Getting Your Boat Motor Ready for Spring

It is the time of year to think about getting your boat out of storage and making sure the motor is ready for your first day on the lake. If you properly winterized your motor you already have a good start. In this article I will try to give you some of the standard things most boat owners know to do, and also some important items of maintenance many people overlook.

Let's start with the easy stuff that you may already know. Drain and refill your fuel tanks. This is important to do even if you put marine fuel treatment (not the cheap stuff for lawn mowers) in your tank last winter because the ethanol in the fuel collects water over the winter. So, dispose of all fuel over one month old. Charge your batteries or replace them if they are more than two years old. Replace your fuel filters, lower unit lube and spark plugs. Replace your water pump impeller if it is more than two years old. Be sure to check all steering, throttle, and shift cables and connections to make sure they work smoothly and are tight. Just to be safe, check the operation of the engine "kill switch". Run the motor and pull on the kill switch cord to make sure the engine dies instantly.

Now let's touch on some of the items even some mechanics fail to perform. Remove your prop and lube the prop shaft. Fishing line under the prop can cause failure of the prop shaft seals, and now is a good time for this inspection. Turn the prop shaft, checking to make sure it is not bent; then re-torque the prop to factory specs.

Oil injection failures are becoming very common, so some maintenance here is absolutely necessary. All oil injection units have some type of filter in the system; find it and clean or change it every year. Check all oil lines to make sure they are not cracked or so hard and brittle that they will break in rough water. This final oil injection test procedure is a little more difficult, but consider the cost of an oil related engine failure. You must test the output of the oil injection pump itself. Run your engine in a portable tank with the 50/1 oil mixture, then disconnect your oil line out of the oil pump; run the engine at the r.p.m. shown in your service manual and catch the oil being pumped out in a measuring container. Check how long it takes to pump the minimum volume of oil and compare that volume/time ratio to the chart in the service manual. Reconnect the oil lines. Remember that if the oil pump fails, it may set off a warning buzzer, but if it only pumps one half as much oil as needed it will not give you a warning and your motor could be seriously damaged.

Last, check your owners manual or factory service manual, and lubricate every item listed in your manual. Read and follow all safety procedures in your manual.

The items discussed above are all jobs that need to be done every year. You can take your boat to your dealer, or you can probably do most of them yourself with a little help. Call and get the details about these jobs or if you have any other boat motor repair questions contact the Outboard Doctor at 888-294-8957.

Good luck, Ben Minor
Professional Mechanic for Outboard Motor Repair Technician