Boat work weekend - Part 2

(changing your engine oil with a smile)

            I’ve never really hated anyone. Sure some people are annoying, some people are frustrating and some people just seem to delight at the thought of having a perfect stranger to punch them in the face. But after this weekend, I actually do have a little hate in my heart. This emotion is targeted toward the manufacturers of a certain diesel engine. My diesel engine. That’s right. I’m calling you out Mr. engine designer of the Universal Atomic 4; Model number 5416. I want you to get up and step outside. We have a few thing to discuss, and by discuss I mean, I’m going to knock you into next week. You deserve it after all. Please permit me to express my grievance prior to your pummeling

            Mr. Designer, how do you design an engine that is so utterly impossible to access and service by anyone with a skeleton? Why would you put on oil dipstick so close to a starter motor, which said starter, needs to be virtually removed just to check the oil level?  Why would you mount your oil filter directly behind and slightly underneath you own engine mounts, so that when the filter is removed (if it can be removed from such an extreme placement) there will undoubtedly be oil falling into the bilge? 

Somewhere down there is a dipstick. You can't see it. You may feel it. Taking off the alternator is the only way to pull it!

    

            ........In this instance, I find myself to be at a loss of witty and playful literary banter. Mainly because I don’t have much to say beyond what you could have already surmised were the results of the oil and filter changes, but also in light of the fact that I will have to repeat this process twice a year for a few years to come.  I was able to remove the oil, but not change the oil filter, nor the secondary fuel filter.  Thankfully, I added extra oil absorbent pads that trapped and absorbed any oil before it settled in the bilge.   It was impossible to get the engine filters off with the tools I had due to their placement and my lack of clearance. It will have to wait for the coming weekend.

          Well, that’s two half jobs completed. The oil was removed and the primary fuel filter was changed. I can’t really add any new oil, as the old filter is still on. This part is not really deserving of a congratulations. More like a “good effort.”  Want to know how to change your engine oil with a smile? Don’t change mine :-)