early-life maintenance

[TimGT3]

I contacted my dealer about needing my next service. I had the initial oil change performed at 12 hours and now I am right at 30. During the conversation with the dealer, I was told that my next "due" service would be 100 hours after the initial oil change, making it due at 112 hours. I love my dealer and would never say anything bad about them, but I was prepared to have to service the boat much more often than that. He did say that those who are more picky about their boats might cut that in half and change oil at 50 hours.

So who is correct here? I think a lot of us would agree that there lacks a good solid easy-to-follow service scheduie for our boats. Searching the board, I have found no less than four different break-in and early maintenance recommendations. Post break-in, I would agree with the 50 hour intervals between oil changes as this is also what the Moomba and Indmar owners manuals read. But I also recall reading that the original transmission fluid should come out after 25-30 hours.

Maybe I'm being overprotective and perhaps running out the rest of the season before servicing again is the norm (I might put another 20 hours on it) ...? I had in my mind that I would get a 30 hour service now, run the rest of the season, winterize, and start then fresh again next year. Suggestions??

I know there have been a lot of new owners asking the same questions: "when should I change my oil?" "transmission service?" "impeller lifespan?" etc etc... maybe we can have a thread which very clearly outlines proper break-in and post-break-in servicing schedules for fluids and hard parts.

Thank you

Tim

[qb12]

Tim, The dealer told you that it is okay to change your oil at 100 hrs. What....

The indmar manual recommends every 50 hrs or at the end of season. It is very simple to change you self, just keep records showing when you did it and how many hours just incase of a warranty issue.

On the impeller, I change it every 100 hrs or beginning of the next season. If the old one looks good, but it in a baggy and keep it as a spare.

Hope this helps.

Db

[YellowMoomba0]

Regarless of when it needs it, I change my tranny fluid while i change the oil, for me its just a good habbit. Perhaps it does not need to be changed that often but can keep up with it without having to keep up with it.

[Wolf-]

Originally posted by qb12


Tim, The dealer told you that it is okay to change your oil at 100 hrs. What....

The indmar manual recommends every 50 hrs or at the end of season. It is very simple to change you self, just keep records showing when you did it and how many hours just incase of a warranty issue.

On the impeller, I change it every 100 hrs or beginning of the next season. If the old one looks good, but it in a baggy and keep it as a spare.

Hope this helps.

Db

And the fifty is standard. If you beat on your engine, ski lake, heavy tubing regularly, long stretches, anything that will break down that oil, 50 is the high end.

I bought a spare impeller at the 12-20 hour service. Sits in the truck in a sealed plastic bag. RAther have a $20 spare than to lose an entire day at the lake. Very sound advice.

[Smrtz]

What are the recommended hrs for changing the tranny fluid. I had mine changed @ the 20 hr servcie, and at the end of the season when winterized, but I want to make sure that Im doing it often enough... heck i dont care if I do it too often.. its cheap in comparison to the alternative!

[JoeTechie]

My simple rules:

Oil = About every 50 hours.

Tranny fluid = When you do the oil - either you are already dirty, so what the hell, or the dealer already has it so what the hell.

V-Drive Fluid = See "Tranny fluid"

Impeller = every year, or every 2 oil changes.

Wax = Twice each season... strange how more people notice this then care about how well you take care of the engine. :

Replacing fluids is the cheapest thing you can do to keep your boat running well longer.
That and a depth finder, and GOOD fenders!

Enjoy,

Joe