Outboard Engine Maintenance

Have you ever been out on the water and have your outboard motor die and won't start? Or worse yet, be on a fast moving water? Well its not very pleasant to say the least. Now let me explain something right now. I'm talking about small outboards from 3 to 35 horse powers. On my bigger motors I never fooled around with them, I just took them to a qualified service center. If they have a lot of electronics involved I would do the same.

To maintain an outboard for your power boat is fairly easy until you get to the inside of the motor, then you should go to a qualified repair shop. Everything inside an outboard engine is tooled to precise measurements exactly to size, unless you have the calipers and micro tools its best to stay away form it.

A light tune-up is very easy to do. Take the spark plug for example. Change them every year if you use your outboard more than 20 hours a year. Trolling is very hard on the plugs and they can foul easily. Don't fool around with them, buy new ones. The carbie is a tricky little devil, but minor adjustments can be made. Take the idle control, just use a screw driver, find the idle control screw and adjust as to what you want.

The air mixture adjustment screw is best to be left alone. If your motor just quit, its very doubtful these adjustments had anything to do with it. If you have an outside fuel supply system like a 20 litre tank, put a fuel filter on the line to the motor and carry an extra filter replacement cartridge.

This is off the top of my head, but most motor failures are probably 75% caused from the spark plug or fuel supply system.

If there are grease nipples on the motor shaft, make sure you grease them. On all moving parts use a white lithium grease, this is a water prove grease and won't wash off easy. Keep your motor clean, check the prop for any damage, the slightest damage can cause down the road damage to the bushings and bearings in the drive shaft, especially in the lower unit.

Make sure your motor is pumping water through the system. If its not you will have to replace the impeller located in the shaft line. This is fairly easy to do, but if you have a shift lever, the shift rod may be tricky to get it back to where it belongs. Its hard to tell if a motor is hot, but some will just quit, and when it cools down it will restart. Most will freeze up and then you have serious problems.

If possible, during the winter, store your motor inside. Make or buy a stand for outboards. If your going to lay it down make sure you find out which side to lay it on. I know Hondas have a certain side to lay on. Well I hope this keeps you out of trouble. It only takes a few minutes to maintain an outboard, and for all the enjoyment you get out of it it is worth it.