- Messages
- 1,595
- Reaction score
- 898
- Points
- 247
- Location
- Ottawa, Canada
- Boat Make
- Scarab
- Year
- 2015
- Boat Model
- 165 G
- Boat Length
- 16
Doing an oil change isn't difficult, but it does require some basic knowledge and a few tools. Once again, if you're not comfortable doing this properly, please get a professional to do it.
Everyone has their own way of doing an oil change. And everyone swears by their methods being the best for reason X. In reality, there are many ways to get this done with many variations. Here is MY variation. Is it perfect? Nope. Does it get the job done? Yeppers. 300h and counting and engine still purrs.
You will need a few tools.
1. Shop towels.
2. E10 socket.
3. Vacuum pump (electric or manual, they both work great).
4. Engine flush kit, hose, water source.
5. Clean funnel.
6. The correct oil change kit + an extra quart.
- XPS brand oil change kits are definitely the most convenient and not very expensive. I recommend you just get those. For the 150, 200 and 250HP engines, you need the XPS oil change kit for 1500 engines. If you have the newer engines 170, 230 and 300, you want the ACE 900 kit. The kits come with the oil, correct filter and replacement o rings.
- Note that for a long time, BRP only recommended synthetic BLEND oil. This is still in all the manuals and MANY think this is the only approved oil. But in 2024, BRP switched to FULL SYNTHETIC. So the newer kits use that instead. BOTH are approved and you won't be able to find the blend kits soon as of writing this in 2025. Not all synthetic oils work. They need to be designed for your engine. The XPS oil is approved but full synthetic oils that have the JASO MA2 standard on the bottle for wet clutch use should be good.
- Connect water to the flush port. Start the engine, then the water pressure. Let it run for 45 sec. Turn off the water pressure, then the engine. ORDER MATTERS. This will warm up the oil a bit so it's easier to extract. Alternatively, do it while the boat is sitting in water.
- Check the oil level and note where it is on the dipstick. Your dipstick should show oil being correctly within the tick marks (or bends). You should ensure your boat is levelled before doing this work and measure 30 seconds AFTER you've warmed up the oil to get an accurate measurement. Engines do NOT need to be completely full. In fact, too full can cause a loss of power. I recommend aiming to be at the half way mark. Was it already? Yes, no, maybe if I squint a certain way? This is good to note. If you had a very full engine, then expect to suck more out than anticipated. Too little and you won't get as much out as you thought. The end goal after this oil change is to end up at 50% on the dip stick.
- Suck the oil out through the dipstick tube (vacuum tube length to be 18.75", no more) with a vacuum pump. If the suction tube is too short, you won't get it all out, if it's too long, it will simply curl in on itself and again, you won't get it all out. And by all, I still mean most. There is no way to remove ALL the oil. There's always some leftover no matter what you do here. Leave it in until you start sucking air.
- The next part is about cranking the engine but NOT starting it. By doing this, any oil in the system, filter, etc. will hopefully make its way down so you can suck it out. There is a "drown mode" on Rotax engines that allow you to do this, but on our boats, it's way more complicated than it's worth to do this. Here's my solution: pull the 4 10A fuses from the fuse box near the battery. They should correspond to cylinders 1, 2 and 3 as well as the fuel pump. Then turn the engine over for 10 seconds. It won't start, no spark and no fuel. Then suck any last bit of oil out. You can do this a few times if you wish but it isn't critical.
- Next, note the cover of the oil filter is NOT sitting flush. There's a gap. This is normal. But noting it now will show you what to expect when you put it back on. Remove the bolt holding the filter cover and pull the filter to drain. E10 socket (weird star pattern socket). Clean up the old oil in there with a shop towel. Install new o-rings and filter, don’t forget to lube up the new o-rings with a bit of clean oil. Torque to 9 Nm or 80 lbf.in. Or ya know, tight but not too tight for those that work that way.
- Add fresh oil (3 quarts) using a CLEAN funnel. Don't make a mess! Have towels ready. Then close the lid and put the dip stick back in. Then reinstall the 4 fuses.
- Run the engine 30 seconds with the exhaust cooling procedure (engine on, water on, water off, engine off, in that order) and recheck the oil level after 30 seconds. Add oil accordingly. Do NOT overfill, aim for 50% on the dipstick. I recommend doing this in small increments so you don't have to revert to suck it back out. Depending on how much oil you got out and the specific engine, that extra quart I recommended at the top may come in handy. On my 150HP engine, 3.25 quarts for the 1500 kits seems perfect. But on my Sea-Doo PWC GTX 230HP, for some reason the kits don't seem to have enough oil. The dealer also agreed this is a common finding. I think some of us are just too good at getting ALL that oil out for those engines.
- Ta-da!
Everyone has their own way of doing an oil change. And everyone swears by their methods being the best for reason X. In reality, there are many ways to get this done with many variations. Here is MY variation. Is it perfect? Nope. Does it get the job done? Yeppers. 300h and counting and engine still purrs.
You will need a few tools.
1. Shop towels.
2. E10 socket.
3. Vacuum pump (electric or manual, they both work great).
4. Engine flush kit, hose, water source.
5. Clean funnel.
6. The correct oil change kit + an extra quart.
- XPS brand oil change kits are definitely the most convenient and not very expensive. I recommend you just get those. For the 150, 200 and 250HP engines, you need the XPS oil change kit for 1500 engines. If you have the newer engines 170, 230 and 300, you want the ACE 900 kit. The kits come with the oil, correct filter and replacement o rings.
- Note that for a long time, BRP only recommended synthetic BLEND oil. This is still in all the manuals and MANY think this is the only approved oil. But in 2024, BRP switched to FULL SYNTHETIC. So the newer kits use that instead. BOTH are approved and you won't be able to find the blend kits soon as of writing this in 2025. Not all synthetic oils work. They need to be designed for your engine. The XPS oil is approved but full synthetic oils that have the JASO MA2 standard on the bottle for wet clutch use should be good.
- Connect water to the flush port. Start the engine, then the water pressure. Let it run for 45 sec. Turn off the water pressure, then the engine. ORDER MATTERS. This will warm up the oil a bit so it's easier to extract. Alternatively, do it while the boat is sitting in water.
- Check the oil level and note where it is on the dipstick. Your dipstick should show oil being correctly within the tick marks (or bends). You should ensure your boat is levelled before doing this work and measure 30 seconds AFTER you've warmed up the oil to get an accurate measurement. Engines do NOT need to be completely full. In fact, too full can cause a loss of power. I recommend aiming to be at the half way mark. Was it already? Yes, no, maybe if I squint a certain way? This is good to note. If you had a very full engine, then expect to suck more out than anticipated. Too little and you won't get as much out as you thought. The end goal after this oil change is to end up at 50% on the dip stick.
- Suck the oil out through the dipstick tube (vacuum tube length to be 18.75", no more) with a vacuum pump. If the suction tube is too short, you won't get it all out, if it's too long, it will simply curl in on itself and again, you won't get it all out. And by all, I still mean most. There is no way to remove ALL the oil. There's always some leftover no matter what you do here. Leave it in until you start sucking air.
- The next part is about cranking the engine but NOT starting it. By doing this, any oil in the system, filter, etc. will hopefully make its way down so you can suck it out. There is a "drown mode" on Rotax engines that allow you to do this, but on our boats, it's way more complicated than it's worth to do this. Here's my solution: pull the 4 10A fuses from the fuse box near the battery. They should correspond to cylinders 1, 2 and 3 as well as the fuel pump. Then turn the engine over for 10 seconds. It won't start, no spark and no fuel. Then suck any last bit of oil out. You can do this a few times if you wish but it isn't critical.
- Next, note the cover of the oil filter is NOT sitting flush. There's a gap. This is normal. But noting it now will show you what to expect when you put it back on. Remove the bolt holding the filter cover and pull the filter to drain. E10 socket (weird star pattern socket). Clean up the old oil in there with a shop towel. Install new o-rings and filter, don’t forget to lube up the new o-rings with a bit of clean oil. Torque to 9 Nm or 80 lbf.in. Or ya know, tight but not too tight for those that work that way.
- Add fresh oil (3 quarts) using a CLEAN funnel. Don't make a mess! Have towels ready. Then close the lid and put the dip stick back in. Then reinstall the 4 fuses.
- Run the engine 30 seconds with the exhaust cooling procedure (engine on, water on, water off, engine off, in that order) and recheck the oil level after 30 seconds. Add oil accordingly. Do NOT overfill, aim for 50% on the dipstick. I recommend doing this in small increments so you don't have to revert to suck it back out. Depending on how much oil you got out and the specific engine, that extra quart I recommended at the top may come in handy. On my 150HP engine, 3.25 quarts for the 1500 kits seems perfect. But on my Sea-Doo PWC GTX 230HP, for some reason the kits don't seem to have enough oil. The dealer also agreed this is a common finding. I think some of us are just too good at getting ALL that oil out for those engines.
- Ta-da!
