Well....Here Goes; Oil Change

[michaelpatri]

I'm gonna try it tomorrow - Change the oil and filter in my Cummins ISL and lube the chassis....myself.....

I'm thinking of going to the local drug store to see if they stock 'full body condoms' - I have a tendancy to get all yuckified when doing things mechanical.

Seriously, I did purchase a Fumoto valve, and plan to use the shop vac trick to create negative pressure in the crankcase while I swap the drain plug for the Fumoto. I shall report on the sucess (or failure) of this adventure.

If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears.

Wish me luck

Happy Travels

Mike

[moldmkr]

I used the shop vac method a few weeks ago and not a drop was pilled. I spilled more oil putting the new oil in then draining it. Good luck. zit is not that bad of a job.

[GaryKD]

Good luck. I do my coach every January. I'll match you on how dirty you get. I gave up trying to stay anywhere near neat and clean.

[tmitchell]

I have done my ISL periodic maintenance for the last 5 years. When you are greasing the chassis, check the condition of the ball joint, rubber boots. Mine were cracking and I had the ball joints replaced under warranty.
Tom

[michaelpatri]

Thanks for the tip on the ball joint boots. Mine look O K.

I did get under the coach this morning and greased the front end, and serviced the generator (air, oil and fuel filters, along with changing the oil in the genny).

I would like to have a 'heart to heart' with the gorilla who overtightened the genny oil drain plug, fuel filter lines, and the genny oil filter -- the air was a bright shade of blue when I finally got all the above mentioned things loosened........

It's raining here in MI right now, so I will tackle the back of the coach tomorrow....grease and oil/filter change.

I stink....and am going to jump into the shower. However, I did not get as dirty as I thought I would---we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Happy Travels

Mike

[michaelpatri]

It quit raining, so I re-attacked the MH

DONE------The oil change went extremely well. I could hear bubbles going up into the oil pan while I removed the drain plug and replaced it with the Fumoto Valve. The oil drain process was equally impressive. I placed used milk cartons under the drain valve, opened it and watched the oil drain out.....shut the valve off while I got another milk jug into position -- easy, neat and GREAT.

I had to get a larger filter wrench for the oil filter, but it came off without too much trouble.

The FUEL FILTERS, however were another matter. I had to disconnect the lines to each filter, remove the filter and bracket so that I could put the bracket in a vise, and had to use a PIPEWRENCH to remove the fuel filters......talk about being put on by a gorilla......the generator filters were a snap by comparison. (see my earlier post in this thread). The air was a very dark shade of blue by the time I finished......

However, it is done, and I know that it was done right, cause I did it myself.

Happy Travels

Mike

[GaryKD]

Congrats Mike. I know how you feel.

[David K]

Understand the comments "which gorilla" --- especially when I changed out my water filter. It looked like the filter had never been changed. I had to use a spider wrench with 1/2" extensions so I could get the wrench below the level of the motor home and then used a 15' piece of pipe for leverage (the wife was moving the pipe while I held the spider wrench up to the filter. It finally gave after the sides caved in.