Not only does this extend the life of his motors, it puts him in a stronger position if warranty issues arise.
#10 HP MERCURY MOTOR FREE#
My tuna-fishing friend adds Ring Free to every tank of gas, as recommended by Yamaha. In a perfect world, you’d use fuel wholly without ethanol, especially with older motors, but finding pure gas is problematic today. Other motors get the filter replaced every 100 hours.Īlso, never use gas with more than 10 percent ethanol, and always add a fuel stabilizer. First of all, before pulling apart the fuel filter under the cowling, remember it’s RTFM time again: On Mercury Verados, for example, there’s an inline filter on the high-pressure side of the fuel system, and the manufacturer recommends it be serviced by a mechanic every three years. There are a couple of other things to keep in mind. Since then, I’ve owned two Yamahas, which would have Dad turning over in his grave if he hadn’t been buried at sea.) Funny thing about that motor-it only had two speeds, idle and wide-open.
(We were an Evinrude family, and my father wouldn’t let me have any other motor. E-TECs are a far cry from the 10-hp Evinrude I abused every summer in the mid-60s. There’s no excuse for not doing it right. You can do this in the water (don’t run the engine afterwards), or with a garden hose for cooling. Push “winterize,” and the engine runs for 90 seconds with double oil, then shuts down. And, she added, outboards that are used more frequently are known to last longer.Į-TECs are sophisticated, with digital steering and controls and other interesting high-tech capabilities: For example, they can be winterized via the electronic control panel. (Water pumps, for example, can last for hundreds of hours unless they suck in a lot of sand or other debris.) Ultimately, the proper care of the outboard-meaning service, replace when necessary, lubricate when recommended-extends the life of the motor. In the past, common maintenance items such as spark plugs, water pumps, lower-unit lube and fuel filters were replaced on a yearly basis, even if they did not need it, she said.
Elaine Arsenault, senior media adviser at BRP (Evinrude’s parent company), said there are Evinrudes “all over the globe” with several thousand hours on the clock. Being two-stroke engines, they have no crankcase oil to change, and have fewer moving parts than four-strokes that means fewer parts that need maintenance, and fewer parts to fail.
How does one know? RTFM: Read The Friggin’ Manual.Įvinrude E-TECs have a longer service interval than other outboards: five years or 500 hours for the latest G2 engines. Hauling your boat is necessary to meet service intervals on most outboards.