Flushing My Outboard....

[Nath_18]

Hey all just want to ask a quick guestion. How do i flush my outboard? (older modal Johnson 6 hp) as it lacks any place to stick the ear muffs onto. I have always just run it through a coupla buckets of fresh water to get all the salt water out but just the other day it made me wounder if im doing it right so any guestions would be greatly appresiated.

chears, nathan

For the older model OB's, running them in a drum of water is the BEST way to flush them, better even than muffs IMHO.

The two stroke oil that gets pushed out the exhaust gets into the water and forms a layer on the surface of the drum rinse water.

As this gets pumped around the OB the oil helps coat the inside of all the aluminium water chanells with a slight oil coating which slows / stops corrosion a great deal.

Some folks would advise adding detergent to the rinse water that you run your OB in.

Thats OK in my book, PROVIDED it's not one of the strong "lye" (basic aciditiy) type detergents (caustic soda based) that eats aluminium.

Obviously if you used the wrong type of detergent (be it on an outboard or even for washing an aluminium boat) then it could cause premature pitting of the alloy.

If it's a mild detergent that DOESN'T react with aluminium and it helps disolve salt deposits then it can't hurt I guess.

I'd sooner NOT use the detergents because - they also help to dissolve the oil buildiup inside the cooling chanels which IMHO helps prolong the life of the alloy of the engine block against corrosion.

Lots of different people have their own 'preferred' flushing routines, flushing in a drum always served me well with a Johnson 6 hp and two merc 20 Bluebands.

Now days I'm back to using the muffs because with the 4 stroke theres no 2 stroke oil in the exhaust and hence drum water to coat the inside of the cooling channels anyway and I can't find a drum big enough to fit my bigfoot gear case and 13 inch Dia prop...

Wheelie bins look to be the perfect size - but they appear to all have serial numbers on them!

Speakin of wheelie bins, that reminds me of an old joke..

Garbo pulls up at a house and no wheelie bins out the front, so driver thinks - hey I'll check with the owner so they arent stuck with a full bin for another week.

Knocks on the door - and a timid lookin fella peeks out nervously thru a slight crack in the door....

Garbo... "Hey mate - wheres ya bin?"

Timid fella..."ahh ahhh - Ize been on holidays man - wheres yo been?"

Garbo..."No bro, - I mean where's yo wheelie bin?"

Timid fella...."Ahh, ahhh, - weeeell, I'ze weally been in jail but don't tell de neighbors, OK?"

Cheers!

[Nath_18]

Thanks for the help Trouty. It's a bit of a pain in the but to constantly fill up buckets of water so ill try and find an old plastic drum like you said. nice joke to ehehehe.

chears, Nathan

[dacobra]

Hi Breamers,

Following on from Nathan's query and Trouty's reply -

I have earmuffs to flush a 97 Mariner 20 horse ( a recent purchase) and follow the manual instructions but I am
concerned at the time taken before flushing water is pumped
out. It seemed too long to flow through (more than 10 seconds) so I turned the hose and motor off. I didn't want to cook the motor. Should I give it more time?

When I use the boat in the estuary the water flows through
the motor in a couple of seconds.

Also, is it important to flush the motor? Plenty of boaties around
here never seem to do the deed.

Good fishing.

Some of the newer OB's have a plastic type coating on the inside of the water channels, and you might get away without rinsing it for longer than the older OB's. All the same I'd still recommend rinsing.

As for using muffs - maybe the water pressure is low or the muffs arent sealing to the water intake.

If the impeller works in the estuary, then it "should" work on muffs, mine sometimes takes 30 seconds max to come up to pressure and pee properly on the muffs. Any longer than that, if it does't pee, then shut it down straight away.

Maybe try flushing ity in a drum.

If it takes more than 30 secs to pump water from a drum then maybe it's time you replaced the impeller!

An addendum. Now I think about it my ol Mariner 25 horse used to be slow to pee when first started cold because it had a thermostat in the head that had to open once the head warmed up before it would pee strong....

Cheers!

[Captain]

I used to use muffs but now use a big plastic garbage bin with a tap at the bottom.
I found muffs where a lot of messing around and have been told that water may not get all the way through the cooling system of your outboard, as muffs don't always create enough pressure.

I reconmend a drum fill it with water and drop the outboard shaft in, it's the way a motor was built to run.

Cheers
Captain

[dacobra]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for your help - should enable me to do a better job of flushing next time.

Good fishing.