In between engine maintenance

[Brettoh]

Not sure how many of you do any maintenance between the dealer services>
It will be a long time before I will be able to afford new engines so I am making sure I do everything I can to preserve their life.
My average engine run time each trip is between 6 and 10 hours and as many as 15 if we do an overnighter.

I check the engine oil, prop split pins, props for damage, evidence of salt getting in under the engine cowling, inspect the trim ram, steering system for leaks, bung washers, engine mounting bolts, battery volts etc before and after each trip
Aside from distributing about half a can of silicone spray on every engine part I can find I also use the grease gun on all of the grease nipples. Every time I add 1 single squirt of grease, just 1 , into the swivel bracket grease nipples water is expelled.
Thankfully I havent needed to add any oil but I am considering doing a gearbox oil change at 50 hours rather than the 100 as is recommended in the book.

Happy boating

[disorderly]

Sounds like a good preventative maintenance schedule Brett..

One other thing is to regularly remove the prop and check for fishing line..

As long as the seals are intact and there is no water in there I'm not sure how much is to be gained by changing the gearbox oil every 50 hrs though...

I recently looked at a 2nd hand yammie 4 stroke 25hp on a stand as he had already fitted the new motor..
Ran and sounded fine but the prop was beat up badly and it felt a bit iffy when i put it in gear so i cracked the gearbox drain plug and it was totally empty...

I passed on that one..

[Lovey80]

I check the gearbox oil. If it’s at the right level and not milky I leave it.

[Red October]

I check and clean all of the anodes on my Suzuki every 50 hours. They are always covered in gunk that impedes their effectiveness.

[TheGurn]

Be carefull with the spraying under the cowl.
I was told I gummed up my starter motor with too much inox after a while. Collected alot of 'gunk' on the brushes.... apparently.
I was only giving the motor a light mist, but it was over a long time.

[disorderly]

Be carefull with the spraying under the cowl.
I was told I gummed up my starter motor with too much inox after a while. Collected alot of 'gunk' on the brushes.... apparently.
I was only giving the motor a light mist, but it was over a long time.

Good point...

So what is everyones accepted under the hood cleaning method...?

A spray with fresh water and silicon spray once dry...?

How often..?

[TheGurn]

In my opinion, and only mine, there's too many electrical connections to let water anywhere near them. Sprayed afterwards or not. A wet rag and lots of wiping is as close as I'm game. And a carefully applied spray and wipe after.

Cheers

[Brettoh]

Suzuki say silicone spray. Inox apparently is not always compatible with all plastics and rubber.

I've a food grade version of silicone spray, purchased in bulk supply. I'm liberal with it and spray it into every nook and cranny. When I see any salt residue on the engine under the cowling I give everything a low powered, low volume spray of salt away solution before rinsing with freshwater> The engine dries very fast given the amount of silicone spray.

[BigE]

Light spray of S2S (PLID corrosion inhibitor ) once every 3 -5 yrs and don"t wash it ever. (make sure you use the thin fluid not the thick)
BigE

[Dignity]

And don't forget to place a small dolop of marine grease on top of your Trim rams every now and then. The hydraulic rams just bed into the motor framework and if dry they give enough movement that over time the oil seals will give way, the very small amount of grease stops that happening.