Volvo Penta - accessing port side oil filter

L

Leanne

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Joined
Jun 9, 2016
RO Number
33916
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I recently bought a 1990 Cooper Prowler sundeck with two volvo penta 220s. I have been giving her the standard once over tuneup and have come across a problem. I am 6' 250lbs and I cannot for the life of me get at the port side oil filter. I can barely touch it never mind grab it. Im going to get my wife to try but I just dont think she will have hand strength to turn it. Fitting a tool in there is unlikely. Im thinking about cutting a hole in the cubby to reach through :$ Am I missing something. Whoever designed this thing must have been 120lbs with the wing span of Michael Phelps.
 
Someone must have been able to reach it to change it in the past. could yo get , say, filter-end type cup wrench with ratchet and extension and even universal flex joint in there if necessary? Unfortunately, oil always flows out better with engine warmed which makes discomfort of the tight fit even worse.

You might check with the former owner or his mechanic for any tricks used , but it may be time to pay a skinny long-armed (bowler?) employee of a boatyard to change the setup to an easily-accessible remote bracket and filter w/ adapter plate and hoses.
Just curious, are you referring to VP diesels or gas, & which model? I know Prowlers had either but I'd think at only 220 hp they may be diesels , however in a quick look I don't see a 1990 220 hp model, gas or diesel.
 
Hi Sandy....they are gas 205s , sorry my bad.....Im going to get the wife to give it a try, should be interesting. I do like the suggestion of the remote bracket.
 
305? Sound like SBC's (Small Block Chevy). If you can get somebody down there once, and install a remote filter kit, that'd be how to go. I like the remote kit on the late model SBC's used in MerCruiser. It's all metal piping, no hoses. Should fit an SBC converted by VP as well as by MerC unless manifolds/accessories are different. I don't know if it's available as a kit or from whom. The ones with hoses are available. The upside-down filter concerned me but the engine gets pressure right away and come oil change time, most of the oil has drained down and out of the filter. Just wrap a rag around the filter-to-adapter connection and unscrew it.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Leanne

Hi Sandy....they are gas 205s , sorry my bad.....Im going to get the wife to give it a try, should be interesting. I do like the suggestion of the remote bracket.

Click to expand...


were going to need pictures ;0
 
If you look at the amazon listing in the "also bought" suggestions, look at the swivel wrench. It's the same thing with a handle attached that can navigate up, down, or right off at 90 degrees. Either way, tie a string to it so *when* you drop it, you can retrieve it.
 
That string is a good idea. The only trouble with the attached handle is the confines space on some engines. That's why the band removal tool without a handle allows a 3/8 drive extension that can be 2 ft long and still be close to the block.

Also, sometimes the band will slip. I silicone a strip of wet/dry sandpaper to the inner surface of the band but it takes a day to cure. You can try contact cement or gorilla snot(yellow 3M contact cement)...dries a little faster.
 
Your deck and liner were sitting upside down someplace at the factory while somebody was setting the engines, tanks, and all that other now inaccessible stuff easily in place in a wide-open hull. While the deck was inverted, somebody else was setting wiring, deck fittings, and some more now inaccessible stuff easily in place. Now, deck and hull are screwed and glued together with all that inside. So are WE.
 
My mind is still focused on the reaction I'd get if I asked my wife to change an oil filter. I actually re-vamped the rear seats of my bow rider so I can remove one side of the bench seat at a time and one side of the wood bulkhead at at time, slide the port side battery back and lay down next to the engine to change the filter. Good thing its only a one time a year deal. Next engine will have a remote filter and closed cooling.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9pz3pzuz8kuvmct/88 FW engine bulkheads.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lfs7ioudwrnknbx/boat2a.jpg?dl=0
 
My wife and daughters would change an oil filter. Wife is left handed and in many cases she's able to finesse something I can't. Still, such a request is not one to be made lightly...
 
I sure hope that is not the factory original 1990 filter on the port side. ;)
 
Thanks for all your suggestions. My wife got the filter off. Definitely a finesse thing.The previous boat owner was alot smaller than me and he did what my wife did and lay down right next to the engines and just reached. Just unfathomable to someone my size. The filter was actually only a year old at most.
 
Women Rock! I'm eternally thankful for my wife and honored every day with my two daughters.
 
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