Trojan Boat Forum

As I sit here thinking of improvements to do when we get home, there is one more thing I would like to do.....Has anyone out there with the 360/318 aluminum oil pan had the cause to remove the pan plug to drain ,or to install a better way of draining the oil out other than thru the dipstick......is removing the plug easy or ????
Thoughts anyone...Mike

I'm new to boats, and have just started a project. I also have been scheming a way to connect all the oil pans to a single pump, turn on the pump, which would be in a area you could catch the used oil in an appropriate container. Refill the engines and generator the usual way.
If it's easy to do you will do it more often!
I would substitute the drain plugs with a brass fitting and steel or copper line to a pump.
Any reason this can't be done? Maybe it is already.

I place a oil catch container (similar to one you put under your car) under the drain plug and drain the oil into that. While it's draining, I suck the oil out of the container with a suction pump. I have to do it this way because there's no way to get the container out from under the engine without tipping it and oil going everywhere if it were full of oil.

I've seen the brass oil pan plugs with a valve on it where you hook up a tube to suck out the oil but haven't seen one for the Chrysler 318's.

Note, I did use the suction pump to suck the oil out of the dipstick tube, but the tube got stuck and had to loosen the dipstick nut in order to remove it and it was a real pain. So I went back to the drain into container then suck it out of container method.

I just use a vacuum oil extractor through the dipstick and it removes a good amount of old oil. In fact, I find it so much quicker and cleaner than the usual method that I switched to this method for all but one of my cars. BMW's have an element type filter that is accessed at the top of the engine compartment. I suck the oil out through the dipstick, replace the filter while it's draining, and then refill. 5 minute job and I can do it wearing my Sunday best and it's the preferred method.

I have thought about installing a permanent pump on the bulkhead and run some lines. I wouldn't put a valve at the oil pan side because of having to get down there to turn it. I would put a valve on each line at the pump side so I can drain them independently. A half pint or so of oil will be laying in the hose and probably never get dirty. An acceptable loss for convenience I think. But the above method works satisfactory enough.

I have a vacuum pump that pulls it out thru the dipstick,the best of everything used so far, but hot oil makes the plastic vac tank collapse and it is just a long process that would be better if I could get a larger suction tube in the pan.....vabeach where is the drain plug on your 318.....I have never looked for the drains on my 360's , sorry to say, Have put a turkey pan under to get the filters off though....bad design for a boat imo....envy the guys with those nice drain systems....

Barrie wrote:I'm new to boats, and have just started a project. I also have been scheming a way to connect all the oil pans to a single pump, turn on the pump, which would be in a area you could catch the used oil in an appropriate container. Refill the engines and generator the usual way.
If it's easy to do you will do it more often!
I would substitute the drain plugs with a brass fitting and steel or copper line to a pump.
Any reason this can't be done? Maybe it is already.

Your close and yes its been done . You can get a fitting to replace the drain plug and a hose attaches to it and goes to the pump . Now the pump can be on a portable system or can be built in to the boat . The built in system can be hooked up to both engines and the genset . valves are used to control what engine you are pumping out . I have the hoses on mine and using a good ( not cheap ) surflow pump I can pump 14 of diesel oil out in about 2 minutes maybe less with only warming up he engines about 5 minutes '

If you do this use hoses not steel or copper line as the don't flex

Your close and yes its been done . You can get a fitting to replace the drain plug and a hose attaches to it and goes to the pump . Now the pump can be on a portable system or can be built in to the boat . The built in system can be hooked up to both engines and the genset . valves are used to control what engine you are pumping out . I have the hoses on mine and using a good ( not cheap ) surflow pump I can pump 14 of diesel oil out in about 2 minutes maybe less with only warming up he engines about 5 minutes '

If you do this use hoses not steel or copper line as the don't flex[/quote]

I have a complete redo ahead of me and I thought this would be a cool time saver for very little time and cost. I could have guessed I didn't invent something ground breaking, but the rubber lines are a must have
Are there many grease fittings on a boat? you could do a similar thing with a central grease zerk and grease all from one spot. I'm a little lazy

prowlersfish wrote: If you do this use hoses not steel or copper line as the don't flex

Prowlerfish what type of hose did you use for this, is there a special type?

Just use a good oil resistant hose that rate at 250 degrees .Trans cooler hose would be a good choice . Pressure rating is not important

mikeandanne wrote:vabeach where is the drain plug on your 318

I've got a V-drive setup so the engine is facing to stern. The drain plug is at the front of the engine (toward the stern) so it's pretty easy to access for me.

[quote="mikeandanne".... but hot oil makes the plastic vac tank collapse and it is just a long process that would be better if I could get a larger suction tube in the pan.....[/quote]

My tank is hard plastic, I can't imagine it collapsing...

However, I have two possible fixes for you.... 1.) use a larger diameter oil safe rubber hose that will fit on OVER your dipstick tube. Possible problem is the hose collapsing if the oil is real hot.

2.) Go to Ace hardware and find a length of copper or brass tubing that will fit inside of your dipstick tube. The thin walls give you more diameter on the pick up.

The vac pump works just ok, dipstick tube has a bend in it so I can't see me trying the tubing in there......just wanted to know if anyone with a Chrysler 360 has added an oil drain system to their boat and how it went...