Maintaining Your Boat’s Motor

It’s difficult like a boat engine! Unlike its automotive cousins, a speed boat engine runs at extremely high RPM’s and under quite a load much more operation plus it sits kept in storage lots of the time. It’s type of the worst of all possible worlds. Today’s marine engines are very made and unlike ones, really experience few mechanical problems should they be properly maintained.

Water Pump Maintenance – Most marine engines are cooled by their pumping of lake or ocean water in the engine coming from a pickup inside the lower unit from the outdrive or outboard engine. This water is circulated by a push made up of a rubber or plastic impeller or fan which pulls the water through the lake and pumps it down and thru the water jacket with the engine to keep things cool. Perhaps you might expect, you’ll sometimes find impurities in water or perhaps the operator (somebody else, I’m sure) that runs the reduced unit aground as well as the impeller picks up sand, dirt and other grit. These foreign substances wear around the impeller and sometimes make it shred into pieces and fail. Also, if your engine is stored for a period of several months, sometimes the rubber from the impeller gets brittle and cracks up. In any case, it is just recommended that you proactively replace the impeller every 3-4 boating seasons. In the event the impeller fails while you are running and also you fail to spot the temperature rising, your engine can easily and quickly overheat and self destruct.

Oil Change – Marine engines are normally not run a lot more than 60-80 hours per year and, therefore, not one of them oil changes sometimes. Usually, it’s a good plan to change the oil (and filter) once each year at the conclusion of the season. If your old, dirty oil is in the crankcase when the engine is saved in the off season, it might turn acid and damage the interior engine components it is supposed to safeguard. Obviously, 2 stroke outboards have zero crankcase and thus no oil to switch. On these applications, it certainly does pay to stabilize any fuel keeping the tank and to fog the engine with fogging oil before storage.

Fuel Injectors – Most newer marine engines are fuel injected and, when fuel is permitted to age and thicken during storage, the fuel injectors can certainly become clogged and could fail at the outset of the season. To avoid this occurrence, this is a good plan to run some fuel injector cleaner mixed in to the last tank of fuel ahead of the engine lies up for storage.

Battery – If you take care of your boat’s battery, it’s going to present you with a long period of good service. You must be careful if you complete a voyage to ensure that all electrical components are turned off and, for those who have an important battery switch, be certain that it really is switched off. Whenever the boat is stored for almost any prolonged time period, battery cables ought to be disconnected.

Lower Unit Lubrication – The reduced portion of your outdrive or outboard engine is filled with lubrication fluid that keeps each of the moving parts properly lubricated and running smoothly. The reservoir shouldn’t contain water inside the fluid. The drive must be inspected at the very least annually in order that the drive is loaded with fluid and that no water is found. This really is easy and inexpensive to accomplish.

Electronic Control Module – Most modern marine engines are controlled by a computer call an ‘Electronic Control Module’ (ECM) which regulates the flow of fuel and air as well as the timing in the ignition system. Another valuable function of the ECM is that it stores operational data even though the engine is running. Certified marine mechanics have digital diagnostic tools which can be coupled to the ECM to learn the functional history of the engines in addition to any problems.

Anodes For the underwater portion of every outdrive and outboard engine, you will find a number of little metal attachments called ‘anodes’. They’re usually made of zinc and are meant to attract stray electrolysis. This occurs when stray voltage in the electric system of an boat is transmitted with the metal parts of the boat looking for a ground. The anodes are designed to be sacrificial and also to absorb the stray current and gradually deteriorate. This method is magnified in brine. At least one time per year, you can even examine your anodes for decay and replace those that have the symptoms of decayed greatly. Replacement anodes are not tremendously expensive and they will protect your boat from some serious decay of some very expensive metal marine parts.

If the marine engine is properly maintained, it ought to offer you a lot of trouble free operation. It must be crucial that you that you know a qualified marine technician in your town. There’s things, “An ounce of prevention will probably be worth a pound of cure”.

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