[Rhodes22-list] Winterizing motors

[Steve Alm]

Roger, Alex and Steve,

Thanks for the suggestions.  I didn't mention that mine is a two-stroke but
I disconnected the gas while the motor was still running and ran it out
while squirting fogging oil into the air intake.  I drained and replaced the
lower unit gear oil and called it a season.  That's right...it's over!  The
boat and dock are now on dry land.

Slim


On 10/27/02 7:40 AM, "Roger Pihlaja" <cen09402@centurytel.net> wrote:

> 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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> 
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