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Oil Change - VTX with Hammerhead


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I have changed oil for the second time and again was only able to get 3.5 quarts out of the engine (Including the 0.5 quarts in the oil filter). After the oil change I verified this when I added 3.5 quarts and ran it for a few minutes to insure the filter was full and then checked the level again and it was right at the full mark. I have tried sucking the oil out of the dipstick, using the drain hose, and even applied a suction pump to the drain hose to try to get every last drop. No matter what I do, I can't get any more oil out of the engine. The manual says it contains 5.5 quarts with the filter. When I applied suction to the drain hose it was clear that it was sucking air. I even checked the drain hose to make sure it was pointed down as it came out of the bottom of the oil pan. I have also been keeping an eye on the oil pressure gage and it seems to have good pressure. I never had any problem getting all but about 0.5 quarts out of my old Response.

Any thoughts / suggestions would be appreciated. I don't know how 2 quarts could still be in the engine. I even let the oil cooler drain the probably 1/8 quart that it holds. So far I have changed my oil at 10 hrs and 23 hrs and both times it looked pretty dark so I am leaning toward believing that there is still a fair bit of oil in the engine rather than doubting the accuracy of the dipstick. I am planning my next change at 50 hrs but may cut that short depending on if the oil looks dirty at 30 or 40 hrs.

Edited by Matt_Alger
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What kind of pump are you using?

It is a Moeller Fluid Extractor designed for exactly this. It sucks the Tranny fluid out very quickly. I am certain that the pump is NOT the problem.

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I have changed oil for the second time and again was only able to get 3.5 quarts out of the engine (Including the 0.5 quarts in the oil filter). After the oil change I verified this when I added 3.5 quarts and ran it for a few minutes to insure the filter was full and then checked the level again and it was right at the full mark. I have tried sucking the oil out of the dipstick, using the drain hose, and even applied a suction pump to the drain hose to try to get every last drop. No matter what I do, I can't get any more oil out of the engine. The manual says it contains 5.5 quarts with the filter. When I applied suction to the drain hose it was clear that it was sucking air. I even checked the drain hose to make sure it was pointed down as it came out of the bottom of the oil pan. I have also been keeping an eye on the oil pressure gage and it seems to have good pressure. I never had any problem getting all but about 0.5 quarts out of my old Response.

Any thoughts / suggestions would be appreciated. I don't know how 2 quarts could still be in the engine. I even let the oil cooler drain the probably 1/8 quart that it holds. So far I have changed my oil at 10 hrs and 23 hrs and both times it looked pretty dark so I am leaning toward believing that there is still a fair bit of oil in the engine rather than doubting the accuracy of the dipstick. I am planning my next change at 50 hrs but may cut that short depending on if the oil looks dirty at 30 or 40 hrs.

Are you running the boat to get the oil/engine temperature up? Then pump the oil out. Works great for us.

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I have changed oil for the second time and again was only able to get 3.5 quarts out of the engine (Including the 0.5 quarts in the oil filter). After the oil change I verified this when I added 3.5 quarts and ran it for a few minutes to insure the filter was full and then checked the level again and it was right at the full mark. I have tried sucking the oil out of the dipstick, using the drain hose, and even applied a suction pump to the drain hose to try to get every last drop. No matter what I do, I can't get any more oil out of the engine. The manual says it contains 5.5 quarts with the filter. When I applied suction to the drain hose it was clear that it was sucking air. I even checked the drain hose to make sure it was pointed down as it came out of the bottom of the oil pan. I have also been keeping an eye on the oil pressure gage and it seems to have good pressure. I never had any problem getting all but about 0.5 quarts out of my old Response.

Any thoughts / suggestions would be appreciated. I don't know how 2 quarts could still be in the engine. I even let the oil cooler drain the probably 1/8 quart that it holds. So far I have changed my oil at 10 hrs and 23 hrs and both times it looked pretty dark so I am leaning toward believing that there is still a fair bit of oil in the engine rather than doubting the accuracy of the dipstick. I am planning my next change at 50 hrs but may cut that short depending on if the oil looks dirty at 30 or 40 hrs.

Are you running the boat to get the oil/engine temperature up? Then pump the oil out. Works great for us.

Yep. I tried that this time but still only 3.5 quarts. I even left it drain 24 hrs hoping to get every last drip out.

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Matt, stupid question department: Is the boat on a trailer or lift when you change the oil? The reason I ask is, I wonder if the angle the motor sits is affecting where the oil pools up. Obviously somewhere other than where the dipstick and drain are.

With your vdrive, is the oil drain hose toward the bow? As the boat sits, is the oil pan tipped toward stern? I'd lower the bow of the boat and see if you can't get another quart or two. Good luck with it.

Edited by VinRLX
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There is a tech note available from Malibu about this. I can't put my hands on it but is says something about raising or lowering the bow and one side of the boat at the same time. I will see if I can find it.

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are you accounting for the oil still in the old oil filter?

Yep, that is the 0.5 quarts. Bottom line is after I add fresh oil and run it for a while to make sure the oil filter / oil cooler are full it will only take 3.5 quarts total of new oil to get the dipstick to register "full" on the gage.

Edited by Matt_Alger
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Matt, stupid question department: Is the boat on a trailer or lift when you change the oil? The reason I ask is, I wonder if the angle the motor sits is affecting where the oil pools up. Obviously somewhere other than where the dipstick and drain are.

With your vdrive, is the oil drain hose toward the bow? As the boat sits, is the oil pan tipped toward stern? I'd lower the bow of the boat and see if you can't get another quart or two. Good luck with it.

Definitely not a stupid question. The boat is on the trailer. The oil drain is on the starboard side of the boat. My garage and driveway are both very flat. I have tried raising and lowering the bow 6 - 8" from level. Do I need more? This past time, I also tried to load the boat so starboard would sit a little lower on the trailer.

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There is a tech note available from Malibu about this. I can't put my hands on it but is says something about raising or lowering the bow and one side of the boat at the same time. I will see if I can find it.

If there is a tech note that would be great. Thank you. How much tilting does it need? Do I need to jack up one side of the trailer and bury the tongue a foot into the ground?

Edited by Matt_Alger
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Larry's on the right track. I have the same difficulty with my HH, I can only get about 3.5 quarts out, every time. It has to do with the angle of the oil pan in relation to where the drain line comes in. Look at your boat to see, but with mine I have to raise the bow as high as the jack will allow and then jack up the port side of the trailer with a floor jack. It's just stupid if you ask me, I don't know what they were thinking.

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... It's just stupid if you ask me, I don't know what they were thinking.

must be the same design people who did the Ford Expedition (I know you have/had one) and the stupid design of the placement of the oil filter. when removing, oil falls out and hits the front differential. They went through the trouble of design a cheesy rubber "tunnel" to help a bit, but why not move the location (or put in a remote mounted one) so that you don't have the mess at every change - sorry for the off topic vent, but just got out from underneath the beast on the hot, humid day.

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Larry's on the right track. I have the same difficulty with my HH, I can only get about 3.5 quarts out, every time. It has to do with the angle of the oil pan in relation to where the drain line comes in. Look at your boat to see, but with mine I have to raise the bow as high as the jack will allow and then jack up the port side of the trailer with a floor jack. It's just stupid if you ask me, I don't know what they were thinking.

You have to be kidding me! When you jack up the side of your trailer and raise your bow do you then get more than 3.5 quarts out?

Lets see, first I have to run the boat for 10 - 20 minutes which gets the driveway all wet. Then I am supposed to crawl under the trailer to jack up the left side a foot or two and raise the bow another 2 or 3 feet. Then while teetering on the right 2 wheels, a jack and a 3' long 4x4 then crawl into the boat where you can barely reach or see anything and change the oil, trusting that the jack and 4x4 will hold while you more around. Yea, I think I saw this one once. As I recall the Coyote ended up puncturing a hole in his boat and then turned his head into a pancake when the jack / 4x4 let loose. Sounds really safe to me. If Malibu is concerned about safety with shifter problems as they appear to be it seems they would also be concerned about the safety of jacking up the side of the trailer and raising the bow to change the oil! A slight change in the oil pan would easily eliminate the need for this type of gymnastics.

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It gets about 4 quarts out total, maybe just a little more. When you figure what comes out in the filter when you remove it, you're pretty close. I run synthetic as well (since the 100 hour mark), so I'm covering all of the bases that I can with this. I know, the person that designed this gets an F if you ask me.

J,

I never changed the oil in the Expy & you make me glad that I never tried it. Why do they design things like this? It's just stupid.

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It gets about 4 quarts out total, maybe just a little more. When you figure what comes out in the filter when you remove it, you're pretty close. I run synthetic as well (since the 100 hour mark), so I'm covering all of the bases that I can with this. I know, the person that designed this gets an F if you ask me.

J,

I never changed the oil in the Expy & you make me glad that I never tried it. Why do they design things like this? It's just stupid.

The engineers that can't get jobs in aerospace work for car companies. (or so I've heard from my rocket-scientist friend).

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I have an 06 VRide and Monsoon.

It came with a hose attached to the bottom of the oil pan.

If I stretch it I can get it out the drain hole out the transom of the boat.... just barely.

I just drained the oil after running the boat for 15 minutes up to 160 degrees.

I drained it for 3+ hours. There is no way I got 4 quarts out of it.

I jacked the boat up and down every which way.... but did not tilt the boat.

The hose connects right to the bottom of the oil pan virtually right uo against the bottom of the boat.

I had one of these hoses on my old stern drive 350Chevy engine and it always drained fine. Hmmm...

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SUBJECT: 383 Oil Drain Issues

We have had some reports of 383’s not taking an appropriate amount of fresh oil after an oil

change. The issue is that all of the old oil is not being drained from the engine so there isn’t

room to put 5 quarts of oil back into the engine before the oil reaches the “full” mark on the

dipstick.

The oil drain fitting on the 383 oil pan is not directly on the bottom of the pan like it is on a

standard 5.7L engine. In order to get all of the oil out of the pan during an oil change, the

following precautions must be followed:

1. The engine (oil pan) must be sitting as close to level as possible, preferably with the

front of the boat slightly lowered in an in-line boat or raised in a V-drive boat. The goal

is to try to get the bottom of the oil pan at least level or tilted with the front of the pan

slightly lower than the rear.

2. It is critical that the banjo fitting attached to the oil drain on the pan be oriented so it is

level with the bottom of the oil pan or pointing slightly down. If the banjo fitting and

hose is pointing upwards at all, all of the oil will not drain out of the pan.

Note: It might also be helpful to raise the starboard side of the boat in an in-line application or

the port side of the boat in a v-drive application by several inches to make sure that the oil

flows toward the drain hole and not away from it. Driving the trailer onto 4 “ or 6” blocks on

the appropriate side of the trailer will help.

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