Carver Owners Forum

Not Carver specific, but my 355 w/ 454's is due for an oil change. What type of oil extractor do you recommend? Is there an advantage to a manual vs automatic pump? What do you use? Thank you for any advice.

The best setup is a permanently installed oil change system however there is some money and time to install involved. Installed one on my previous boat however the Carver did come with one which is almost a necessity when you need to remove around 12 1/2 gallons.

https://citimarinestore.com/citiguide/r ... d-to-know/

That being said and oil extractor does work well enough. I have never had an issue with the Pela brand so I would recommend those. Being you have twin engines you want a large capacity one or you will need to empty it after you do 1 engine.

https://ca.binnacle.com/Oil-Extractors- ... _info.html

The Reverso systems are great but pricey. Personally I prefer the 12 Volt pumps mounted on 5 gal pails over the manual vacuum style extractor...
https://www.xylem.com/en-us/brands/jabsco/jabsco-products/17850-series-diy-oil-change-system/
They're a little pricier but I find the electric ones way faster than the manual ones and when you do oil changes all day every day for weeks, that's important. I tried a manual one for about a day and gave up on it, too slow. Try to get an electric one with a 5 gallon pail or just remove the one in the kit and replace it with any 5 gallon pail, just remove the lid and put it on a bigger pail. Hook it up to your on-board batteries. Works to extract and refill. For larger engines, put the lid on a pail of fresh oil and reverse the flow to fill the engines.

I have 454s in my 405. Start up and just warm the engine some makes it makes oil evac way easier. I just use a manual mitivac 7400 oil extractor takes no time at all. and empty between engines into a 5 gallon pail. Changing the oil once a year I don't think the price and effort to install a permanent setup is worth it for me. I've used my pump at home for things on occasion also.

Also first thing I did before my first use was measure out invidual quarts of water and pour in it and i drew a line on the outside my extractor for each quart , 1-6 quarts so I know how much oil I have pulled out of the engine.

For my twin 454's I use a small hand plunger transfer pump,
https://www.harborfreight.com/multi-use ... 63144.html
Its suction tube is 3/8" ID, fits right over the dipstick tube, and pumps into a 5-gal. bucket or other container. Takes 5 minutes per engine, stores in a tiny space. Pumps like a charm!
For $6.99, what's not to like!

I had a manual pump at first (the vacuum type) but that got old quick. I adapted it to use a 120VAC vacuum pump and that was better, but the pump was pretty strong so that when the oil was hot the plastic container would get soft enough that the vacuum pump would start to collapse it.

Ended up with a stand-alone 12V pump with clips to go to the battery, and just used old oil 1 gallon (or 5 quart) containers for the old oil. That's worked or many years now.

I do like the reverso systems. If I had two engines and a generator I'd probably invest in one of those, or just create one like it from components. You could drain and refill all three in no time at all and virtually no mess.

I have used a Pela for years.....big enough to hold all the oil from two engines, you can take it home and do the lawn mower, blower, your car, you name it. Just fine for the once a year job.....no hurry there.

Heh a question........Consider a 15w45 oil ......what temp would the oil pump easier, hot or cold ?

Love the Reverso unit that came with the boat. A real blessing . I still have my manual vacuum pump, just in case. Once a year thing for me so I can see Viper getting fed up real fast. If it just for your use, A good vacuum system would do the trick. 12v system would be a step-up for sure!
This is the one I still have....
https://a.co/d/j9bnMUD

My lessons:
a stand-alone 12v pump (cheap, clamps on the battery) make sure it can handle motoroil (for some reason transmission oil killed the first one I got) not too strong, not too weak.

good hoses. It should go over the pipe, not in it.

big container to hold the old oil. The first time I bought a 20 litres oil cannister (I have 2 x 9,5 litres to change) and since then I know it will fit, has a handle and good caps (filling and air for emptying) I made a small clamp from wire to keep the hose in the cannister, big mess if it flips out.

a funnel that fits snugly to the filling hole, handling so much oil in a heavy cannister and wobbly small funnel is not a good plan.

I tried a manual pump but it was a mess. Container too small so had to empty it - and remove the hoses and mount them again; messy stuff.

plastic former-cat-litter box that happens to fit under the engines plus kitchen towel was the final touch to a clean and stressless oil-change.

nevertheless: next boat: fixed apparel to do this stuff, diesel filter changes and winterization.