Seevee
Member
- Dec 3, 2015
- 238
- Boat Info
- 280 Sundancer 2004
- Engines
- 4.3 Merc Twins, Alpha One, Kohler 5kw
On some engines, like our 496, the oil filter is mounted "upside down". The marine specific filters supposedly have a flapper valve that prevents the filter from draining oil when it is removed. I don't know for sure having always left oil changes to the boatyard techs. I do know that in ten years of ownership and oil changes, and multiple Merc service people, I have never been presented with an oil soaked bilge post oil/filter change. An automotive oil filter probably does not have this feature. So depending on how your filter(s) is mounted, you may want to consider the trade off between clean up, and non marine oil filters.
Henry
Or you can drain the oil prior to pulling the filter. Drain after running it, a put a small hole in the top of the filter, and you'll have virtually no mess.