First oil change on my 453 and another question for the Detroit fan club

[Lostsailor13]

Recently did my first oil change,put in exactly 5 gallons of rotella low ash,my oil filter is mounted upside down,I read In the Detroit 453 manual to run engine for 10 mins,shut it down wait ten mins then check oil level,I start engine oil pressure comes right up to 40 In 2-3 seconds then I checked oil again when running at idle and I didnt even register on dip stick but before I started it was about 2 quarts above filled on dipstick because of upside down oil filter,just wandering how is the exact way to make sure oil level is correct with this crazy upside filter
https://youtu.be/b-7PkJIgqsQ

 

[Woodland Hills]

Now you know that your filter holds more oil than you thought, so just top it up. Next time you’ll fill it higher before you make the first start.
My 12/71’s have a pair of horizontal filters that hold probably close to a gallon so I just overfill and adjust the level after shutdown. And if the oil level is above the line, it won’t be for long. These are big dumb old fashioned motors, no need to overthink things......

 

[C lectric]

What did you see on the oil pressure guage at idle as you shut down? If the pressure was good then you have done nothing wrong and there should not be a problem. DO as the book says and wait for the shut down interval and then top up. That's why you must wait for the oil to drain down to see how much to add once the filters and galleries are full.

I would be more concerned about overfilling as overfilling can have consequences. But as suggested just add another litre next time on the initial fill. Better to be a bit low than overfill. You can always do the final top up as needed.

 

[Comodave]

I had those filters on 6V53s in a previous boat. I installed remote oil filters so it was simple to do an oil change. Moved one filter inbloard and kept the other one close to where it was originally. The filters I used took .9 gallon of oil but I filled them before I installed the filter. Made oil changes easy. The hard part was filling the engine with oil since there wasn’t much room on top of the engine.

 

[Speedsailor]

I'm not sure on the 4-53 I only rebuilt a couple of them and ran a few for pumps but on the 6-71 we would run them straight for days or weeks at a time and check the oil level hourly while running and just made sure we had a reading on the dipstick, we were more concerned about fuel dilution if anything (oil level rising).

 

[Ski in NC]

Detroits hold a lot of oil up top that takes a long time to drain down. Shut one down on a relatively warmish start (like after an oil change) and it can be on the add mark. Come back the next morning and it will be on the full mark. I tend not to worry about the level, if it is between the marks, it is fine.

And make sure you have the correct dipstick. Seen them mixed up, one engine held 4gal, one held 8gal if you believed the sticks. Both engines lived through that for years.

 

[Lepke]

Make a mark on the dipstick for the level with the filter empty. Then you know how to fill...
When I ran engines 24/7, the dipstick doesn't give an accurate reading running so I drilled the pan and put in a sight glass that's outside of the pan turbulence.

 

[FF]

",put in exactly 5 gallons of rotella low ash"


The single 40 weight oil was labeled CF II ? You got it right.