"Larry" wrote in message
...
Bruce in Bangkok wrote in
:

Whether this is of interest on a pleasure boat is
debatable (it is on airplanes) so the advise to change the oil and
filters every X hours probably results in lower costs and very
possibly longer engine life.


At 50 hours in a year, he needs time interval changes and worrying over
zinc anodes inside the engine being eaten. He'll never wear it out...



From your typing to God's ear...

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Faire dinkum" wrote in message
...

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...
It's been a while since I checked the condition of the engine oil on my
Westerbeke 13... last time was at purchase.. about 18 mos. ago.

An old oil sample was sent off for analysis as a condition of the
purchase, and nothing out of ordinary was found, but I changed the oil
anyway.

I'm thinking that it's that time again, and I was going to send away to
have a sample tested when I ran across this article. It's a heck of lot
less expensive to test it this way vs. the $45 the last time for a
one-time test.

Has anyone done this? It seems to be fairly new.

http://www.marinelink.com/Story/Engi...st-210344.html

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"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

The oil analysis that we used to do looks at a lot more than the fluid or
chemical contaminants that the kit you reference does.

Typically, a report would consider various metal traces found in the oil
and suggest possible sources.

The full lab analysis gave great comfort.

In my opinion (and for my engine and conditions, your mileage may vary) 18
months is too long to leave oil in an engine. Oil is relatively cheap and
easy to change compared to pistons, valve lifters, etc. I have elected to
change ours twice a season. Probably overkill but provides a lot of peace
of mind.



I like Larry's suggestion of every six months. That's not a big deal. In the
spring and then at the end of the sailing season would be about right.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Edgar" wrote in message
...

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...
It's been a while since I checked the condition of the engine oil on my
Westerbeke 13... last time was at purchase.. about 18 mos. ago.

An old oil sample was sent off for analysis as a condition of the
purchase, and nothing out of ordinary was found, but I changed the oil
anyway.

I'm thinking that it's that time again, and I was going to send away to
have a sample tested when I ran across this article. It's a heck of lot
less expensive to test it this way vs. the $45 the last time for a
one-time test.

Has anyone done this? It seems to be fairly new.

http://www.marinelink.com/Story/Engi...st-210344.html

That test shows only contaminants and I see they include carbon.
Carbon will always be present in the sump oil of a diesel to some degree
so
this test is usually going to show it up..
. The main reason for regular oil changes is that modern oils contain
additives that hold carbon particles in a colloidal
suspension,which is why the oil in a diesel turns black.
If you do not change the oil at specified intervals the additives become
exhausted and the carbon load being held in the oil starts to fall out of
suspension and cook itself onto the pistons, rings and cylinder walls and
form sludge in the sump.
So prolonging the period between oil changes meansyou save a bit on oil
costs and your maintanance bills are much higher.
How easy is it to remove cylinder heads and/or draw pistons from the
engine in your boat?

No idea... not sure I have the tools or expertise to try.

I change my oil at the end of every season for this reason regardless of
hours run and always well before the engine makers recommended hours.
It pays off in the long run. My engine never has used oil in it during the
cold winter,when acids,water or anything else can condense and start
corrosion
or other problems.

Fortunately, mine hasn't required a drop so far.




--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
I abused my engine the same way for the first two seasons because I heard
(probably here) that you just change the oil in a sailboat engine at the
beginning and end of each season. I felt rather foolish as a former flying
club maintenance officer who used to track operating hours and maintenance
intervals compulsively. We did oil analysis and it is all about trends.
It won't tell you much unless you either graph the numbers or can visualize
graphs in your head. It is changes from the norm you are looking for and
you need the experienced advice from the analysis company unless you know a
lot more about engines than you appear to or even than I do now after
reviewing the reports for nearly a decade.

I woke up when I noticed that engine manual says to change the oil every
50 hours. Same interval as my old airplane BTW which makes sense because
both are hard working engines. High pressures in the diesel and lots of
blow by in the airplane due to being air cooled. Gallon per hour average
consumption in cruise, 20 gallon tank, the oil should be changed after
every 2 1/2 fill ups if you use most of the fuel before going to the fuel
dock as I do. I round it to three fuelings to account for convienience
and to account for idling and slow legs in the harbor.

Since even a small amount of operation puts some acids into the oil, it
should be changed every 2 - 3 months even if you are not motoring that
much. If you are a tank a seasons sailor, I would still change mid season.
Oil is cheap, even at today's prices, and engines are expensive. If you
are using that little fuel, you may also not be operating enough to boil
some of the water and acids out of the oil.

In reference to the other long thread about filling tanks, I run my tanks
down as close to empty as possible so that I use up as much of the old
fuel as possible and have the maximum proportion of fresh fuel in the tank
after filling. That's a more common recommendation among the mechanics
and engine people I've talked to around here. I never heard of topping
off to avoid water in the fuel in boats until I read it here. Buying near
tank fulls of fuel makes it easy to keep track of oil changes (no engine
hour meter on my little engine). I could buy and add on but there's that
complexity thing

--
Roger Long

Roger, I could easily change it every few months... it's not hard at all.
Besides, I have plenty of oil-absorbant pads. The marina gives them away for
free.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

TMI


"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...

Besides, I have plenty of absorbant pads. The ex gives them away for free.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

In article ,
"Edgar" wrote:

That test shows only contaminants and I see they include carbon.
Carbon will always be present in the sump oil of a diesel to some degree so
this test is usually going to show it up..

Just a NOTE here.... SOME OEM's put trace elements in their Bearing
Compositions, so as to Identify each individual Bearing in an engine,
should it begin to fail. By doing a Mass Spectrum analysis on the
used Oil, one can identify any bearing that is shedding material in
excessive quantities. CAT does this and REQUIRES Oil analysis be done
if the engine is on one of their Maintainance Agreements.

--
Bruce in alaska
add path after fast to reply

"Bruce in alaska" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Edgar" wrote:

That test shows only contaminants and I see they include carbon.
Carbon will always be present in the sump oil of a diesel to some degree
so
this test is usually going to show it up..

Just a NOTE here.... SOME OEM's put trace elements in their Bearing
Compositions, so as to Identify each individual Bearing in an engine,
should it begin to fail. By doing a Mass Spectrum analysis on the
used Oil, one can identify any bearing that is shedding material in
excessive quantities. CAT does this and REQUIRES Oil analysis be done
if the engine is on one of their Maintainance Agreements.

--
Bruce in alaska
add path after fast to reply


I've got one in the garage... LOL

As a side note, way back in 1982, I had an opportunity to buy a desktop
electron microscope for under $1000. I should have done it.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Capt. JG" wrote in
:

I didn't mean to imply that it just sits... I do start it and run it
for 10-15 minutes, either because I haven't run it in a while or
because I'm going out or coming in. Does that make a difference? I
don't mind changing it myself. The hardest part of doing anything with
the engine is actually checking the oil. The dipstick is in on the
starboard side about mid-engine, but the engine is offset in the bay,
with the forward part inset to starboard. So, basically, I have to
reach around it to get at the stick, which I can't see directly.



One of the very important things you can do for it is to take it out and
toss caution to the wind and run the hell out of it for 10 miles. 15
minutes isn't long enough to boil the water out of the crankcase. You need
to run it hard and hot for that, raising the oil temp above 212 to boil off
any water that may have accumulated, even from just condensation, in the
crankcase. Exhaust water cooling gets back through the open exhaust
valves, condenses in the cold block and always ends up in the
crankcase....under the oil where the pickup tube sucks it into the oil
pump, of course. It's not a serious problem, but is so easy to avoid by
simply running the engine for further than just far enough away from the
dock to get the sails filled. Run her out on the engine, not at idle, let
her breathe at cruising speed...way up there....above 2000 RPM. She won't
explode.

If you haven't run her hard in a long time, set her on 2500 RPM and let her
run an hour. It's really good for it.

......and, no matter what you may have heard, it's not mortal sin!...(c;

"Capt. JG" wrote in news:13uvkpu69qtll41
@corp.supernews.com:

end of the sailing season

End of the sailing season?? Huh??

Sailing season never ends....does it??

How silly.....

SAIL SOUTH!! SOUTH!!

We'll leave the dock lights on for ya....

New Years day, Charleston Harbor, RACE DAY!!

End of the sailing season....yecch.

"Capt. JG" wrote in
:

Roger, I could easily change it every few months... it's not hard at
all. Besides, I have plenty of oil-absorbant pads. The marina gives
them away for free.



$60 at Waste Marine:
http://tinyurl.com/3ak42o

Stick tube down dipstick hole to the bottom and simply suck it out into the
5 quart vacuum chamber. Never spills a drop. Every time you put 20
gallons of gas in that old rusty truck, add half a quart of it to the gas
tank....self disposal....top oil...(c;