Boat Maintenance?

[Gern Blanston]

My boat is at the point where, according to the manual, I should do a bunch of things to it - e.g. change the plugs, wires, tranny fluid, check shaft alignment, etc.  The gotcha is that it's running just fine, tracks fine and I'd rather not throw money away if I don't "have" to.  What seems to be the general concensus?

thanks for your input!

[RichardDoane]

Replace the spark plugs, they're cheap and easy. Inspect the cap/rotor, if the cap is getting "fuzzy", then replace them. Be careful with the wires and they'll be ok. Change the engine & trans oil, that's also cheap and easy. If you do the gas can thing, then change your fuel filter/water seperator every season. Unless someone didn't properly tighten the engine mounts, shaft alignment shouldn't have changed. What boat do you have ?

[Gern Blanston]

05 MC PS197 with the MCX engine.  I change the oil and filter every season.  If there's a fuel filter/water separator, i can't find it.  I've looked.  I don't have a suction device to get the tranny fluid out, otherwise I'd do it.  I also change the impeller every so often.

[RichardDoane]

Does that boat have a fuel pump cannister on the front of the engine ? If it does, then there's a filter inside the housing. Vacuum extractors aren't very expensive. Get a hand pump model and you'll be in business. The brand we use is "Vacula".

[Gern Blanston]

I know what a fuel filter/water separator is supposed to look like.  I changed it every year in my old Malibu.  If I had to guess, I'd say it's mounted on the fuel tank somehow.  The line is pressurized at engine start.  a fuel pump cannister?  I can't say.  I'll have to check it out.

doesn't messing with the cap change the engine timing?

thanks for the tips, Richard!  I'll look for a vacuum extractor and the fuel pump cannister.

Jon

[RichardDoane]

Replacing the cap/rotor doesn't change timing, only rotating the distributor assembly will. That boat may have a fuel pump back in the tank, so no water seperator and a" lifetime" filter. I generally add a can of "seafoam" once a year as a fuel system treatment. It's cheap insurance.

[DW]

As mentioned plugs are cheap and easy, although the need to change plugs with unleaded fuel is much less than previous.  Plugs in a modern automobile can last up to 100k miles, that is well over 1000 hours.  Plug wires in a ski boat last a long time because there is very little heat from the exhaust system like a car.  Easy trick to see if the plug wires are okay, run the engine in the dark and see if you see any arcing or spark jumping particuarly around the plug boots.  The one area that does get hit is the distributor cap due to the humidity, the tips tend to corrode.  The water / fuel separator does have to work a little harder these days due to ethanol blends which absorb water easier than non ethanol blended fuels.  Hint, stay away from them.  Shaft alignment is easy and costs nothing, separate the coupling a small amount and check to ensure a consistent gap, no more than .005"- .007" variation from concentric with a feeler gauge, although if you can spin the shaft freely it probably is fine (assuming that boat has the vesconite shaft bushings, if not the boat needs to be in the water).  IMO, the impeller is the most critical item to service and prone to failure, the results of failure can be catastrophic.  You can get the extractor at Home Depot or similar.  I would suggest ensuring the rudder is properly greased, but don't do too much or often as that will stiffen it up, use marine grease.

[robscholl-OF]

Gern,

All I do for sure every year is change/inspect those things that if fail, cause big $$.  Oil and filter every 40 hours.  I use synthetic 15-40 Royal Purple and a K&N oil filter (Has a bolt on bottom to use for easy removal).  Trans fluid once a year.  (Bought the oil extractor from Overton's, $30 and works great)  Use to change cap and rotor once a year, but now about every 150 hours.  (I always crack the engine cover after each use so any moisture vents.  Since putting in a dripless shaft seal, moisture is very minimal)  Always a new impeller and fuel filter every year and clean out the raw water strainer.    Other than that, a couple of pumps of marine grease in the rudder shaft and I call it good.  I try to pay attention to the things that when they fail, bad things happen.  Use good  Oil, good filters, and lube all moving parts, i.e. cables and rudder.

I have never had to align a shaft or had an issue with one out of alignment.  I have never had any major problems and my boats have ran great.  I will be changing my plugs this year as my LXI just went over 500 hours.  If I get lazy or want things done right, I just take it up to RD's shop and let him take care of it.  

OF 

 

 

[Ed_Obermeier]

A hand pump such as you'd find on a gallon soap jug etc with a piece of rubber hose long enough to reach all the way to the bottom of the gear case works great as a trans oil extracter.  Easy and cheap.

Ed

[Bill Gladding]

I think our last 197 was a '05 or '06 so a couple of things you may not have to worry about.  I don't think you have a distributor cap I believe it has individual coils for each cylinder.  You probably won't need a prop puller because it may have a splined shaft.  Worst case take a soft metal or wood dowel and bump the prop off the spline.  May have a dripless packing gland on the prop shaft but the rudder packing gland is not so it may need service.  One thing you should definitely check are the pylon mounting bolts under the deck.  We owned several of these TT versions I had to tighten the pylon bolts at around 50 hours on each boat.  There is a fuel filter in tank but it is enormous and probably wouldn't need service unless you got some really messed up fuel.

I wouldn't advise you bother with checking the engine alignment unless you have a reason to suspect it is bad.  You can do more harm than good just by unbolting the couplings.  There are a few visual checks you can make to verify it is probably ok.  Look at the prop shaft support strut bearing and see if the shaft is resting in it evenly (front and back if you can) and that it has little to no play in any direction.  If you push up on the shaft and it has more than a couple thousands movement you may need a new bearing but that is usually caused by many hours or operating with a bent propeller.  Make sure the propeller shaft is not touching the hull where it passes through the shaft log.  It does not have to be centered just shouldn't be touching.  Check your engine mounting bolts to see if they are tight.

If you have vibration or any issues with the above you probably want to get someone who has done alignments to help you.  Mark the couplings before you unbolt them and put them back how you found them.  Alignment should be .002 or better if you can get it.  Sometimes couplings are out that much and you have to figure out how to split the difference.  Also the shaft will droop a little when you back it off the transmission coupling.  That is normal.  Usually you can figure out how much to pull it up by rotating it and lifting.  You will find the sweet spot where it turns easiest.  If you unbolt it and it is a little out of spec but you are not having any problems leave it alone.  Change is not always something to believe in;)

 

[Gern Blanston]

thanks for the advice, guys!  I have an inline raw water filter.  I added it because there are so many weeds in my lake.  I clean that and the strainer out several times a year.  I can tell when they get clogged because the engine sounds and feels different.

When checking any bolts, do I need to worry about a torque wrench?  Or is tighter better (without over tightening, of course)

I'm not sure about my shaft seal.  Is that any easy thing to change? There's no leaking to speak of, but with all the spinning of the shaft, I would imagine it needs to be replaced every now and again.

I get the impression many of you guys have much more experience with engines.  My dad was always of the opinion of "why would I want to do it when I can pay someone?"  Not to mention that it would take away from his golf time.  My father in law is quite handy.  I'm generally not afraid of taking stuff apart, and am very careful, but when we're talking about my toy, I get a bit anxious. 

[Old MS Accout]

Remove the throttle knob and replace everything under it with a Ski Nautique.

[GAJ0004]

I change the oil and filter on my boat every 50 hours, change the transmission fluid every 100 hours. I take it in for a tune-up every 400 hours, and check the drive shaft alignment. Will add more later..

[DW]

Gern,

If you are not constantly wrenching or have a feel for relative torque levels, on many items I would suggest a torque wrench or specific tightening criteria (tighten to snug + x amount of rotation. . .).  Well, the shaft seal can be easy to change, but also a real pain, since you have to pull the shaft back through the hull to do it.  There is a possibility the rudder has to drop to accomplish the job and if so, the boat has to be offset on the trailer to allow that to drop down.  If it does not leak, it is fine so don't waste the time and effort, similar to engine alignment, if the shafts spins free and the boat does not vibrate it is probably fine.  The one thing you do want to check is that the shaft stays cool to the touch.  Yes, I am much better at building engines than understanding why I just made my wife upset!

[JAG]

'02 MB Sports 190. 575 hours. PCM  5.7 HO. (Great motor btw!)

Maintenance is anal with me as these boats aren't cheap and should last a long, long time with proper care. As others have said, oil and filter get changed every 50 hours, Fuel filter every other year. Plugs, rotor, cap, etc. about every two years. Transmission fluid at the end of the season. Buy a suction device to remove the old stuff through the dipstick and save it to a measuring cup so you put back in the same amount.

I used to change the impeller every other year but found my new one (installed Spring '08) was already deterriorating early last summer so now it's every year. I checked shaft alignment around 500 hours and it was perfect so I'll go another 500 hours.

I also found that T-9 Boeshield is a great preservative for metal. I spray it on the propshaft (inside and outside the boat). It leaves an invisible waxy film so no rust spots on anything.

RPG

[eleeski]

What are you guys talking about. What does "maintenence" mean?

Vacuum out the rat turds and scrape the algae off the bottom. Oh that's the Nautique treatment. The Mastercraft lives on a lift in a boathouse.

Of course, in the process of replacing the MC's steering cable, I sliced open my leg. Seven stitches and it still hasn't healed (community clinic subsidised health care). I hate old boats and maintenence!

On a serious note, maintenence on condition is a well proven technique. The military and major airlines use on condition maintenence. Why replace perfectly good parts and fluids just because an arbitrary schedule says so?  Replacing good parts subjects the engine to damage from the replacement - not to mention sliced legs. Additionally, infant mortality of new parts too often causes serious problems. Promptly fix only what's wrong when it fails.

I want a new boat!

Eric

[Gern Blanston]

Eric -

you've summed up the essential basis of the post.  I'm trying to get a feel of what I "should" do.  There's simply too big of an investment in my toy to be stupid about maintenance.  I know what the manual says.  In the end, I don't think it's a big deal to do some minor maintenance as a cheap form of insurance.  Oil, filters, impeller, trans fluid.  The other tune up type stuff  on condition. 

MS - that's funny!  I drive my buddy Bill's SN all the time.  I'll grant it's a nice boat.  I just hate not being able to see the skier as I go to pick them up.  The best was when we saw a bunch of guys fishing off an older Nautique.  My 7 year (at the time) old son looks at Bill and says "that's all they're good for!"  We all practically peed our already wet shorts.

[DW]

Hopefully maintenance schedules are based on statistical data and not arbitrary time frames.  Of course, it just is convienient to do a lot of the maintenance annually when the boat is out of the water or the weather is inclement.  One obvious maintenance item is oil change intervals based only on time, there is a huge variation of use based on an annual oil change.  Also, there is a big disparity on engine condition, an older engine will "pollute" the oil in the crankcase much quicker than a newer engine with good sealing rings and good valve guides.  If an engine gets flooded (fuel) and washes down the cylinder walls, that will significantly affect oil life.  Ease of service has actually really driven a lot of boat maintenance schedules.

Eric makes a good point, particularly if referring to electrical items, there is a bathtub shaped curve for components where there is very high infant mortality and then reliability is very good up to the wear out phase where reliability goes away.  You really want to change the parts just before that wear out point, that will maximize your $ and reliability.  It looks like Eric uses failure as the guide since it is really hard to measure the wear out inflection point, particularly on electronic components.  Thanks goodness airplanes use redundency!

On a ski boat I think a classic part with lots of variability is the impeller.  I have seen some that go for numerous seasons and some that trash themselves in less than a year.  The catastropic damage from a bad one is what is the big issue.

[eleeski]

I can change an impeller two times before I replace the pump. It seems that the disassembly, wedging the old impeller out and reassembly ages the pump a lot. OK impellers often only last a year so maybe I'm stuck replacing often no matter what. I've had infant mortality on impellers and some make it three years. I replace when the temps warm up at idle - not a true failure so it is safe to run that long.

My transmission fluid has only changed color after 2000+ hours. I'm not going to change fluids until I rebuild the engine. Refilling can have short fills (bubbles and air gaps) which can cause more damage. And make sure you are using the right fluid.

My airplane oil gets dirty at 50 hours - so I change it. My boats go 200+ hours before the oil shows any wear. Environmentalists and my wallet like long oil change intervals. I have blown up engines but never oil wear issues (always heating issues, rats or external corrosion). Oh yes and dropping a nut down the carb during maintenence!

Antisieze everything when you do service. Dow EC4 on the oil filter gasket so you can remove the filter in a year or two.

I won't discuss washing salt water out of the boats... but what a waste of time if I'm going out again tomorrow!

Eric

[lakeaustinskier]

"Oh yes and dropping a nut down the carb during maintenence!" 

I have an old 1983 2001 CC that I'm keeping around for sentimental value.  Last spring I was doing maintenence on the motor before I fired it up for the first time and...........I dropped the nut from the air cleaner down into the carb.......where it fell into the engine.  Of course I didn't realize that I had dropped the nut into the carb until I had turned the engine over several times and screwed the engine.  Nothing like spending money for an engine rebuild on a  boat that you don't really use that often.

 

[h2odawg79]

I've seen a lot of people who needlessly change their Engine oil & filter Once in the spring and then once in the fall. (regardless of Hr's...)  The Fall oil change is such a waste of time and $$$ just to have the Boat sit for months and then get changed again upon the New season... 

[Tuney]

I'd say the fall change is the important one. The sooner the old oil gets out the better. Changing it again in the spring is unnecessary though.

[GAJ0004]

My uncle is an expert auto mechanic(in the business 40+ years). He says the most important thing you can do for your engine is to change the oil and filter. I change the oil and filter on my boat every 50 hours, no ifs, ands, or buts. It is not necessary to change it again before running the boat in the spring. I always change it before putting it away from the winter regardless of when it was last changed.  Clean oil is a must to protect your engine long periods of storage. I take my 1994 Ski Nautique in every 400 hours for a tune up, and I change the transmission fluid every 100 hours. Since my boat is a Ford based PCM. I only use Motorcraft FL-1A. I only use factory parts. I may have to replace my water pump this year. I went through two impellers last year. I did not have the Sherwood impeller last year. I just installed a new Sherwood impeller. If this one goes too, then it I will replace the pump.

[Killer]

all I ever have to do is change the oil and filter with good quality oil and filter.  shell rotella T 15w45 just like the manual says & high quality filters.  I do believe that is the single best thing you can do for the motor.   new spin on fuel filter every spring as well as a can of seafoam & fresh 91 vpower.  Tranny fluid every 100hrs or 2 years. 

I put about 60-75hrs on a year and change the oil before the summer after a few hrs running, then @ 40-50hrs during the season then in the late fall when it gets put to bed so it has clean oil and filter for the long winter.  I will run that oil the first few hrs in the spring as the boat doesn't get much use until June.  

 everything else gets changed out when it shows signs of wear. I have done the cap/rotor, plug wires & the circ water pump.  plugs every 3-4years or 200hrs.steering cable was replaced on the boat before I got i

 doing my shaft packing this year & new vbelt.  I don't seem to go through impellers & they're hard to get out without a tool, but I run in super clean water no debris or sand usually.  have over 120hrs on the current impeller over 2 years and it looks perfect.

 '99 Malibu Sportster 310hp GM carb  - 320hrs

[eleeski]

C'mon guys, what failures does dirty oil cause? Rings, cams, bearings and maybe seals might go faster with dirty oil. But in a boat that runs 100 hrs per year, you will not wear out any of those items regardless of the oil intervals. Airplane engines are limited by both hours (~1500) and years (~7) - only non-commercial private pilots, the commercial and military get on condition maintenence. Airplane engines work much harder than car and boat engines - but live in a much cleaner environment. Still the years kill my airplane's engines before the hours. The 79 American skier's engine made it 15 years and 2500 hours before a night fishing unnoticed overheat burned up the engine. The 97 Nautique is still a lot of my buddies favorite despite the rat turds and the algae on the bottom. I think I've changed the oil on my 04 MC... But grinding the prop almost stopped the college training day - not the oil.

Thanks lakeaustin, now I don't feel so bad about dropping the nut down the carb. It's harder to do on a fuel injected engine - I want a new boat!

Eric

[h2odawg79]

As far as the "needless" fall change goes, most vehicles have been on a regimen of i.e. 3 mons. or 3000 mi. for yrs. or like my Cummins 3mons. or 5000 mi. for light service. "If" oil breaks down in and of it's self, then I would think that is why they night say 3 mons. regardless of milage. (is there any proof of this?) But, if this is true #1 what Good could possible come from New oil sitting in an unused engine for the off season? #2 How/why would this New oil do anything to "Protect" just sitting in the bottom of the pan? I still say the fall change is a complete waste for the ave. boat owner. Not to mention, the ave. boat owner takes it to the shop and then "Bends over" to get this $ervice done along with their winterization! I don't have this kind of $$$ to waste.

Aren't some of the New vehicles 100K mi. oil change intervals?  and, Isn't the oil the same old stuff? (I don't know, I don't have a new vehicle!)  

[ForrestGump]

A friend of mine is a petro-chem engineer for Big Oil. The actual company will remain nameless to protect the innocent. LOL. He's run  numerous tests on our used boat, auto, and race car oils over the years.  Contrary to the recommended 3k to 5k auto oil change intervals, he recommends 10k changes on most conventional oils based on his tests. Now, granted...........the company he works for would beat him with an air hose if they knew what he was telling us! lol. On our boat engines, he is suggesting once a year or every 100 hours, mainly due to the condensates that build up in the oil pan in a marine environment. He has said numerous times that the contaminants in 100hr boat oil is very comparable to what he sees in 3k-5k mile automotive oil usually. 

 

[Jim Neely]

94 Nautique with 750 hours

I use my boat year round, much less in the winter.

I change the oil and filter twice a year, spring then late summer

Spring maintenance - oil and filter replacement, spark plug replacement, gas filter replacement, impeller replacement, grease the rudder, clean and put dielectric grease on the battery connections, check the transmission fluid, change the transmission fluid about every other year. Regular maintenance is cheap insurance ~$100/year.

 

[rawly]

Dont forget to change the fuel filter on the end of the pump that is located in the gas tank.When the filter gets dirty the pump has to work harder and could go out.The filter is only $20 from Mastercraft.

[Deke]

Shane, that's good news for me! I only ever changed oil and filter once a year (+/= 100 hrs) on my 99 RLx. The oil is always visibly clean so I just couldn't see the point. Been using Amsoil Marine & Diesel 15w-40 and it gets put away for winter with fresh oil. Also change the tranny fluid, which seems like overkill but since I'm already into it, why not?  The boat has +1000 hrs and maybe changed plugs every two or three years, wires once, cap twice, impeller and fuel filters every year. Other than that it has just been replacing things like a bad fuel pump, failed relay, etc.

Wish I could figure out why the depth finder kills Stargazer. I tried all kinds of fixes and ended up installing a switch to turn it off when not needed.

h2dawg79, I think the fresh oil thing had something to do with acidity, not oil breaking down. My opinion is that the toughest thing on an engine is sitting in storage so I figure it can't hurt to schedule my annual change for the fall. My boat is storage for 7 months a year!

[DW]

Shane, very good points, condensation would be the key issue for the ski boat crowd.  If you consider that oil change intervals on a modern engine are 7500 miles, particularly for GM ones that power pretty much all the boats we have these days, with 100 hours really only being an average of 4k miles, annually is certainly more frequent that ultimately needed.

Deke, in the engines I have built/rebuilt, Amsoil is almost always one if not the cleanest of the bunch.  The dirtiest are the Pennsylvania crude oils.

A racer I knew would always meticulously build his race engines over the winter and almost w/o fail would come out and blow it up in the first weekend necessitating a thrash rebuild out in the dirt and dust of the paddock.  It would then run great the rest of the year!!!!

The sound of a nut hitting the bottom of the intake manifold plenum, then rolling down the intake port and landing on the valve.  I feel for you Eric.

[Gern Blanston]

rawly - the manual says that "only MC authorized repair techs should replace the fuel filter" because the line is pressurized.  Do you have an older MC that is not pressurized or is there some trick to relieving the pressure?  I had a bee fly down my funnel when I was filling it with gas last summer.  Must have liked the smell.

When winterizing my boat a few years ago, the straw got sucked off the can of fogger.  I found it - melted onto the intake valve.  I don't use a straw any longer.

a friend that drives a BMW was told by a certified mechanic that if you use synthetic oil, you only need to change it every 15K miles.  Again, it's thinking like that led me to open the post.  Boat engines get way less usage than a car - and it's more or less the same engine.

[ForrestGump]

Gern, one big difference is that auto engines run MUCH hotter. A typical inboard gm engine in our ski boats runs at 170 degrees, whereas the same engine in an auto application runs at 210-215.

[DW]

And, the higher temps help get rid of condensation contaminants.

[RichardDoane]

and the BMW factory likes to advertize a lower annual cost of ownership for their vehicles

[Gern Blanston]

makes sense.  Thanks!

[Ed_Obermeier]

Deke wrote "Wish I could figure out why the depth finder kills Stargazer. I tried all kinds of fixes and ended up installing a switch to turn it off when not needed."

Most likely a voltage issue.  SG is real sensitive to voltage drops for some reason.  I had that issue with my previous boat (2000 Supra Legacy).  When I'd adjust the hydraulic wake plate the voltage draw would freak my SG out so I learned not to mess with it while using the SG.  Problem solved.

Ed

[DW]

Do you have SG wired direct to the battery, solidly grounded at the battery?  That may help the accessory voltage drop issue.  Guess we know why the boarders don't have a problem as they install multiple kicker Optima battery's in those boats.

[robscholl-OF]

Easiest maintenance is buy a new boat every year......I just need to figure out how to pay for it.....OF

[Thomas Wayne]

As already mentioned, power it directly from the battery - using high-grade 10-gauge copper automotive stero wire.  BUT you want to switch it on and off with the ignition key, through a relay... like so: 

 http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/PerfectPassmodifications.jpg

TW

[h2odawg79]

The Guy's @ P/P are very Good at trouble shooting and diagosis over the ph... Gazer is Very sensitive to Any elec. interference i.e. MMDV, ignition, any loose ground wires, etc...

[Deke]

Thanks for the SG advice guys.  My unit is grounded directly to the battery but not powered to it.  Tried rerouting various wires per PP recommendations with no luck but we positively confirmed that the depth finder is the culprit.  TW, I'll have to try the relay and direct power.  What kind of relay and where do I get it?  Also, what kind of wires and how do you terminate them?

[Old MS Accout]

Shane,

dont be treating my baby bad. I was changing every 40 at the max. 15w40 Shell and motercraft FL1a

[Thomas Wayne]

 

Study the image closely - it gives wire gauges, NAPA relay part number, and the full "how-to".  Note that I put that guide together many years ago, to post on a forum with more posting limits than this one.  Consequently it's a little bit difficult to read, and the "purple wire" (from the P.P. unit) referenced  may now be different color.

The important thing is that you isolate the P.P. unit such that it's running directly from the battery and is NOT sharing power with anything else.  Any power-side connection shared with another component on the "hot" side of the key switch may result in a boat that turns on with the key but can only be turned off by disconnecting the battery - not a good idea.

Essentially, the output side of the key switch sends power to the NAPA relay, which closes the direct power lead from the battery to the P.P. unit.  When the key is turned off the relay is no longer powered, so the circuit opens and the P.P. turns off. When the relay circuit is closed (P.P. running) power comes directly from the battery and that power is not affected by a drain on the dharging system (from turning on the depth finder, heater, stero, etc...).

That relay, BTW, is used in automotive applications to switch electric fuel pumps and other essential components, and has been field-proven to be tough and reliable - which is why we chose it.

TW

 

[eleeski]

Why not wire power directly to one of the auxillary switches? You can start the boat with the switch off and avoid the voltage dips and spikes that occur upon startup. Yes you have to remember to turn it on. But if you want to set things up, you can do that without wasting gas or so much old battery.

Stan's old Moomba uses that technique with PP Classic and we all loved it.

My old Nautique is direct wired, Now something is wrong with with the electrical system. I need to start the boat with PP off and let the voltage recover before turning on the Perfect pass. The PP draws down the voltage about 2 volts. So I have to turn off the system if I want to restart the boat. Since I don't have a switch I have to disconnect/reconnect the fuse to turn PP off/on. I wish I had installed it with an aux switch - and now I'm too lazy.

Eric

[Thomas Wayne]

 

Direct to the battery, through a relayed circuit, does not require the boat to be started - so no gas wasted.

And sure, an auxillary switch will work just fine - assuming you still wire it directly to the battery - but running a relay from the ignition side of the key is just so much more of an elegant solution.  Now, having seen your homemade skis, I realize that "elegant" is not something you strive for Eric... but there is also the upside that no one (especially my wife) has to remember to turn on a switch before I ski.  If that convenience saves me one screwed up opening pass per summer it's very much worth it.

TW

[rawly]

Gern,from what I've read on the Mastercraft sight,it sounds safe to remove the fuel pump,just wear eye protection to be safe.Go to their sight and make that decision for yourself.My boat is an 05 with the MCX engine that has been sitting since November.I'm gonna take my chances.I have around 250 hours and haven't changed the filter yet.I now plan on changing it out every other year.Depending on the condition of the filter when I remove it.

[tru-jack]

I change the fuel filter in my malibu monsoon each year.  It's a $2 part and it's in the pump in the tank.  It is a pressurized system like the mastercraft but they're simple to do.  (only work on cool engine) First follow the pressure fuel line to the back of the engine, look very closly and you'll see a shraeder valve similar to a bike tire, remove the cap, and with a paper towel and your finger or maybe something smaller like a nail, press the valve in and you will depressureize the system, the paper towel will gather the spilt fuel which is really only a few drops.  Now back to the pump, on the malibu I have to remove the snap ring at the outgoing fuel line, ( I don't have to pull the pump out) once the snap ring is removed, I can lift it up enough to remove and replace the new filter.  Have a few rags handy as there will be a bit of fuel spillage from the old filter.  The filter in the monsoon is a wix 33048 and is about the size of a bottle of white out or nail polish.  Not sure what the MC uses, but I would bet it's similar.  Also this is the only fuel filter on the 2007 and up monsoons.  Hope this helps.

[eleeski]

Careful with the in tank filter. To access this filter you must go into the fuel tank - very invasive and I doubt it is normal maintenence. If it is dirty then absolutely replace it! But my 04 MC has had multiple failures of the hose from the filter to the pump. The hose is a short rubber hose. It is difficult to replace the filter without stressing the hose. Filter replacement may have caused the initial failure. The repair is difficult as the filter nipple is a different size than the pump nipple, the rubber flexes with fuel levels and I couldn't buy the factory hose.

100% of my gas is from cans with its associated contamination risk. Yet my filter is pristine. The in tank fuel filter does not trap water and particles (like the filter in the 97 carburated Nautique which collects everything). It works more like the filter in a shop vac - keeping crud out of the filter.

Changing that filter is very dangerous. Gasoline will be spilled. Gas vapors are everywhere. Crud gets in the fuel system from the large hole in the tank. Cross threading of the screws can trick you into thinking the tank is sealed when it's not - or causing expensive damage.

I think my MC has a filter on the pressure side of the line like Trujack's but it is near the engine on mine. This filter is a reasonable maintence item - it needs to filter the rubber bits out of the fuel injection!

One maintence item that is critical is to clean my Rawly mirror. This is the best mirror! If Rawly is the man behind Rawly mirrors, thanks!

Eric

[rawly]

Thanks for the compliment Eric.Yeah,same Rawly.Horton keeps telling me to make more mirrors,and that he could help sell a few.I guess if I had to make a few more I could,but I'd have to raise the price and maybe make a profit.What a concept.Keep that mirror nice and clean,thanks for the plug.

  Steve