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Proper care and maintenance on an outboard(any brand)

papyson

papyson

Outstanding Contributor
The longer i am on here and the more i read problems the more i see people that would like to maintain a reliable motor but just dont know the basics...An old excellent outboard mechanic told me 40 years ago that a lot of people just wanted an outboard ''started'' and would not pay for a fix...that will always be true and this is not intended for those people...
I will kick it off with changing lower unit oil...i say once a year...
who wants to kick it off with another item?
 
Great idea!

Always treat the fuel w/a stabilizer at every fill-up. You never know when you won't be able to use the boat for an extended period. Unstabilized ethanol can lead to phase separated unuseable fuel. The alcohol in the gas absorbs water and causes a slug of alcohol/water to separate and settle to the bottom of the tank. All gasolines start to degrade w/in 30 days and eventually turn to varnish and water. Brown sand like crud in the filter screen and carb bowl is powdered fuel varnish. It will plug every opening it can get inside.

The last boat I towed from a hidden cove contained a young couple w/small children. They would have been there all night if I had not seen the mother waving frantically at dark. The owner said he filled the tank a year ago but never treated the gas. Just 10 ounces of Stabil would have prevented their bad gas problem.
 
If you still have the owners manual, or can get ahold of one it has recommendations for the first 100 hours, items to be looked at after 300 hours etc.

These should be your MINIMUM maintenance levels - operating in salt water, polluted water, sandy/gritty water or in areas with huge temperature swings (I see 100 degrees in the summer and -25 in the winter) are not "ideal" conditions.

So my tip is (and is accepted generally by all mfg's)

Even if you only use your motor on two or three long weekends over the summer, you should consider that it has run 100 hours (even if only ran 2) and do the required maintenance accordingly.
 
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