[AT] Oil Vacuum- Common sense solution?

[Mogrits]

My engines do have the oil suction/drain tubes connected to the bottom of
the sumps. Can't tell if they are in place of the plug or an accessory to
them because I cannot get my noggin under there to see. I just got the
engines running on a new (to me) boat with twin mercruiser 351,s. They each
cranked and purred like kittens then a couple hours later I noticed what
looks like about a quart of foul something like oil collected in the bilge.
The nature of thru-hull fittings mean you can never drain a bilge
completely dry because the tube and nut always stand above the hull
surface.inside.

Now, we went all over the engines without finding the source of oil, but
one drain tube was secured high up while the other was lying loose, and I
suspect that's the culprit.

Anyway, the boats on stands in my driveway so I put a 5 gallon bucket below
the drain. I'll suck the remaining oil up with the HF tool and discharge it
straight through the thru-hull into the bucket. Then...I'll do all the
washing and scrubbing. As it is, the amount of oil is minimal, but too much
for a rag to handle.

Once I get everything cleaned out, I'll restart the engines and watch them
running for an oil leak source.

Thanks for all the great help, to all who responded.

Warren

On Mon, May 15, 2017 at 1:11 PM, charlie hill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
wrote:

> Warren,  since it's your bilge you are cleaning,
> dump some laundry detergent on top of the oil and let it soak,
> Dump some water in the bilge and let it sit,
> Use pressure from a water hose or some sort of brush that
> will reach and mix it up.
> Turn on the bilge pump and catch the water/oil that comes out in
> a 5 gallon bucket or two.  Let the buckets sit and then skim the oil
> off the top.  Oil gone, bilge clean.
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mogrits
> Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2017 10:38 PM
> To: rlgoss at twc.com
> Cc: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Oil Vacuum- Common sense solution?
>
> I just realised I was probably only replying individually to responses. I
> apologize for that error.
>
> What prompted my question was a mystery leak of oil into the bilge of a
> boat. It's less than what any of our engines would hold and I'll probably
> try to get it out with the mighty-vac.
>
> I did search amazon etcin the meantime and see a lot of economical
> solutions to do this task. I just thought someone might have a "farmer
> approved" shortcut.
>
> Warren
>
> On Sun, May 14, 2017 at 10:13 PM, Rena Glover Goss <rlgoss at twc.com> wrote:
>
> > Your Mighty-Vac will work, it's just slow.  Professional shops have an
> > electric vacuum pump for doing this job.  The one we had at the shop I
> > worked in had a 1-quart reservoir.  I presume the ones they have for auto
> > shops are larger.  I have one of the hand pumps from Harbor Freight for
> > doing that on lawn mower engines.
> >
> > Larry
> >
> > ---- Mogrits <mogrits at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > This is tractor related: Does anyone have a clever way to suck oil out
> > of a
> > > sump or other confined space where you cannot get to the drain plug?
> > >
> > > I saw a "Liquivac" device on the internet for 60.00, but I already have
> > > a
> > > small "Mighty-Vac" system used for bleeding brakes and was wondering if
> > > I
> > > could make that work.
> > >
> > > Anyone done this or something similar to evacuate oil? Possibly even
> > using
> > > a shop-vac?
> > >
> > > Warren
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > AT mailing list
> > > http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> >
> >
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