Posted by Hinrich on September 01, 2003 at 19:13:49:
After a lengthy repair I recently changed the oil on my 1969 Atomic 4 using the "suck it out through the dipstick hole" method. I have never managed to get out all the oil that way, leaving at leasst a quart of dirty oil behind. This time, after I began to suck up air through the dipstick opening, just out of idle curiosity, I fed the oil changer's suction pipe down the oil filler opening (the one above the flywheel). I was pleasantly surprised to get another one and a third quart of oil out that way! Judging from the new oil being still absolutely clean like new after a few short runs of the engine, I guess that I managed removed nearly all the oil, especially as the old oil coming out was a whitish cream due to water having backed up into the engine because of a rusted-through water jacket muffler, which I have now replaced with a waterlift type.
I wonder whether this trick will work in general, or whether it is just working in my boat, a 1969 Ericson 30, due to the particular angle that the engine is installed at. Did anyone ever try to get the oil out through the filler?
Hinrich