Yanmar 4jh3 TE won't take enough engine oil!

[stranded]

Having finally set off long term cruising I am getting to grips with doing my own engine servicing. It has not started well! Toddled off to the chandlery this morning to get oil and an extractor pump (already had new filter) and rolled my sleeves up. Trouble is, the manual says oil capacity is 6.3 litres, and it was at the top dipstick level, but I could not for the life of me get more than five litres out, including what was in the oil filter. Unsurprisingly, I could therefore only get five new litres in. Which I guess means I have around of 1.3 litres of old (not very old - 8 months, 100 hours) polluting the new because I didn't get it all out. Which sounds not great but not disastrous if I renew again reasonably quickly. Or I only have 5 litres of engine oil when I should have 6.3. Which sounds very bad. But so does sticking another 1.3 litres in taking it well over dipstick top line.

Very grateful for any advice - we are currently in La Coruna and our next voyage is along the 'Coast of Death'!

 

[Norman_E]

It is not unusual to fail to empty a marine engine, especially if you have to suck the old oil out via the dipstick tube. If the engine is tilted gearbox down as most are, there will be at least a litre that you cannot get out. My own engine is a JH2DTE and has the same issue and has a 7 litre maximum capacity. I just take the view that oil is much cheaper than an engine rebuild and change the oil more frequently than recommended. At the end of the season I drain the oil without changing the filter, and add new clean oil to well above the add oil mark, then run the engine for long enough to mix the oil so that it is left with reasonably clean oil over winter. I estimate that its 80% clean oil. In the spring I have the engine serviced with all new filters and new oil which means that the oil is then over 95% new clean oil despite the impossibility of completely draining it. It would of course be far better if Yanmar fitted a pipe from the rear of the sump to enable the engine to be fully drained. My method, plus a mid season oil change ensures that the oil never gets very dirty, and certainly nothing like as black as the oil in my diesel car gets before its annual oil change.

 

[stranded]

You are a gent Norman - that sounds like exactly my situation, and I shall adopt your methodology. I might do a couple more changes in quick succession to try to get the clean percentage as high as possible. Do you think there would be advantage doing so at anchor as soon as possible after a bumpy ride has perhaps churned up the slump sludge, or would it settle too quickly to be a worthwhile refinement?

 

[VicS]

It is not unusual to fail to empty a marine engine,

It would of course be far better if Yanmar fitted a pipe from the rear of the sump to enable the engine to be fully drained. .

But surely they do ?? ringed in green

 

[Norman_E]

On my engine the dipstick does not appear to go to the back end of the sump, but somewhere further forward, despite what the drawings in the service manual show, and with the gearbox ouput shaft in line, and not angled down, the whole engine sits at quite an angle. Part of the problem is that the thin tube of the Pela oil extractor will not make the sharp turn to get right to the lowest point. It may be possible to get more out with suction applied to a rubber tube clamped round the outside of the dipstick tube, and I might try that next year. As things stand, without a filter change I can only get less than 5 litres out.
Nooka, I suggest that it may make little difference, but its much easier to get the oil out with my Pela oil extractor if the oil is reasonably hot, though its best to let it cool a little after a hot run.

 

[RichardS]

You are a gent Norman - that sounds like exactly my situation, and I shall adopt your methodology. I might do a couple more changes in quick succession to try to get the clean percentage as high as possible. Do you think there would be advantage doing so at anchor as soon as possible after a bumpy ride has perhaps churned up the slump sludge, or would it settle too quickly to be a worthwhile refinement?

I wouldn't worry ...... unless the engine is very old and has been deprived of oil changes for long periods there will not be any sludge in the sump. If it has been mistreated in its past and sludge has formed then there is no prospect of a bumpy ride affecting it in the slightest. In my experience that stuff, if it's present, has to be dug out with a metal scraper.

Richard

 

[stranded]

Thanks Richard - should be OK then, I hope - never more than 1 year/100 hours between oil changes.

 

[<152587>]

Ships generators are run continuously for months at a time. When they are shut down for oil and filter change after re starting within 10 minutes or so the lube is the same colour as what was pumped out, that is black with a capital B. 5 litres came out, 5 litres went in. You are worrying unnecessarily. Just do your maintenance as per manufacturers recommendations and all will be fine.

 

[Sailfree]

I also drain the remaining oil out using the sump plug. Jeanneau provide a GRP enclosure in its hull shape to catch the further litre. Mop it up with cloths tissues etc.

 

[Jonesey]

I had a 75HP 4JHE-TE on my Beneteau 473 and had exactly the same experience.

Don't worry about it, my engine had nearly 7000 hrs on it and ran like a dream....

 

[stranded]

You are worrying unnecessarily.

It's what I do! Though it only becomes unnecessary once you know the answers.

Thanks all for the responses - I am greatly reassured.

Off to find something new to worry about!

 

[Norman_E]

I also drain the remaining oil out using the sump plug. Jeanneau provide a GRP enclosure in its hull shape to catch the further litre. Mop it up with cloths tissues etc.

I have never managed to get at mine, but I will try next time.