Winter fogging or run it dry
 

There are two conflicting approaches in the process of winterizing an outboard motor. One approach is to pull the gas line and run the motor until it runs out of fuel. The other approach is spray fogging oil into the air intake until the engine stalls. Does anyone have an opinion about one approach over the other?

Fog it
 

I say fog it with proper stabilizer in the fuel system. I'd rather keep a carburator "wet" than dry and it's not recommended to run injectors w/o fuel flow (though in this case it's probably not long enough to be an issue). Now with that all said, we never fogged our old OB's. We removed the plugs and gave each cylinder a squirt of light oil and then hand rotated the crank to spread it out. They seemed to survive OK.

What do the marina's do when you store a boat there and they winterize it for you?

The purpose behind fogging is to put a thin film of oil on the internal engine parts to keep any ambient moisture from rusting or pitting the internal parts. Keep in mind on any 2 cycle (OB or PWC) when you fog the motor (given the workings of 2 cycle) everything inside gets a coating. Not just cycinder walls and piston tops, but also crankcase walls, connecting rods, all bearings etc. Of course when you fog a 4 stroke only the top end gets coated, but then again thats why you have just changed your crankcase oil and run the engine to get a coating of fresh clean oil through the lower end of the motor. Now knowing all the facts......what sounds best to you? :)

i've had the floats stick..
 

to the bowl (carbureted engines) when i've left them "dry" for extended periods. running an engine dry tends to leave a little fuel in the bowl which can turn to varnish and stick the float to the bottom of the bowl. then you get a serious flooding problem on restart many months later...

When I had outboards , I timed them to see how long it took to run out of gas.
Then I fogged them to see how long it took to die. I then subtracted the difference and restarted them , disconnected the fuel again and at the appropriate time , started fogging. The result was out of gas AND fogged;)
Not rocket science just simple math:D .

I fog the heck out of my 115 Merc in MA! I unhook the fuel line and then fog away, trying to prevent it from stalling by cutting off the spray when the engine starts to sputter, then when it starts running smoothly again, I fog some more.

After the engine finally stalls out, just for good measure, I empty the rest of the fogger into the cylinders.

Don't forget to change the lower unit oil first.

Smokes like a son of a gun in the spring!

Beware the dreaded hydrolock
 

Hi all,

I am a fan of fogging the engine by spraying fogging oil into the intake. I have two snowmobiles and two PWC to keep me in the spirit every spring and fall. I just wanted to put in a cautionary note...you should be very careful how much fogging oil you put directly into the cylinders. Air and gas are compressable and fogging oil is not. If you fill the cylinders with too much oil, the engine can not start. It is also possible to cause engine damage. So, a little can go a long way with fogging oil. :)

Jetskier:cool:

weinterizing outboards
 

I am willing to bet even though charged the marinas do not do anything to outboards for winterizing them. And I have not done anything either. Last year I took the 115 hp Evinrude off the boat and put it in the back of the truck, It stayed their all winter. Several said it will never start again. I had the easiest restart I ever had. however, that being said I recall we sprayed 30 weight oil into each cylinder of the 18 hp motor after it had been run out of gas. That worked for years without any problems.

I say that about the marina's because the less they do its the easiest and I think they take advantage of the customers. If you want this done. I suggest that you do it yourself. and it should not take that much time. Just prior to pulling the boat out of water run the gas out of it. when your out a spark plug wrench, a squirt bottle of 30 weight oil and hit each cylinder. Turn the motor over without the plugs in it. put the plugs in finger tight and do not tighten them. In the spring. take the plugs chuck them, put new ones in but squirt some good gas in first don't forget to put the wires back on. Yes in the fall or pull out check the lower unit oil.

Outboards and fogging oil
 

Well, Just this year I got rid of a 30 year old merc tower of power, 115 outboard. And it still ran, and we never fogged that engine. What I will say is that it was stored in an unheated garage most of those 30 years, and we did run the gas out of the engine. But that was all the maintence she ever got for winterization. (even when I had a marina store it. They told me they didn't fog the engine)

With that said some notes here, that engine was built with the idea of running dry in mind. Second it was a two stroke which means the cilinders where lined with 2 cycle oil already.

My suggestion to people is do what makes you most comfortable. Although as someone noted to much fogging oil is not a good thing. A relative of mine I believed shortened the life of his motor because he fogged it to heavy every year which resulted in a lot trouble each spring getting running.

I have my boat where it could be started periodically through the winter.It's a 4-stroke PWC.Would'nt turning it over every month have the same effect as "winterizing it",ie:fogging, by lubricating the cylinders and other moving parts?

Mostly but
 

You'd get almost the same effect as fogging on the cylinder walls but you'll miss coating the intake (of minor benefit IMO) and piston top and valves. My concern with turning it over periodically would be that if you haven't emptied the fuel system it'll be spraying fuel into the cylinders, and this would be a bad thing.

If possible, always run an engine, under load, to operating temperature and then for at least a few minutes whenever you start it. In your situation, you'd be better off just leaving it alone for the Winter.

Winter fogging or run it dry
 

I have a Merc 4.3L V6

When foggining my engine for winter storage......

How much fogging oil should be used. I understsand this is sprayed directly into the Carb.

Never fogged engine myself before, but have watched mechanic. Seems like he only sprayed into Carb until it stalled.

Can you apply too much fogging oil ?

Thanks for your feedback.

Bigdog

I do not fog my 1999 2 STROKE 150HP Yamaha. I run the recommended mix of StaBil "BLUE" marine fuel additive in my gas. My theory is that the normal operating oil mix in the fuel takes care of the internal engine fairly well. Layup in winter is 6 months. Have had no problems at all. I guess if it was a 4 stroke, I'd do things differently.

When I fog, I spray into the carbs until the engine dies. Then I pull the spark plugs, and spray a little more inside the cylinder. I don't know if there really is such a thing as too much fogging oil, as it has never been a problem for me. I winterize 2 PWC's every season (for the last 5 years), and I summerize 4 snowmobiles every season (for the past 10 years).

Remove the gas line from the 4-stroke outboard and run it till it runs out of gas. Put a little more Mystery Oil, a detergent, into the gas than usual, sometime beforehand, in anticipation of running it dry. Mystery Oil helps clean the engine valve train of sludge build-up and coats the carbs/injectors w/ a light oil. (Mystery Oil is a no-go if you use synthetic oil.)

Remove the spark plugs, spray some fogging oil into each cylinder spark plug hole, rotate the flywheel a few times by hand wrench, NOT by key start, to spread the oil around inside all over the pistons & cyclinders, & reinstall the sparkplugs. Sparkplugs are very easy to crack and break.

Remove the propeller, grease the prop shaft w/ marine lube, and maybe spray paint the propeller if you want to. Wax up the outboard cowl cover and wait a day or two to rub off the dry wax. Go to McDonalds's and reward yourself w/ an angus third pounder with mushrooms & onions - hambungler........urp:eek:!

My opinion is that you can indeed over fog an engine, and that in most cases it happens quite often. The run it until it stalls attitude is a old and ingrained one. However unless you know positively that the fogging oil is going into all cylinders at the same rate one can get more then the others. You also run the risk of fouling the plugs, and often people do and then cause more damage in the spring when they try and get the boat started. If you prefer the more is better attitude my suggestion is spray some into the carbs, once the engine begins to suffer and run rough stop and kill the engine yourself... Then you can pull the plugs and spray a little more in the cylinders.

To much oil down the carb and into the intake, can cause excess build up. Then you have to run that build up through the engine in the spring... If you don't mind changing plugs every year then don't worry about it. But if you want to keep maintenance costs down, play it a little conservative....

Most people have to change their plugs more then necessary because of over fogging... It take and incredible amount of time to get that crap burnt off and out of the system when you over due it.....

not a fan of fogging
 

I had purchased and older 85 hp outboard that would not start when cold unless It was primed with starter fluid. Turns out the problem was the previous owner oversprayed the whole carb with the sticky fogging goo and clogged air inlets. So be careful with overspray

Whichever way you go, I'd stil suggest draining the carb bowls and squirting some fogging oil, or WD40, into the jets.

Good luck!

I believe I found that out :eek:

Every year in the spring, my boat would run fine, but the speed and rpm's were always off. It took all summer long to get it to where it should be. Last year, I changed the plugs out and Wow! Instant help. Hopefully we did it right this time around, because the plat plugs are not cheap, and should last for years. And this is with an MPI, so no engine is immune.

You guys do know that plugs can be cleaned, don't you?

Etec Fogging
 

I have gotten rather spoiled with fogging my Evinrude Etec outboard. It literally takes less than one minute to do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvNBF8Az0ic

Hopefully other outboard manufacturers will follow suit.

To answer the original question, I would fill your gas tank as full as possible using a marine fuel stabilizer like the blue Stabil, Startron, Valvetech, etc. Make sure to run your outboard some to ensure the stabilized fuel is in the engine. Fog your engine per manufacturers recomendations, then wait for ice out!! :)

I firmly believe that with the new ethanol laced fuels it is more important now than ever to fog cylinders. Alcohol (Ethanol) is a cleaner and it removes whatever lubrication is on your cylinder walls. Fogging at least adds some sort of long term protection to help against corrosion. Plugs are cheap, cylinder walls are not...

Good Luck!

Dan

Dan

I'm with you,Tummyman.....I used to fog,but often ended up with fouled plugs.
Last few years I did what you did.Added marine Stablizer,ran the engine a bit and then shut it down.Starts righ up in the spring and I don't miss that cloud of oily smoke drifting down the lake.

I too don't fog my engine, I have and always do run a stabilizer year round in my fuel. I am very careful to make sure I don't mix different types or brands of the stabilizer. My personal choice is Startron and when buying gas I purchase from Shep Browns because that is what they add to the gas they sell. I have never had a problem so I figure it ain't broke don't fix it.

I don't have any current experience with outboards, so I'll assume they are different. With stern drives, from what I've heard for everyone, is that fogging gives your engine a layer of protection that "might" be needed. Rust and other corrosion can form if this layer is not provided.

It doesn't mean it will happen, but it could happen, and it's a very expensive fix if it does happen.

http://www.boattest.com/Resources/vi...px?NewsID=3884

Still irritates me that my dealer, once again, stored my drive in the Up position :(

I hate it when I have to clean or replace plugs. But the alternatives are much worse if my luck ran out.