Routine Outboard Maintenance
After your motor has been properly run in, you'll need to organize a maintenance disposition that begins with systematic checks every time you use your boat. These checks won't take long, but could spell the unlikeness in the middle of life and death for your engine.
"Voltage Regulate"
Daily Checks and Outboard Maintenance
Daily checks should contain a quick look at just a few key items. First, make sure that your oil tank (if you have one) is topped up. If you have a four-stroke engine, be sure to check the crankcase-oil level and top up if needed. Check your owner's hand-operated to conclude if your dipstick should be screwed in, or left unthreaded when you check the oil level. Failure to do so could give you a false reading, and lead to overfilling or underfilling your engine's crankcase, which can cause problems.
Check that you have adequate fuel for your intended trip, and that the fuel-tank vent is open.
With the motor tilted up, check for excess oil buildup near your propeller...it could mean that a seal in your lower gearcase has deteriorated. (Note: Some oil film buildup is general in many cases; look for changes in the number of buildup. If it appears to be increasing, check the oil level in the lower unit as discussed in the owner's manual) If the seal has failed, take the motor to an motor repair shop immediately to avoid costly gear-unit damage.
Check for fishing line wrapped colse to the propeller hub area. If you ignore it, the line can wrap tightly colse to the propshaft and cause the aforementioned gearcase seal failure.
If your motor is not through-bolted to the transom of your boat, make sure the screw clamps are tight and secure. Many engines have landed on the lowest of the sea straight through neglect of this straightforward check.
Sniff colse to for any sign of a fuel leak, and if you find one, fix it.
Once the motor is running, make sure to check the "telltale," or "tracer," spray, or exhaust discharge, to be inevitable the water pump is working.
If all these items are in order, you're ready to go. There's just one more thing:
If you tow your boat on a trailer, and run it in salt water, flush the cooling system daily with fresh water.
Monthly Checks and Outboard Maintenance
On a monthly basis, besides the disposition daily checks, it's a good idea to remove the motor cover and look for any corrosion build-up near cylinder heads and thermostat housings that could indicate leaky gaskets. Also, look for corrosion at wire concluding connections... Clean and tighten them as required and then use one of the ownership anti-corrosion sprays ready at your dealership on all exposed electrical connections and unpainted metal parts of your outboard.
Make sure that throttle and gear-shift controls operate smoothly. Lubricate them as needed. Be aware that you should never shift gears unless your motor is running, so make sure the boat is securely made fast to the dock before checking shift controls for plane operation.
Next, run the motor with the cover off and check that none of the bolt-on components (fuel pumps, voltage regulators, coils, and the like) have come loose from their mounts. Make sure all wires and cables are securely led and clipped straight through harness mounts. Next, if your motor is adequate with an motor mounted fuel strainer, check to see if any water has collected in it. It will be easy to see, as the water will isolate from the fuel, drop to the lowest of the strainer, and be relatively clear in color compared to the fuel/oil mix above it. If you can see water, remove the strainer housing and drain out the water. Clean the screen element, reinstall, making sure the O-ring is in place before threading the housing back in, and re-check this assembly for fuel leaks after replacing the strainer housing. Simply pump your fuel primer bulb until the filter/strainer fills with fuel, and look for leaking fuel.
Check for corrosion at thermostat housing at top of cylinder head or motor block
Check for corrosion at all wiring connections
Next, you should check the condition of any sacrificial zinc anodes attached to your engine. Check for zincs at the lower portion of the mounting bracket on larger engines. There may be a zinc trim tab behind the propeller, or a small zinc screwed onto the antiventilation plate. Replace any zincs that are more than half eroded. In some areas they can dissolve quite rapidly, and if the zincs are thoroughly gone, the only thing left to dissolve is your motor housing.
Lastly, check your engine's battery, and top up the cells as needed.
Seasonal Checks and Outboard Maintenance
First let's define the word "seasonal." The way I apply it here, it actually means every three months, or every full boating season, whichever comes first. In other words, if you can boat all the year round, or for more than three months anyway, do these checks and maintenance procedures at least once every three months, or about every 50 to 75 hours of operation.
But if you live in a region where your boat use is restricted to less than three months, or 75 hours, reconsider these "seasonal" checks to be yearly checks.
Three-Month (or Seasonal) service Checks
Seasonal check-ups are far more comprehensive, and inevitable operations may want the expertise of your local dealer, but you'll actually be able to do all of the work listed here except in a few cases.
Grease Points... All grease points on your motor should be filled with fresh grease as recommended by your maker for the specific motor location. Keep pumping in grease until all the old grease-and any water-is forced out. It's a messy business, so wipe the old stuff away with a rag as it emerges colse to the lube point.
Propeller Inspection... First, be inevitable your ignition system is disabled by disconnecting the spark plug wires at the plugs. Then remove the propeller to study the shaft for any fishing line wrapped colse to it. If you find any, cut it all off.
Inspect the propeller for nicks, burrs, and any unwanted bends in the propeller blades. If the nicks are minor, you can clean them up with a file.
Inspect the propeller hub for any deterioration of the vulcanized rubber and its attachment to the hub spline. Any damage found here could spell issue next season. If this hub is damaged, you'll need whether to have the prop rehubbed or a new prop. If you're in doubt, have your dealer make the final call. You actually don't want to replace it if you don't have to.
If all looks okay here, wipe down the propeller shaft to remove the old grease, and apply a thin coat of an popular ,favorite waterproof grease to the shaft. Don't reinstall the propeller just yet, as you're going to run the motor to flush the cooling system, and you should never run an motor out of the water with the propeller on because of the inevitable danger from the whirring blades.
When you do reinstall the propeller however, remember to replace the cotter pin for the prop nut if your motor is adequate with one. If your motor uses a Nylock self-locking prop nut, it should be replaced, as these lock effectively only once.
Gearcase-Oil Change... The next step in the seasonal service process is to turn the gearcase oil. On most outboards, the gearcase will have two screw plugs clear in the side of the gear housing. Some engines, however, will have the gear unit's drain and fill screws settled on the hub just send of the propeller, in which case they can only be reached with the propeller removed.
To drain the fluid from your unit, wipe the skeg clean at the very lowest of the motor and attach a piece of masking tape to the skeg.
Get a clean box that's large adequate to hold all the oil in your gearcase and place it under the tape. remove the lower drain plug. Nothing much will come out until you gently unscrew the upper check plug. The oil will then leak down the side of the gear housing, down the side of the skeg, and flow level down the edge of the tape into your drain pan.
Carefully study the oil for immoderate metal filings or discoloration. If the oil appears milky, or if you noticed a large number of water advent out of the drain before the oil, then water has somehow migrated into the gearcase, indicating a bad seal.
Clean off the magnetic pickup found on many lower drain plugs and get ready to refill the lower unit with the spoton gear oil.
A note of caution here: Don't let anyone talk you into using level gear oil as supplied by auto parts stores. Although this oil may have the same distinctive rotten egg odour as the fluid you have just removed from your outboard engine, it may not be the same stuff. Typically, the special outboard motor gear oils have a water-dispersant additive in them that's not found in the automotive grades. Also, be aware that not all outboards use gear oil in their gearcases. Some use four-stroke motor oil, and others use a fluid quite similar to automotive self-acting transmission oil. Be sure to check the specifications for your engine. It's best to go to your dealer to purchase a box of the spoton oil and one of the special fill pumps.
These pumps are quite reasonable and fit not only the oil container, but screw directly into the threaded lower unit drainplug hole on your engine, minimizing mess. This is an important point, because you're going to fill the gearcase from the lowest up. Once you are set-up , Simply work the pump until you just begin to see oil seeping from the top check-plug hole. Then reinstall the check plug and snug up the screw.
Next, get the drain/fill plug ready to install, wipe down the magnetic pickup, and be sure the sealing Oring or gasket is whether in place on the screw plug or in the gear housing. Unscrew the pump tool and speedily insert the drain/fill plug. Tighten it fully. Wipe off any excess oil from the gearcase and watch for leaks. Your oil turn is complete.
Cooling System... The next step in the seasonal service is to thoroughly flush your cooling system with fresh water. A precaution here is to make inevitable that the flush adapter stays in place while you are flushing the engine. If the adapter slides down on the lower unit to a point below the water inlet, you could burn out the engine's water pump-or the motor itself-if it's left unattended for even a brief time.
As part of this cooling system service, it's also a good idea to remove and clean your engine's thermostat, if it has one. The internal cavity into which the thermostat and bypass valve fits is a trap for sand, salt, and general debris that gets past the system pickup strainer. With the thermostat removed, clean out any muck you find there and, with the motor running, run fresh water up from the flushing adapter straight through the motor to this point. You'll now know for inevitable that the internal water flow is unrestricted, because water will leak out at this point. Just run the motor long adequate to conclude that a good solid flow of water is pouring out.
After the thermostat has been cleaned, reinstall it, using new gaskets, and run the motor again to be sure the thermostat cover is not leaking. If your motor has seemed to be running too hot lately, but your inspection has now revealed that water is getting to this point in adequate amounts, the execution of the thermostat could be the problem.
Impeller Replacement. In addition to flushing the cooling system and checking the thermostat, you may also regard the change of your water-pump impeller as disposition maintenance. To tell the truth, manufacturer's recommendations vary on this score, some suggesting that you renew the impeller every year, and others that you replace it only as needed. If you commonly venture far offshore, where failure of the water pump could be a serious problem, replace that impeller yearly.
On the other hand, if you use your motor only occasionally throughout the season, or on a tender, for non-risky trips from ship to shore, I'd advise you to replace the impeller every other year.
Cylinder Compression... Now that you've run your motor for a bit to flush your cooling system, and have warmed it up, it's a good idea to perform the yearly compression test. Remember, compression is one of your engine's basic needs and a compression check can often catch impending problems before they become major.
For example, piston rings that are just beginning to gum up will cause low compression before they fail completely. Usually, you can cure this qoute by running a manufacturer-approved decarbonizing fluid such as Omc or Mercury "Engine Tuner" straight through the engine. If you don't catch this qoute in time, the only clarification is to take the motor apart. It's straightforward to use these motor tuners-the instructions are right there on the product label.
What's often not so easy is looking out what general compression is for your engine. Often the specs are not given in the motor owner's hand-operated or even in the workshop service manual. So it's a good idea to check the compression when the motor is fairly new and in good running order. Write down the compression figures for each cylinder in your hand-operated for time to come reference.
As a matter of interest, the actual pressure is not that important-it's the unlikeness from the norm that you should be concerned with. In the case of a multicylinder engine, start worrying if any one cylinder varies from the others by 15 pounds per square inch (psi) or more. If yours is a single-cylinder engine, a drop of 15 psi from the norm you established when it was new is cause for concern. The steps for performing a compression test are actually quite simple, but you must succeed them exactly for your own safety and the accuracy of the readings. So be warned-don't skip any of these steps:
1. First, disable the ignition system by unplugging the gang plug going into your ignition module. If your motor has an emergency shutoff switch, Simply remove the lanyard clip to disable the ignition. If neither of these solutions works on your engine, take a wire jumper lead and associate one end to a good motor ground, and the other end to the metal connector inside the spark plug boot. You'll have to use one jumper for each plug wire. Remember, Simply disconnecting all the plug wires may be a perilous move. Once you remove all your spark plugs and begin cranking over your engine, an explosive fuel/oil mix will be spraying out of the plug holes. A plug wire could spark and ignite this mix exterior of the combustion accommodation if it isn't grounded to the engine. Also, this freewheeling type of spark could damage the ignition coils or modules.
2. Remove all the spark plugs, and be sure to keep them in order so you can return them to the cylinders they came from. Considered study the enterprise end of the plugs, looking for any inconsistency in coloration, and for any sign of water or rust near the tip.
3. Next, thread your compression gauge into the #1 spark-plug hole and "zero" the gauge.
4. Open the throttle as far as possible, to ensure that the cylinder gets an unrestricted furnish of air. (Some engines allow only minimal occasion if the gearshift is in neutral, to guard against over-revving.)
5. Crank over the motor an equal number of times for each cylinder you test, and be sure to re-zero the gauge for each cylinder. If you have
an electric start, count the seconds: "One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four" and so on, with the key or start button engaged. This will give you adequate cranking time for a usable reading. If you have a pull start, pull the cord four to five times for each cylinder you are testing.
6. Record your readings from each cylinder for time to come reference. Use the 15 psi criterion already mentioned to conclude if additional activity is required.
If compression readings are lower than general for any cylinders, try a "wet" compression test, which will temporarily seal the piston rings, and conclude if they are the cause of the low reading.
To perform this test, get a can of your beloved fogging oil and insert the red nozzle tube in the push button. Now Considered insert the other end of the tube into the spark plug hole and spray into the cylinder with a circular motion to distribute oil spray all colse to the perimeter of the piston. Spray for about four seconds.
Remove the nozzle and setup your compression tester. Spin the motor over exactly the same number of times you did for the former test and correlate your gauge readings. If the compression rises noticeably, then your rings are beginning to stick.
If you've caught the qoute early enough, decarbonizing with an "engine tuner" fluid, as described above, may cure it. If the dry compression was actually low, and no turn is clear during the wet test, it's too late. Your rings and/or piston are worn to the point where major motor disassembly will be required. So be brave, and consult your dealer.
If two adjacent cylinders on a multicylinder motor give a similarly low reading, or if there was evidence of water or rust on the spark plugs from these cylinders, then the qoute is a faulty head gasket. This is commonly a qoute better left for a pro to deal with, but if you have adequate motor experience, you may want to tackle it yourself.
Incidentally, beware of compression readings from an motor that has been in storage for an extended period. While it's sitting idle, the piston rings will "relax" and retract slightly, often giving an initially low and misleading reading. All the time run an motor to operating temperature to ensure that the reading you get is accurate.
One last tip-if the spark plugs have been in the motor for the whole season, now's the time to replace them.
Fuel System... The next phase of the yearly inspection is to thoroughly check your boat's whole fuel system for any signs of leaks, loose clamps, or cracked, frayed hoses and squeeze bulbs. Any rust patches on your fuel tanks should be sanded and touched up. Also, study the venting system for your fuel tank. It should be free to breathe. Any restriction can stop your engine.
An easy way to check for a fuel leak from the primer bulb to the motor is to squeeze the bulb until it gets firm, and hold pressure on it to be inevitable it remains firm while the engine's not running. If it doesn't stay firm, there's a leak in the system in the middle of the bulb and the engine, or in the motor itself at the carburetor or fuel pump.
You may have to remove some way panels on your boat to do a optic check of the whole fuel delivery system, but don't neglect this important task.
Automatic Oiler... Your next job is to check the self-acting oil-blending system, if your motor is so equipped. Clean and study all lines and connections, replacing any cracked lines and tightening loose connections as required. It's a good idea to check with your dealer for specific recommendations for your engine. On some engines, oil' delivery pump diaphragms should be substituted as part of an yearly service.
Steering... Your boat's steering system needs to be thoroughly inspected at least once a year, but don't hesitate to see what's amiss any time you feel unusual looseness or tightness in the steering wheel. study steering cables for any signs of separation, cracks in the outer sheathing, or rust buildup near the cable ends.
Battery... Next, check and clean all battery-cable connections and battery tops. Smear a light coating of Vaseline or similar light grease over the tightened connection. If you're planning to put the boat in storage, remove the battery and trickle-charge it every month.
Two Final Adjustments. Last, you should have your dealer set your ignition timing, and adjust your carburetor(s). These are not procedures the part-time mechanic should exertion on an outboard engine. There are Simply too many costly tools required.
Outboard engine Servicing