Maintaining Your Boat’s Engine

It’s hard being a boat engine! Unlike its automotive cousins, a speed boat engine is run at extremely high RPM’s and under quite a load when in operation also it sits in storage a whole lot of the time. It’s form of the worst of both worlds. Today’s marine engines are made and in contrast to their predecessors, really experience very few mechanical problems should they be properly maintained.

Water Pump Maintenance – Most marine engines are cooled by their pumping of lake or ocean water to the engine from the pickup in the lower unit of the outdrive or outboard engine. This water is circulated by way of a water pump which contains a rubber or plastic impeller or fan which pulls the river through the lake and pumps it via the river jacket with the engine to keep things cool. Perhaps you might expect, you’ll sometimes find impurities in water or perhaps the operator (some other person, I’m sure) that runs the reduced unit aground and the impeller picks up sand, dirt or other grit. These foreign substances wear on the impeller and quite often cause it to shred into pieces and fail. Also, when the engine is stored for a period of almost a year, sometimes the rubber in the impeller gets brittle and cracks up. In any case, it’s just best if you proactively replace the impeller every 3-4 boating seasons. If your impeller fails when you are running and you neglect the temperature rising, your engine can readily and quickly overheat and self destruct.

Oil Change – Marine engines are normally not run more than 60-80 hours each year and, therefore, will not require oil changes sometimes. Usually, it’s a wise decision to alter the oil (and filter) once annually at the end of the time of year. If your old, dirty oil is incorporated in the crankcase if the engine is kept in the off-season, it can turn acid and damage the inner engine components it is supposed to protect. Obviously, 2 stroke outboards have zero crankcase and thus no oil to change. On these applications, it certainly does pay to stabilize any fuel staying in the tank also to fog the engine with fogging oil before storage.

Fuel Injectors – Most newer marine engines are fuel injected and, when fuel is permitted to age and thicken during storage, the fuel injectors can certainly become clogged and might fail at the beginning of the growing season. To avert this occurrence, it is just a good plan to perform some fuel injector cleaner mixed in to the last tank of fuel prior to the engine is scheduled up for storage.

Battery – With proper your boat’s battery, it is going to provide you with a long period of excellent service. You should be careful when you accomplish a voyage to make sure that all electrical components are switched off and, when you have a main battery switch, be certain that it is turned off. Whenever the boat is stored for any prolonged period of time, the car battery cables ought to be disconnected.

Lower Unit Lubrication – The reduced part of your outdrive or outboard engine is full of a lubricant fluid that keeps all of the moving parts properly lubricated and running smoothly. The reservoir must not contain water within the fluid. The drive must be inspected no less than annually in order that the drive is filled with fluid knowning that no water exists. This is relatively simple and low-cost to accomplish.

Electronic Control Module – Most contemporary marine engines are controlled by the computer call an ‘Electronic Control Module’ (ECM) which regulates the flow of fuel and air and also the timing in the ignition system. Another valuable function of the ECM would it be stores operational data even though the engine is running. Certified marine mechanics have digital diagnostic tools that may be attached to the ECM to understand the running good the engines in addition to any problems.

Anodes On the underwater part of every outdrive and outboard engine, you can find more than one little metal attachments called ‘anodes’. They are usually manufactured from zinc and so are meant to attract stray electrolysis. Such a thing happens when stray voltage from the electric system of an boat is transmitted from the metal aspects of the boat searching for a ground. The anodes are created to be sacrificial also to absorb the stray current and gradually deteriorate. This technique is magnified in salt water. At least one time per year, you should check your anodes for decay and replace the ones that appear to have decayed greatly. Replacement anodes usually are not tremendously expensive and they also are designed to protect your boat from some serious decay of some very costly metal marine parts.

If your marine engine is correctly maintained, it should offer you years of trouble free operation. It should be vital that you that you know a certified marine technician locally. Associated with pension transfer things, “An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of cure”.

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