What is a reasonable schedule for diesel filters and oil changes? I think 50 hours is a bit too frequent. I have diesel vehicles with hundreds of thousands of combined miles that don't require this level of work.
Over maintaining
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My original Yanmar service manual calls for oil change at the first 50 hours and then every 100 hours after that.. calls for filter change at 300 hours.. I generally change oil and filter once a year at the start of spring or 100 hours, whichever comes first..Probably OK unless you have a turbocharger.. usually I don't put 100 hours on in a year.. but sometimes do.. Remember that vehicles have the oil cooled by the pan hanging out in the breeze.. on a boat, the oil temp can get much higher and tends to break down the oil more if you do long sustained runs..
On our 1990 H-33.5 with a Yanmar 2GM20F Diesel engine, I change the Oil & Oil filter after 100 hrs. or every year, so that the old oil (and its acids) don't sit in there over the winter storage period. Since I only average about 50 Eng. Hrs. most years, I change Oil & Filer every late fall. For the fuel filters I now change them about every 2 years (I probably could go 3 years). I general I feel it's it's worth doing it at those frequencies.
I do what some of the other poster do..... I change my oil and filter in the fall. I usually put about 125 hours on the Volvo auxiliary and about 150 hours on my Westerbeke genset. I change my primary diesel filters every other year and my secondary diesel filter mounted on each engine every four years.
Oil changes
I put quite a few hours a year on my Yanmar, and change at 100 hours max. My personal belief is that the filter should be changed with every oil change, regardless of what Yanmar recommeds. If you do not put many hours on your engine, I would change oil at least once a year, maybe twice. Oil is cheap, and an engine that doesn't get run much or often will build up more moisture and acids than one which is run more often.
I put quite a few hours a year on my Yanmar, and change at 100 hours max. My personal belief is that the filter should be changed with every oil change, regardless of what Yanmar recommeds. If you do not put many hours on your engine, I would change oil at least once a year, maybe twice. Oil is cheap, and an engine that doesn't get run much or often will build up more moisture and acids than one which is run more often.
We use our boat once a week and put over 120 hours a year on the engine. I change the filters once a year or 100-150 hours, and keep very good track of all engine maintenance in a simple spreadsheet form that I made that I fill out by hand at every bit of work I do on the engine. I only do the secondary engine mounted fuel filter every two or three primary Racor fuel filter changes. M25 engine with a newer 3 inch HX. I agree, oil and fuel is cheap, engines ain't.
Thanks and I would agree with an annual oil change, I need to check the Yanmar manual again I am probably mistaken and 100 hours seems more likely after the break in. I can do 100 hours easy in a season, I run the engine just to burn the fuel off some times. I am worried more about the fuel system, 60 gallons at .6 gallons per hour can take a long time to burn off.
Personally I think recreational oil changes on most vehicles occurs far to often. I change oil once a year on my diesel truck, thats about 5-6k miles. SAE did study that found no difference in wear between a 3k and a 6k oil change and a truck with a turbo charger has more temperature issues than my boat does. One has to remember the people that promote a 3k oil change also are the ones motivated by more oil changes.
Personally I think recreational oil changes on most vehicles occurs far to often. I change oil once a year on my diesel truck, thats about 5-6k miles. SAE did study that found no difference in wear between a 3k and a 6k oil change and a truck with a turbo charger has more temperature issues than my boat does. One has to remember the people that promote a 3k oil change also are the ones motivated by more oil changes.
Bit of a sidebar on vehicles - sure, the modern oils last longer, especially synthetics, but one of the main arguments for frequent oil changes is simply the "dirt" - dust and combustion by-products that find their way into the oil. That won the argument for me - frequent oil changes with a good-quality oil is preferable to longer intervals with a more expensive synthetic.
Back to our boats - everything I've read or heard suggests that the fall oil and filter change is ideal for most boats.
For those of you who can boat all year, you'll just have to invite us down for 2 weeks next winter so I can give you my opinion in person.
Back to our boats - everything I've read or heard suggests that the fall oil and filter change is ideal for most boats.
For those of you who can boat all year, you'll just have to invite us down for 2 weeks next winter so I can give you my opinion in person.
And you seldom can go wrong erring on the side of caution. This applies to every system on the boat.
I have been very good at 50 hours for the oil, 100 hours for the fuel filter, 150 hours raw water impeller (give or take), Transmission fluid every 50 hours as well (it is easy to suck it up at the oil change when I change oil).
An oil change is a cheap thing to do yourself. The fuel filter is about $30 also. $60 is a cheap peace of mind.
I keep a log of maintenance and engine hours and it works for me.
An oil change is a cheap thing to do yourself. The fuel filter is about $30 also. $60 is a cheap peace of mind.
I keep a log of maintenance and engine hours and it works for me.
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