I've used all the vacuum thingies and I find Jere's simple brass pump
is the best. Mine is permenently mounted in the engine compartment
with the hoses coiled and resting on a oil absorbent pad under the
engine. I use a 16" length of brake tubing as the dipstick insert. No
muss, no fuss, A dirty job tamed.


On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 23:46:16 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

In article ,
"Evan Gatehouse" wrote:

I'm just in the midst of buying a used Yanmar 3GM30 engine (I got a deal .
The mechanic I hired to check it out pointed out that the oil pan has NO
drain plug! He did mention that he had drilled and tapped a few Yanmar's
oil pans for a drain fitting to drain it out.

Do you know of anybody else that has done this - I suspect that the oil pan
may have a thicker spot / dummy plug for just this operation?

Yanmars don't have them. In our installation, we couldn't get a pan
underneath to use it, anyway. We were warned off of putting a plug or
drain tube in the pan: possible leak point. I'd rather spend a few
minutes pumping from the top than have the oil drip out of a makeshift
drain while I wasn't looking.

We have a little bronze hand pump with a tube that fits in the dipstick
hole and a plastic tube into the waste container. Came with the boat so
I don't know the manufacturer. Does the job for us in about 10 minutes
and fits into next to no space.