosen the filter so the oil above it runs down the filter into the pan til it about stops. Then remove the filter fully and let the pan stay for the drips. Clean the mounting surface and spin the new one on. I think we all agree the gasket should be lubed with fresh oil. I also add some oil to the filter, which many say is not needed.
I'm fortunate to borrow a friend's tube-down-the-dipstick oil sucker. It's 12VDC and pretty slow but I can get all five quarts out. I get to dump and clean it but well worth it. You can get a kit where a drain hose gets attached to the crankcase oil drain plug. You extend it out the hull drain and let the oil run from there. Very good if you're on a trailer. I'm on a boatlift so I make sure the hull drain is IN so I can clean up any spill before it gets in the canal. I've found I get more oil out if the boat is on the lift than if it's afloat. Slight difference in its fore and aft trim.
I'm fortunate to borrow a friend's tube-down-the-dipstick oil sucker. It's 12VDC and pretty slow but I can get all five quarts out. I get to dump and clean it but well worth it. You can get a kit where a drain hose gets attached to the crankcase oil drain plug. You extend it out the hull drain and let the oil run from there. Very good if you're on a trailer. I'm on a boatlift so I make sure the hull drain is IN so I can clean up any spill before it gets in the canal. I've found I get more oil out if the boat is on the lift than if it's afloat. Slight difference in its fore and aft trim.