When to service.

[Leemc]

Our Beta 43 engine is slightly overdue it's 250 hour service. Would you do the service now before end of cruising season( mooring up and not going anywhere til next year) or wait until next March before we head off again? Cheers in advance

[matty40s]

2 minutes ago, Leemc said:

Our Beta 43 engine is slightly overdue it's 250 hour service. Would you do the service now before end of cruising season( mooring up and not going anywhere til next year) or wait until next March before we head off again? Cheers in advance

Before Winter. Fresh clean oil in engine and clean fuel filters, any water or gunge in the CAV or spin on will have 5 months to get worse and spread through fuel pipes.

A lot of boats had problems after the Covid break as the filters had completely clogged up.

[cuthound]

Service it now if you are going to lay the boat up until.March. Used oil is slightly acidic, whereas new oil isn't.

[Alan de Enfield]

Do it now - If you are 'shutting down for |Winter' you should always do an oil change even if you only have (say) 10 hours snce the last oil change.

Dirty, used oil contains acid and carbon which can attack your internal metal parts.

[Leemc]

Brilliant. Consider it done. Thanks all

[Tony Brooks]

If the boat is a couple of years old or more then add trying to suck any muck from the bottom of the fuel tank to the service tasks.

[Leemc]

13 years old. Never done this before, is this done with a simple syphon, like cleaning out a fish tank? Hopefully without a mouthful of diesel🤢

[LadyG]

17 minutes ago, Leemc said:

13 years old. Never done this before, is this done with a simple syphon, like cleaning out a fish tank? Hopefully without a mouthful of diesel🤢

There are plastic syphon pumps, not tried that, I've used a Pela (oil) pump and also a 12 v fuel pump. I think the latter don't cope well with crud. 

You might need to have a rigid stick to tape to a plastic pipe. Or maybe you have a drain tap in tank?

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by LadyG

[Tony Brooks]

13 minutes ago, Leemc said:

13 years old. Never done this before, is this done with a simple syphon, like cleaning out a fish tank? Hopefully without a mouthful of diesel🤢

 

Yes, or an  oil extractor. Some use an electric oil drain pump, but mine could not cope with bits of grit/rust. After that I just used a syphon. Clear plastic hose with a length of bent copper tube in the tank end so you can fish around the back and sides of the tank. I syphon into empty milk "cartons" so you can see what you have sucked out and when it has settledd the water out.

[Leemc]

Cheers. Will look forward to having a try at this!

[Jon57]

48 minutes ago, LadyG said:

There are plastic syphon pumps, not tried that, I've used a Pela (oil) pump and also a 12 v fuel pump. I think the latter don't cope well with crud. 

You might need to have a rigid stick to tape to a plastic pipe. Or maybe you have a drain tap in tank?

 

I’ve used in the past an old wet and dry vacuum with a piece of plastic plumbing pipe taped on the hose worked a treat.

[Tracy D'arth]

8 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

I’ve used in the past an old wet and dry vacuum with a piece of plastic plumbing pipe taped on the hose worked a treat.

I always use an old wet vac, carefully, to draw the bottom of fuel tanks. Not blown myself up yet! Just pull a litre or so out at a time, don't fill the vac.

[churchward]

2 hours ago, Leemc said:

Our Beta 43 engine is slightly overdue it's 250 hour service. Would you do the service now before end of cruising season( mooring up and not going anywhere til next year) or wait until next March before we head off again? Cheers in advance

Now.

 

It is far better for the engine to be bathed in fresh oil than sat in oil past its service time that has pollutants/acids from the running of the engine and combustion.