Oil for Excaliber 330

[aublaise]

I went to PCM's website and submitted the following question:

"I have a 2004 SN 196 with Excaliber 330. OK to use Shell Rotella 15W40 oil? It does not have the "SJ" label on it...
Thanks,
Mike"

The next day I got this response:

"Hello Mike.
That is a excellent oil.

Pleasurecraft Marine Service
and Warranty Department
ms."

Based on this email and the responses in this thread, I went out an purchased a gallon of Rotella 15W40. Tomorrow I plan to borrow my neighbor's conoe and paddle under my boat (on boat lift) to change to oil cause the water is too **** cold!!

[AirTool]

Based on this email and the responses in this thread, I went out an purchased a gallon of Rotella 15W40.

You may need up to another 3/4 quart. See below.

Tomorrow I plan to borrow my neighbor's conoe and paddle under my boat (on boat lift) to change to oil cause the water is too **** cold!!

You are going about it all wrong. You need to find the many posts on this site about how many hours it is going to take to drain your oil...especially if it is not piping hot. There is also a post about connect a suck up to the drain hose to speed the process. The new search page has me handicapped or I'd post the links for you.

[Nautiquehunter]

I think the reason PCM doesn't recommend synthetic oil is people will not change the oil as recommended. The most important thing is to change the oil and filter every 50 hours.

[shag]

Synthetic

I have used Mobil 1 FULL synthetic in every truck/boat that I have owned since the 80's. 250,000 miles on a heavy use 351 (Bronco), older chevy V8's, PCM 351, and most recently in my 05' SAN with the 330. I have NEVER had any engine or accessory problems, to include leaks or seal failure. I usually change at regular intervals but have occasionally gone a lil longer than supposed to. I pretty much change the oil when it starts to change color.
PCM is just trying to say that they can't justify the added expense for synthetic, and that it does not have an advantage for pollution control. I always use Mobil 1 full synthetic (don't use blends), and a good quality filter. No fram orange ones. I had a cheap fram one time that I could actually hear something rattle inside.
My .02

[Dennett]

Does anyone know the K&N filter number that should be used on 330 Excalibur (2003)? I've just been using the same filter from West Marine that I always have since it's a remote filter and I never knew for sure which K&N I should be slapping on.

[iceman991]

10/40 is fine.

[Quinner]

Does anyone know the K&N filter number that should be used on 330 Excalibur (2003)? I've just been using the same filter from West Marine that I always have since it's a remote filter and I never knew for sure which K&N I should be slapping on.

Your remote is Most likely a Ford Filter, Motorcraft FL1A, very common filter so K&N should have a cross reference.

[iceman991]

sierra oil filter is 18-7875.

[DanielC]

I have said it before, and here it is again.
Use OEM filters on your internal combustion engines. The car companies have literally spent millions of dollars researching the oil filters for their engines. They do not want to replace a bad engine due to an oil filter failure under warranty.
There are aftermarket filters that may be good, now, but you have no idea when they will start to cut corners on making them, to increase profit margins.

I do not know about GM filters, but two months ago, Motorcraft FL1-A oil filters were still at Wal*mart, for less that $4.00 each, and they were made in the USA. This is the filter you want on your remote mount.

I know I said to use OEM filters, and I am recommending a Ford filter on a GM engine. If you were still using a filter that screwed on to the bottom of the GM engine block, I would recommend the GM filter.
For some reason, when they started to make remote filter mounts, the Ford standard was chosen. and it is still the standard for most remote filters.

[SuperSquirt]

If the 330 uses a Ford filter like the 343 does, then it should be the same filter used on the old 351 motors (Pre-GM). I currently use K&N filters and they work fine.The part number is HP-3001

[Nautiquehunter]

Most manufacturers don't make their own filters AC Delco makes some of there own. All Motorcraft filters are made by Purolator. The K&N and the Mobil 1 are the performance model from Champion Labs. Although there is nothing wrong with Motorcraft filters there is nothing special about them. There are 6 manufactures of oil filters most are made by Dana Wix,Champion Labs,Baldwin Hastings and Purolator. Fram is made by Honeywell and Allied Signal. The bottom line is if you use any of the brands [except Fram] with any name brand oil and change it as recommended by the manufacture you will be OK. Anything on top of that is just overkill. I use Mobil 1 or Castrol Syntec with a Mobil 1 or K&N filter what ever one is on sale.[ I like overkill ] I have used synthetic oil in everything except diesel since 1977 when Mobil 1 first came out no problems so far.

[toddrswenson]

Does anyone know if Royal Purple has the proper amoun of ZDDP for the GT-40. I could only find the statement below off of their web site in their FAQ section. I have been running it in my GT-40 for 4 years. Hope I haven't screwed up??

"Do your motor oils contain zinc and phosphorous?

Yes. All Royal Purple engine oils contain the zinc/phosphorous compound zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP) and are suitable for both roller and flat tappet valve trains."

[toddrswenson]

This was the next FAQ

"Can your oil be used with flat tappet cams?

Yes. For stock or mildly modified flat tappet valve trains (<.525” lift), we recommend our SAE 10W40, 15W40 or 20W50 engine oils. In applications with flat tappet valve trains using high-lift cams and/or high RPM applications, we strongly recommend upgrading to our XPR line of engine oils as these have an even greater concentration of ZDDP providing excellent protection with the higher spring pressures. For a viscosity recommendation, contact our Tech Dept. at 888-382-6300."

[lfadam]

Bumping up a 12 year old thread here...is Shell Rotella still the gold standard for the old Excalibur 330s? I just changed my oil today using Rotella 15W-40 but noticed there is no SL or SJ certification anymore. It's all CK-4, etc. as it appears the API updated their classifications. Just want to make sure I'm not doing something stupid before firing up the motor with the new oil in there.

[MN Ryan]

I don't think it matters. Marine Max, a PCM dealer, put syn 5W-30 in mine last year and claims that is peachy with PCM. Lots of oil opinions out there.