Oil Change Question

[C_M_25]

Money's a little tight this year so I'm changing my own oil on the boat for the first time. The manual says the recommended lube is 10W-30, but the Yamaha website sells changing kits (oil, filter, and plug gasket) with 20W40. My motor is an F90 Yamaha, btw. Is the 20W40 sufficient?

Also, any gotcha's I need to know about? Everything seems pretty straight-forward...

Thanks in advance!

[COTTS4x4]

A little trick is to put a ziploc around the oil filter, tip the motor all the way up then unscrew it and you wont drip a drop of oil out of it.

I have 5W30 oil in mine.

[Bamaman]

20W40 will work fine.

I change my own oil using Mobil 1 EP 10W30. I went on Fram.com and figured out Yamaha's F150 oil filter is the same as that used on a Ford Focus 2.0 liter automobile.

[ralph]

I am using Yamalube 5W-30 full synthetic on my 2015 F90

Also I use the oil filter drain funnel made to drain the oil from filters sold by Sim Yamaha (about $16.00). See the following page.

http://www.simyamaha.com/category_s/2099.htm

[joe20toon]

I am using Yamalube 5W-30 full synthetic on my 2015 F90

...

I'm also using this synthetic oil on my VF115 ...

[Seon]

In addition to changing motor oil, be sure you change the lower unit's oil every one hundred hours.

[justrfb]

Hello.
I change both, every season. Regardless of hours...

Sincerely,
Rich

[teecro]

Money's a little tight this year so I'm changing my own oil on the boat for the first time. The manual says the recommended lube is 10W-30, but the Yamaha website sells changing kits (oil, filter, and plug gasket) with 20W40. My motor is an F90 Yamaha, btw. Is the 20W40 sufficient?

If you use your engine more in really hot summer months than cooler weather the 20W40 will serve to provide slightly higher oil pressure than 10W30 once up to oper temp.

Both will serve you well and neither one is a bad oil weight at all

[C_M_25]

Alright! Got the job done! There was only one gotcha which you all warmed me about and one irritant. The irritant was the amount of oil it takes. 3.7 liters vs 3.9 quarts when the bottles have 964 liters and the label is in ounces. Nothing a little math couldn't help with, but why can't they make liter bottles?

The gotcha was that dang oil filter. That thing was on there TIGHT. Had to use my filter wrench to get it off. I tried to catch the oil out of that thing, but I made a heck of a mess. Took a while to get it cleaned up. I hand tightened that filter as tight as I could get it when I was done. I figure it is similar to the truck. Get it hand tight and all is good. Haven't had a problem with that philosphy. I also torqued the drain plug, but it didn't seem like it took much torque. 20 ft-lbs...which was a lot more than it took to get off. ...the dealer did it last so they probably wrenched that thing on. Thanks for the tips everyone!

[ralph]

Great job C M. Welcome to the club on the oil filter. I stuffed a bunch of rags below the filter which worked ok I guess but it is still messy. That is why I suggested buying that trough in my previous message.

I don't pull the drain plug. I bought a manual pump, a kind of siphon that works fantastic. It has a tank that the oil drains into. No mess. In fact, the first oil change I did at the dock.

[C_M_25]

Hehe, I guess I made a bigger mess than I thought. I thought I cleaned it all up, but after 3 hours of sitting, I noticed old oil still dripping down the motor. I wouldn't be surprised to see a few days of this....

[teecro]

I hand tightened that filter as tight as I could get it when I was done. I figure it is similar to the truck. Get it hand tight and all is good...

Most filters have a little pictograph for how much to tighten them up, generally 3/4 to 1 full turn after the pre-oiled o-ring makes contact with the sealing surface. Too much and you will catch hell getting it off the next go round....

[Horsepen]

I have a question regarding those oil filters. On my Suzuki, the filter sits vertically, but inverted, I.e., the threaded end is down. While my first oil change was done by my dealer, I plan on doing subsequent changes. In order to lessen the spillage as most posters on this thread have mentioned, I'm wondering. The filter holds oil because, I assume, there is an internal vacume on it. What if I were to use something like a small punch to put a small hole in the top of the filter to relieve the vacume and allow the oil inside to drain down into the oil pan. If this works, I would punch the hole, get a cup of coffee while it drains, thus no great oil spillage? What do you all think???

[teecro]

I have a question regarding those oil filters. On my Suzuki, the filter sits vertically, but inverted, I.e., the threaded end is down. While my first oil change was done by my dealer, I plan on doing subsequent changes. In order to lessen the spillage as most posters on this thread have mentioned, I'm wondering. The filter holds oil because, I assume, there is an internal vacume on it. What if I were to use something like a small punch to put a small hole in the top of the filter to relieve the vacume and allow the oil inside to drain down into the oil pan. If this works, I would punch the hole, get a cup of coffee while it drains, thus no great oil spillage? What do you all think???

That is surely worth a try! Some filters have an anti-drain back check valve in them so it is hard to know until you try...