Atomic4 oil change

Stu Jackson · Sep 22, 2009

go to www.moyermarine.com for everything you need to know about your engine

Tim R. · Sep 22, 2009

Go to www.ericsonyachts.org for everything you need to know about your boat.

Paul356 · Sep 22, 2009

I had an Atomic 4 for 20 years. The only reliable method of changing oil I found was sucking it out of the dipstick hole with a hand pump. Run the engine first, if possible, to warm the oil, because the dipstick hole is narrow and stiff oil will be very hard to pump.

Another method was to remove the gearbox cover and suck it out there. Bigger opening, quicker oil removal, but requires a new gasket and I decided after trying it a couple of times that it probably was not worth the fuss, especially if I could warm the oil before pumping.

A couple people I knew welded a stub pipe to the gear box cover, drilled a hole through the cover inside the pipe, used that to insert the oil pumpout hose. They capped the pipe with an end fitting when not pumping. They said it worked well, but I never quite had the nerve to drill a hole in my engine.

There may be variations. My A4 was a older, very basic, raw water model with no heat exchanger. Some later models seemed to have more features, which may have included a better oil drain system.

--paul

shemandr · Sep 22, 2009

I had an atomic 4 and changed the oil with one of those suction pumps - the upright one by Perko, I think. I used to put it down the oil fill and snake it down to the drip pan. Easy pump out and I could do it without spilling a drop. Have some rags handy and hold the tube high up to drain and cover after. The pump worked great and I could even move the tip around in the crankcase and suck out almost all of the oil.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|311|296536|314179&id=1294184

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|311|296536|314179&id=1294184

higgs · Sep 22, 2009

I have found the Pela 650 to work very well with no mess. Drop the hose down the dip stick hole, pump a few times and walk away.

http://www.pelaproducts.com/

CalebD · Sep 22, 2009

Ditto: moyermarine.com
Ditto: running engine for 5 - 10 minutes to warm up the oil
With this pump: http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|311|296536|314179&id=220125
it will suck the oil out even if it is cold (at some expense to your batteries).
Clean as can be. I use my car battery (while running the engine) to decant the oil into containers to recycle at a local garage.
Get a little bit of a motor head on at: http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/index.php
Old engines are simple and can run for years. Ours is 42 years old - knock wood.

Ron20324 · Sep 25, 2009

Atomic 4 manual

Valentina11935 said:
Just bought a boat (Ericson27) with Atomic 4 gas engine in it. I'm not familiar with the engine at all. Are there any tricks to changing oil on it without making a big mess in a bilge? Is there a way to change (or pump) oil without running the engine??? Any thought/advice is appreciated! Mac

I was just at Baconsails.com in Annapolis, and they have "Universal Atomic4 Service and Overhaul" manual for 12 bucks. It's by MMI (Morris, I think?), 1998, with pages for notes and the plastic cover.

RichH · Sep 25, 2009

Sucking the oil out through the dipstick is OK but doesnt remove all the old oil.

Unless you open the transmission cover and suck the oil also from the trans., you will only remove about 4 quarts (out of a total of ~6) quarts of oil in the engine when 'sucking by the dipstick' method. Your amount of sucked out oil will vary depending on the 'installation angle' of the engine. If you suck your oil from the dipstick tube, then you should change your oil 1/3 of the time interval - sooner to compensate for the old oil still in the engine that mixes with the 'new' oil. eg.: 100 hrs X 4/6 = 67 hours.

Yes, also opening the transmission cover plate is a royal PITA but its the ONLY way to get ALL the oil out of an A4 .... the engine oil also lubricates the 'transmission'.

higgs · Sep 25, 2009

Don Moyer, the guru of A4s does not subscribe to RichH's methods. I think you will be fine removing oil through the dipstick tube. My recollection is that the A4 never has 6 qts and will run, depending on installation angle, on as little as 3 qts. Go to the Moyer marine site for the best info.

RichH · Sep 25, 2009

Unless Don Moyer has changed .... I was paraphrasing my direct conversations with Don from about 8 years ago.