Fall Winterization 25hp Yamaha 4 stroke

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I will be winterizing the 2005 25 hp Yamaha 4-stroke on our pontoon soon for winter storage, and the lake marina recommends the following:

1. Change oil
2. Change lower unit oil with new plug seals
3. Remove prop and re-grease splines
4. Grease moving parts/steering cables
5. Remove fuel line run out of gas
6. Flush cooling passages
7. Spray some fogging oil in plug holes

They say every 3-4 seasons to do a larger maintenance of changing the plugs and inspecting/replacing the water pump impeller, and that those things are not needed each year. We bought it used from the marina and it had a full service in the spring (plugs and water pump inspection). My questions are, do you all agree with the maintenance schedule prescribed? Also, they recommend using only Yamalube gear oil and engine oil. At Walmart, the Quicksilver marine engine and gear oil is a lot cheaper, so would those fluids be ok? Is there a big difference? What about the Walmart Super Tech brand marine grease? Thanks guys. This is the first year with the boat, so even though I'm a long time gear head with cars, I'm new to boats!
 
boat is not covered by any sort of warranty so you can do what ever you want... I see some marine products at AAP, mainly PZ and lucas... I myself avoid anything that has a motor brand on it... could load up good with the online discounts...
#1, I myself would try RP marine oil, I've had great luck with the RP marine products...
#6, not sure flush, but try and get all the water outa the engine if you can... plugs are cheap, replace every year after spring start up...
Please say your doing this yourself...
sounds like a nice little motor to work on...
 
Originally Posted By: JMHC
I will be winterizing the 2005 25 hp Yamaha 4-stroke on our pontoon soon for winter storage, and the lake marina recommends the following:

1. Change oil
2. Change lower unit oil with new plug seals
3. Remove prop and re-grease splines
4. Grease moving parts/steering cables
5. Remove fuel line run out of gas
6. Flush cooling passages
7. Spray some fogging oil in plug holes

They say every 3-4 seasons to do a larger maintenance of changing the plugs and inspecting/replacing the water pump impeller, and that those things are not needed each year. We bought it used from the marina and it had a full service in the spring (plugs and water pump inspection). My questions are, do you all agree with the maintenance schedule prescribed? Also, they recommend using only Yamalube gear oil and engine oil. At Walmart, the Quicksilver marine engine and gear oil is a lot cheaper, so would those fluids be ok? Is there a big difference? What about the Walmart Super Tech brand marine grease? Thanks guys. This is the first year with the boat, so even though I'm a long time gear head with cars, I'm new to boats!


Sounds like a good plan schedule wise to me. That is what I do. One point I will bring up though is about the "flushing the coolant passages". If the motor is not used in saltwater there is no need to do this. Every time you run it in fresh water you are flushing the coolant passages. Unless it is run in a really muddy water or water with a lot of algea I would not consider that a need.

Also, as the member above said try and get all the water out as well before storing. Best way I know is to literally put your mouth over the water outlet tube and blow as hard as you can. You should feel resistance at 1st and then as the water is blown down and out you will feel it free up and you should hear the air coming out at the intake on the lower unit. I use my boat into Feb each year so this is SOP for me every time I pull the boat so it doesn't freeze between uses. Works great.

Even the part about every 3-4 year doing the impellor is spot on. Plugs in a 4-stroke can go 3-4 years. No need to do them every year as a 4-stroke is not hard on plugs the way 2-strokes are. However, if they are easy to change and you want to do it sooner do so. I do mine every other year.

The part I don't agree with is only using OEM fluids. All mfg's regardless of what they make( i.e. car, ATV, marine, motorcycle, etc... )always say use our OEM brand fluids. Yamaha is no different. Yamalube products are very good( nothing overly special )but very $$$. Same applies to the Mercury/Mercruiser stuff. Just use the correct marine grade fluids and you are fine.

Pennzoil makes decent marine products and at least my local Wal-Mart has their gear oil and 4-stroke oil in stock. They also have Quaker State 4-stroke oil too. Royal Purple and Amsoil also make excellent marine products. I can get RP marine 4-stroke oil and 80W90 gear oil on E-Bay from Jegs with free shipping for cheap money.

In my Mercury 40HP 4-stroke I have used the OEM Mercury fluids and they have worked fine as you would expect but pretty $$$ for conventional and blend products. Have used Amsoil oil( got it from Pablo here at BITOG )and that worked good. I now run RP oil and it works really well. I just got some RP gear oil for the lower unit to try for the 1st time.

Nothing wrong with Yamalube or Mercury fluids if that is what you want to run though. IMO though use only Marine grade fluids.
 
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Don't know why they would want to remove the prop. Marina's typically get carried away with all-things-winerization and scare the beegees out of boat owners. If you got fuel injection, get the fuel as low as you can in the boat and dump some stabil in it and drive it around so that the stabil can get through the gas lines and fuel injectors and leave it at that. Make sure you got non-ethanol fuel. If you don't have over 40 hours or so of use this summer, outdrive fluid will be OK until next year....why spend money for new oil when the older oil is still good. Same with engine oil. If your going to have that boat back in the water within 6 months, fogging isn't necessary. Look for a block drain and get all the water out of the engine and fill with antifreeze....also, cover the boat with a good heavy duty cover or garage park it with engine down.
 
Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Don't know why they would want to remove the prop.


I have always removed my prop every year and lightly greased the splines on the shaft. It is a recommended procedure in the owner's manual of my current outboard actually. If your motor is older and still has a shear pin in there it is good to change them each year as well. Especially if you hit something but didn't break it. Only a matter of time.

Originally Posted By: schmoe
Marina's typically get carried away with all-things-winerization and scare the beegees out of boat owners...why spend money for new oil when the older oil is still good. Same with engine oil.


I don't think proper winterization is getting carried away. Outboards cost a LOT of money to buy, and then repair if they break, so a little preventative maintenance once a year is a good thing IMO.

One of my friends had me service his OB just last week for him after I did mine. He was against me doing the lower unit though as in his words "it was done 2-3 years ago and is fine". I talked him into it though and good thing as it was FULL of water in there. Clearly something seal wise has happened.

The lower unit oil, and the engine oil, should be changed EVERY YEAR unless you just don't use the motor. Even if the fluids are still good it is a good way to keep an eye on things for failures by changing them. I found I had a bad t-stat by changing the oil in my OB early. Had a lot of condensation in there. Just cheap insurance against a very costly repair or total loss.

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Make sure you got non-ethanol fuel.


Ethanol free gas is not an option for everyone. The only place in my area/state it can be had is at some small airports BUT it is only legal for use in airplanes. I can't go there and even buy it for other use.

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
If your going to have that boat back in the water within 6 months, fogging isn't necessary.


I agree fogging is not "needed" if the boat will go back in shortly but it is so easy and cheap to do why not? Doesn't hurt anything.

Nothing here is intended to be offensive Schmoe. I just don't agree and was explaining why. I think what the marina recommended to the OP was very reasonable.
 
Those comments were based on my experience as a Mercruiser technician from 1986 while in college, to today. A lot of stuff marina's are wanting you to do are the mindset of the 3K mile oil change. I have winterized 100's of boats and never had a problem the next year on any of them. Again, the oil and fluid changes are all based on times. Not understanding the logic on greasing the splines. I've seen more damage to outdrives from people removing the prop. because they didn't have the correct tools to remove the nut and then on Mercruisers, you have the thrust bearing and the thin metal locking washing that gets damaged just as easily. A proper marine grade grease applied during installation will be sufficient until you have to remove it. If you were to hit something underwater, you'll know fairly quickly if damage has occurred.
 
Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to go ahead and do the full list. I have to hook up the hose to run the motor anyway to get the gas out so I might as well flush the passages even though it's in fresh water. I'll get whatever marine fluids I find to save a few bucks. I generally over maintain my lawn equipment and cars, and even though it costs me a few bucks, everything always starts the next season no problem! The book value on this outboard is over $2000 so I'd rather do more than less to avoid issues.
 
Also,find the grease zerk on the Foot of the motor,get your grease gun and shoot the Foot full of new grease. The old grease and any water will ouze out as you pump in new grease. Do this after your last run each year.
 
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