Bilge and Tranny questions

Was getting the boat ready this weekend and noticed that my Sahara S500 Bilge stopped working. I am getting power to bilge and good ground but Bilge no longer comes on manually. When i was checking voltages under dash to rule that out, i noticed that the solid brown wire for the bilge under there was disconnected and appears to have orginally had an inline fuse for the automatic bilge. This bilge has an internal float (and is wired at the bilge) but has never worked i have always just turned it on manually. What bilge pump do you guys reccomend and what type of fuse goes into that inline fuse for the auto bilge?

Tranny Question:
I have owned 1990 Comp for 3 years and have never changed tranny fluid because level and color has always been good. Should i change this before summer and if so what fluid should i be using and how much does it aprox. hold? Fluid color is currently red.

Engine oil: I have always ran Valvoline straight 30 weight on my 90 351 PCM. I have read and read and starting to feel like this is not a good choice for my motor. Opinions???

do yourself a favor and put a Rule pump in place of the Sahara. I bought a Rule 1100GPH pump last year and went from having to clean out the stopped-up Sahara pump every few weeks because it would get clogged, to going all of last season without doing it once. The cheaper pumps don't have a screen to filter residue from the pump, and the Rule does. It was $75 here: http://www.zoro.com/i/G1913396/ As far as the wiring, I'm in the same position because mine is wired to the manual switch on the dash, but that's because the auto switch is broken. I don't remember there being a fuse inline though; the switch on the dash has a breaker built-in so I was under the impression a fuse isn't needed.

I would change the tranny fluid if I were you but I typically go overboard on maintenance. I change the engine oil twice a season and tranny fluid at the beginning of every season. My tranny was replaced two seasons ago because the PO's didn't do maintenance that well and reverse went out the year after I bought it, so I want the new tranny to live for a long time.

Engine oil - I use Valvoline VR1 20w-50 because of it's high zinc content, but any high-zinc oil will work for the flat tappet 351. Which oil is a long-running argument for the 351 on these boats, but typically you'll find people using one of the following:
Valvoline VR1 20w50
Shell Rotella T - either 30w or 40w
Mobil1 15w50

The filters "everyone" uses:
Wix (51515)
Napa (1515)
Motorcraft (FL1A)
Purolators are good too, I use either that or a FL1A.

Hope that helps.

Thanks jytron, I just changed engine oil yesterday with the Valvoline 30w should i switch to a thicker oil or should this be fine?

On Tranny should i run Valvoline Dex/Merc III ATF and it should hold aprox 2 quarts?

When my all in one sahara gave up the ghost on my supra, I did a lot of research and ultimately went with the attwood digital bilge switch and a Johnson low boy pump. The various all in one pump/switches weren't confidence inspiring per my research.

The attwood switch has no moving parts.

http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l225...tynNxKkCCg.jpg

The Johnson pump had good reviews and had a replaceable cartridge so it'd be a quick and easy swap if I ever needed to.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...uL._SY355_.jpg

Could I have spent less money? Sure. But upgrading is fun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Henner

Thanks jytron, I just changed engine oil yesterday with the Valvoline 30w should i switch to a thicker oil or should this be fine?

On Tranny should i run Valvoline Dex/Merc III ATF and it should hold aprox 2 quarts?

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which Valvoline 30w did you go with?

yes, for the tranny you should be running Dex/Merc III, DON'T go with Dex/Merc IV or synthetic. I always get as much as I can out of the tranny when changing it and the most I have been able to get back in to get the level to the full line is about 1.25 quarts. You'll be fine if it takes a little over a quart and is at the fill line. Be sure to check it after running it for a bit to make sure it's still at that level once it's warm.