[Rhodes22-list] Winterizing motors

[Roger Pihlaja]

Alex,

I have no idea why some of you are having trouble with your 4-cycle motors &
others aren't.  I have a Honda 8 that has just finished its 7th season & a
Honda 9.9 that is nearing the end of its 3rd season. The Honda 9.9 is
mounted on our 10 foot inflatable sport dingy, which is still in service for
another month or so for fishing.  I don't use gas stabilizer & I don't fog
the engine in the fall.  These outboard engines are all aluminum alloy
construction, the cylinder walls are usually chrome plated, the pistons are
aluminum alloy, the valves & valve seats are some sort of high temperature
alloy, & the rest of the machine is bathed in crankcase oil.  What's the
point of getting a gunky oil film all over an aluminum intake port?  I think
the process of fogging was developed to protect big old cast iron diesel &
gasoline engines.  In all that time, I've never experienced the sort of
problems you & others have been describing.  During the year, I disconnect
the gas hose & let the engine run out of gas.   To make sure the gas stored
in the tank stays as fresh as possible, I always close the tank vent when
I'm finished using the engine.

For winterizing, I pull the spark plugs, squirt some motor oil into each
cylinder, turn the engine over by hand a few times with the spark plugs out
to distribute the oil, & put the spark plugs back in hand tight.  In the
spring, I pull the spark plugs, clean, & gap them.  For winterizing the
carburetor, I drain the float bowl.  I run all my old boat gasoline thru my
Chipper Vac or my snow blower, both of which have 4-cycle engines.  In the
spring, I start with fresh gasoline in the boats.  I had to rebuild the
carburetor on the snow blower after about 10 years of service.  But, that
was due to a leak developing in the float, not clogged jets.

The only trouble I ever had with my 2-cycle outboards was fouling spark
plugs, which tended to make them difficult to start & they wouldn't idle for
very long without stalling.  I've never experienced gasoline going bad in
their carburetors either.  These days, I still have a 2-cycle powered
lawnmower, chain saw, & string trimmer.  These power tools don't idle very
much & all have electronic ignitions, so fouling spark plugs has not been a
problem with any of them.  For winterizing, I do pretty much the same things
I described above with the 4-cycle engines.  With a 2-cycle engine, if it
won't start or runs poorly, the 1st thing to try is change the spark plugs.

Your problems sound quite frustrating, but I don't know what to tell you.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Bell" <alexbell@coastalnet.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2002 1:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Winterizing motors


> Steve,
>
> The professional shops use some kind of fogging spray that they shoot
> into the carb and possibly pull the spark plugs and spray into the
> cylinders. This puts a coating of oil on surfaces to keep from rusting
> and prevents the gas from gumimg up.
>
> After having two honda 8"s serviced recently, I was advised that while
> you can run them dry of gas so they stall, you don't really get all the
> gas out of the carb. That had been the tatic that we were advised to use
> to make it easier to start the next time we wanted to run the engine.
> (each and every time we came in we would disconect the fuel tank hose
> and let the engine run till it stalled).. I am telling you that this
> worked for a couple of years, but the gas in the bottom of the carb
> eventually gummed up. The shop told me that we should use gasoline
> stabilizer, which they sold. It is good advice. Use a generous amount
> over the winter.
>
> We have wondered why two stroke engines seem to be immune to the gas
> deterioration problems that four strokers seem to have. One theory is
> that the gas jets in four strokers are much smaller than the two
> strokers. The other theory is that the oil mixer added to two stroke
> engines provides the gas stabilizer. Maybe Roger P can expound on that
> thought train???
>
> Alex
>
> Steve Alm wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I've been getting conflicting reports on what to do with my outboard in
the
> > winter here in Minnesota.  I have a Merc 8.0.  Some say I should take it
> > inside for the winter.  Others say I only need to make sure the fuel and
> > water are out of it.  It was left outdoors right on the transom all last
> > winter with no problem but maybe I just got lucky.  Anyone?
> >
> > Slim
> > S/V Fandango
> >
> > _________________________________________________
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