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Badsanta · 11-09-2013, 09:00

My Yanmar 3gm30f runs great. It only has 1500 hours.
The only thing that I dont like is it only holds 2.7quarts of oil. I dont use it alot and change oil spring and fall and it looks nasty 10 min after an oil change. I am planing some major motoring next year doing the loop.

What I want to do is add an oil bypass filtration system. To me it would add 2 quarts of oil to the system and keep it cleaner.
Other than the cost do you see a problem with this. Many thanks

Cheechako · 11-09-2013, 09:19

Hmmm... one thing I remember about my 3GM30's was how the oil stayed visibly cleaner longer than my Perkins etc.... I think mine took more oil than that too... maybe you're not including the filter capacity?
Anyway, It's a good idea if that's your situation. Not sure how to do it though... and I would be thinking of pulling the rocker cover to see if the engine is really gummed up... as the reason why the oil's turning black fast....

**roverhi** · 11-09-2013, 09:25

Diesels blacken their oil real quick. Doesn't effect the viability of the oil. My Mercedes diesels oil turns black almost immediately after an oil change as did the Volvo in my old boat. Wouldn't worry about it. The oil capacity seems a bit shy but don't remember how much oil I used for the last change.

Oil degrades from chemical decompisition/addition. The reason that it's reccomended to change the oil regularly irregardless of the running time.

Sailmonkey · 11-09-2013, 09:31

I'm following the Kubota change interval. Our engine (the equivalent of the 3gm30) holds almost a gallon and the oil gets changed at 250 hours. The oil turns black almost immediately. If your following the manufacturers change interval I see no reason to add extra filtration and capacity. If you would like to extend the change interval I can see the extra capacity being useful, but the added filtration adds unneeded complexity to a small simple engine.

**Jim Cate** · 11-09-2013, 09:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

I'm following the Kubota change interval. Our engine (the equivalent of the 3gm30) holds almost a gallon and the oil gets changed at 250 hours. The oil turns black almost immediately. If your following the manufacturers change interval I see no reason to add extra filtration and capacity. If you would like to extend the change interval I can see the extra capacity being useful, but the added filtration adds unneeded complexity to a small simple engine.

Interesting...

Our Kubota based Nanni (43 hp, 2 litre displacement) holds 9 litres of oil and recommends 200 hour changes. I think that this philosophy of lots of oil is one of the differences between Yanmars and tractor-based engines. These engines are designed to survive abuse by farmers (ok, not ALL farmers abuse their machinery, but a few of my acquaintance do!) and still last a long time. This bodes well for their life at sea, being coddled by sailors who treat them with kid gloves!

Now, if only the good engineers at ZF had the same ideas... our ZF10 tranny only holds 350 mL of ATF!

Cheers,

Jim

brutb · 11-09-2013, 10:31

Remember oil not only lubricates but. also transfers heat. That is one reason diesel engines normally have larger oil capacities than a gas engine.

Badsanta · 11-09-2013, 11:02

Yes. My last was a mercedies 636 that held 26 qts.
Yes the yanmar holds 2.7 qts with a filter change.

**sailorchic34** · 11-09-2013, 13:36

The yanmar 3gm30F will when dry hold about 3 quarts of oil. I had about 1/2 a quart of oil in the oil pan when I pulled it after I pulled the engine oil this last July. Its only a dinky liter engine and really 2.5-3 quarts is all it really needs.

The oil goes black quick as its mixing with the old oil still in the oil pan. Get ALL the oil out and it stays looking ok for 20-30 hours or more before it darkens up