Managing an Oil Change



Yakutat Marina

Fisherman's Long Lines, Yakutat

After 22 hours of motoring and arriving in Yakutat in the wee hours of the morning, we slept for about two-hours before undertaking a needed oil change for Got d’ Fever.  Leonard wanted to change the oil while the engines were still warm and wanted me to assist since he was still groggy and blurry-eyed.  

Got d' Fever at Yakutat Marina

To avoid any mistakes or missed steps, I wrote down the procedure and we worked through the process together:  1) first select the correct valve on the pump for the correct engine; 2) pump out the old oil, being careful not to accidently bump the on/off switch; we didn’t need another episode of oil flying everywhere!  

Pumping out the Old Oil

Check the dip-stick to make sure the correct engine has been drained; 

Taking off the old Fuel Filter

3) remove the old oil filter and pre-fill the new oil filter with fresh oil and install; 4) close the correct value on the pump and pour new oil into the engine; 

Pouring in New Oil

5) repeat the process for the second engine; 6) check the dip-sticks and test run both engines; recheck dip-sticks and add oil to engines as needed.  Whew, we made it without any mistakes and finished by attaching the usual note on the fuel filters indicating the engine hours and date.  Next was the task of changing the transmission fluid for each of the engines, a simpler process of using a hand pump to take out the old fluid and then pouring in the new.  

Sunset at Yakutat

Jobs completed, it was back to bed to catch up on some more sleep.