VP MD 11c dipstick tool

[SAWDOC]

Hi folks

Could anyone assist with a photo/sketch or spec for the tool used to remove the base surrounding this dipstick? It is an obsolete part. I have tried adjustable spanners and bullnose pliers but it has refused to budge so far.
As a result, changing oil is a very slow process through the smaller dipstick ope.

Thanks

 

[scottie]

Hacksaw and cut 2 flats make sure you have enough metal though!
Essential you tighten up properly after refitting as I not you loose all oil presure

 

[pvb]

Could anyone assist with a photo/sketch or spec for the tool used to remove the base surrounding this dipstick? It is an obsolete part.

I don't think it is obsolete, it's a VP special tool, part number 884714, it's about £60, and it looks like this...

However, I don't think it's a good idea to remove the strainer to change the oil. It's supposed to be fitted with sealant and torqued to 70Nm. If the engine is run up to normal temperature, you should easily be able to suck the oil out through the dipstick tube.

 

[scottie]

Not a bad idea to remove crankcase door and clean the residual muck out every ten years or so!

 

[[448]]

A couple of points.
If you do remove it, you stand a good chance of having no oil pressure when you restart (been there).
If you must remove it it wouldn't be difficult to make a tool using an old brake pad backing plate drilled and fitted with 4 x 6mm bolts to fit the holes.
Takes me about 5 minutes to drain the oil (hot) through the dipstick hole.
Dave

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I always drain the oil from the dipstick hole when engine is hot; it takes less than 5 minutes.

 

[SAWDOC]

Draining the oil through the dipstick hole is not a problem - how to fill the oil again is my concern - I used a small funnel onto the dipstick hole but it took forever.I am assuming perhaps incorrectly in light of the posts above that removal of the strainer would assist pouring oil back in?

 

[SAWDOC]

I don't think it is obsolete, it's a VP special tool, part number 884714, it's about £60, and it looks like this...

However, I don't think it's a good idea to remove the strainer to change the oil. It's supposed to be fitted with sealant and torqued to 70Nm. If the engine is run up to normal temperature, you should easily be able to suck the oil out through the dipstick tube.

Thanks - very useful.

 

[lydiamight]

Don't try to refill the oil through the dip stick hole. Look at the top of the two rocker covers. One should have a large bolt like plug in it with a hex socket built into it. Insert appropriate sized hex key, unscrew and Voila, pour oil into engine through large hole.

 

[pvb]

Don't try to refill the oil through the dip stick hole. Look at the top of the two rocker covers. One should have a large bolt like plug in it with a hex socket built into it. Insert appropriate sized hex key, unscrew and Voila, pour oil into engine through large hole.

It's even easier to use the proper oil filler cap on the MD11C. No tools required!

Who says advice on this forum is worthless??

 

[VicS]

It's even easier to use the proper oil filler cap on the MD11C. No tools required!

Depending on installation it may not be accessible as the coarse strainer/dipstick
If it is pour slowly otherwise it air locks and oil goes everywhere

Later coarse strainers have a big square top that you can get a spanner on.

Who says advice on this forum is worthless??

Not worth the roll and half of kitchen paper roll it took to clean up the mess!

Seriously the owner always filled via the coarse strainer but muggings here one day decides to top it via the "proper filler" . Did not do it again . Back to the coarse strainer and a funnel

 

[pvb]

Depending on installation it may not be accessible as the coarse strainer/dipstick
If it is pour slowly otherwise it air locks and oil goes everywhere

It's right at the front of the engine, so accessibility shouldn't be a problem (item 16 in pic). OK, maybe you have to add oil slowly, but it's a gaping big hole.

 

[VicS]

It's right at the front of the engine, so accessibility shouldn't be a problem (item 16 in pic). OK, maybe you have to add oil slowly, but it's a gaping big hole.

Ah ... you have untypical installation then!

In most cases thats the back.


Different type of dipstick there as well. The one in question is part of the coarse strainer assembly low down on the side.

Our alternator was the other sideof the en gine too

 

[pvb]

Ah ... you have untypical installation then!

In most cases thats the back.


Different type of dipstick there as well.

That pic is from the MD11C/D workshop manual, it's actually a pic of the MD11D, so has the dipstick in a different place.

 

[VicS]

That pic is from the MD11C/D workshop manual, it's actually a pic of the MD11D, so has the dipstick in a different place.

That expalins why the dipstick is different and I guess the alternator position.

It does not alter the fact the the oil filler is at the back, just as it is with the MD11C. 9It feeds into the back of the starting handle gear housing.
I think the only exception would be if the engine was mounted back to front with a V drive gear box, and i dont know if a V drive was an option for an MD11C

From the OPs point of view the oil filler at the back can be used , with care, as the oil filling point. It may not be as easily accessible as the coarse strainer but it will sure beat filling through the dipstick hole with a tiny funnel.

However I am not so sure that pumping the oil out via the dipstick hole will get it all out! We always pumped most out after removing the strainer but we always drained the last out via the sump drain plug.

 

[SAWDOC]

Thanks for excellent postings - I went sailing today, most enjoyable and forgot all about oil and filler caps . But thanks to this forum, I am now much better informed than I was and will look at both the rocker cover option and the as yet unseen oil filler cap lurking at the back of my engine compartment

 

[Quandary]

Oil filling.

I think if I had your engine I would construct an oil filler to work through the dipstick hole. Like a Pela in reverse. I would use a plastic container large enough to hold the required amount of oil and mark the level for the correct amount on it. I would bore two holes in the cap, one to take a tube small enough to go through the dipstick hole the other the size to take the tube from a cheap 5 litre hand pumped garden sprayer, (about a tenner in B&Q) the first tube would go to the bottom of the container the second would just reach through the top. Seal the tubes in the holes with 291 or similar. Put the required quantity of oil in the container connect up then pump up the air pressure in the sprayer. You need a reasonable volume of air to compress to give pressure thats why the separate (clean and empty) sprayer tank helps. Bingo!!!
I would be surprised if there is not a proprietary version available or should I run down to the patent office.
If you want to save time you could warm the oil in a bucket of hot water first or just leave it out in the strong West Coast sunshine. Keep the oil container just for this purpose so you will not need to wash it out and you can forget about the inaccessible filler cap.

 

[VicS]

I think if I had your engine I would construct an oil filler to work through the dipstick hole. Like a Pela in reverse. I would use a plastic container large enough to hold the required amount of oil and mark the level for the correct amount on it. I would bore two holes in the cap, one to take a tube small enough to go through the dipstick hole the other the size to take the tube from a cheap 5 litre hand pumped garden sprayer, (about a tenner in B&Q) the first tube would go to the bottom of the container the second would just reach through the top. Seal the tubes in the holes with 291 or similar. Put the required quantity of oil in the container connect up then pump up the air pressure in the sprayer. You need a reasonable volume of air to compress to give pressure thats why the separate (clean and empty) sprayer tank helps. Bingo!!!
I would be surprised if there is not a proprietary version available or should I run down to the patent office.
If you want to save time you could warm the oil in a bucket of hot water first or just leave it out in the strong West Coast sunshine. Keep the oil container just for this purpose so you will not need to wash it out and you can forget about the inaccessible filler cap.

Unless it really is impossible access the proper oil filler will be a lot easier!

Don't just measure the correct volume and pump/pour it in.
If the old oil has been extracted via the dipstick fitting there is a good chance that a significant quantity of will remain because the coarse strainer will prevent the suction tube reaching to the very bottom of the sump.
The result will be overfilling!

 

[SAWDOC]

I think if I had your engine I would construct an oil filler to work through the dipstick hole. Like a Pela in reverse. I would use a plastic container large enough to hold the required amount of oil and mark the level for the correct amount on it. I would bore two holes in the cap, one to take a tube small enough to go through the dipstick hole the other the size to take the tube from a cheap 5 litre hand pumped garden sprayer, (about a tenner in B&Q) the first tube would go to the bottom of the container the second would just reach through the top. Seal the tubes in the holes with 291 or similar. Put the required quantity of oil in the container connect up then pump up the air pressure in the sprayer. You need a reasonable volume of air to compress to give pressure thats why the separate (clean and empty) sprayer tank helps. Bingo!!!
I would be surprised if there is not a proprietary version available or should I run down to the patent office.
If you want to save time you could warm the oil in a bucket of hot water first or just leave it out in the strong West Coast sunshine. Keep the oil container just for this purpose so you will not need to wash it out and you can forget about the inaccessible filler cap.

Quandary

Thanks I need to spend some time on the boat to weigh up the various options presented above. I like your suggestion - it will certainly be useful for the oil fill for the saildrive which has to go through the dipstick ope so it seems a good idea to develop.
Being honest, the all round access to the engine is a right pain which means in my case I am not as vigilant as I formerly was with my old boat in engine checks -so the rocker cover option or the reverse pela option are attractive to me, both being feasible from the cabin. Access to the rear of the engine requires emptying the starboard cockpit locker and varoius advanced gymnastic techniques thereafter which I find difficult to perform....
Is there a danger with the rocker cover ope removal and replacement that one has subsequent problems with oil pressure as described above in relation to the strainer?

VIC,

Thanks for the heads up on the strainer preventing compete removal of old oil -I thought my pela tube went a good ways down into the sump but again I need a return visit to the boat to measure accurately.

By the way, after 4 months of ownership the VP MD11C seems a very sound workhorse of an engine - keeps motoring away no fuss no bother whatever the weather. Mine is a 79 vintage, reconditioned about 10 years ago.

 

[aquaplane]

I must be doing something wrong, I change the oil on our MD11C without problems. It comes out of the dip stick hole with a little brass pump (warm) easily. I don't remember any problems getting the new oil in via the filler. It only takes about 5 pints so even if it is slow it doesn't take long. I have access to the front via the companionway steps and the back via a hatch in the cockpit floor.