Flushing Motors

moonie · Post by **moonie** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:06 am

How often do you flush your motors with fresh water?Is it necessary after each use,as I use my motor every day just about.

PeteC · Post by **PeteC** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:31 am

I flush mine after every use. I am in salt water though.

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:34 am

moonie wrote:How often do you flush your motors with fresh water?Is it necessary after each use,as I use my motor every day just about.

After each use...just throw the earmuffs on and run for a while.

Cheap/easy insurance

Paul

moonie · Post by **moonie** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:42 am

Im in salt water too. I was told by the bloke who supplied my motor I need not flush every time.
Cheers
Moonie

mike · Post by **mike** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:42 am

What about boats that are kept in the water? Is there any way to flush a motor in this situation?

--Mike

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:49 am

moonie wrote:Im in salt water too. I was told by the bloke who supplied my motor I need not flush every time.
Cheers
Moonie

You do not HAVE to...but like I said..it is cheap insurance. Cost nthing to do

Pretty much the same reason to change your oil every 3K mi, even though you do not need to change it until 7-10K mi now-a-days.....why not, and it is cheap/easy.

Paul

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:51 am

mike wrote:What about boats that are kept in the water? Is there any way to flush a motor in this situation?

--Mike

Not that I know of easily...we kept our powerboat in a slip all year..Once a year the lower unit came apart - inspected and cleaned, lower oil changed out. Nothing bad will happen as long as it is done at some point. Don't let it go into years, which is not uncommon.

Paul

Timm Miller · Post by **Timm Miller** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:52 am

Depending on what motor you have now........some come with a built in flush hookup. The Hondas don't but there is/was a guy on Ebay selling kits that allows you to back flush using an attachment that replaces the pee-hole..........you hook up a hose to it and it flushes back through the engine and out. I have had mine for two years now and it works fine..... It has enough pressure to open the thermostat spring. Look on Ebay under engine flush. Pete C got one also last year......maybe he has the email of the guy in Ca.

Timm Miller · Post by **Timm Miller** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:57 am

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... ename=WDVW

dclark · Post by **dclark** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:34 pm

If your in leave it in salt water and you don't have a built in flushing port, you're pretty much screwed. Don't bother trying the muffs, they really don't work underwater. You can buy the pee hole thing from the ebay guy, it;s certanly cheap enough, but has a minimal effect and doesn't get anything into the upper areas. You can try looking into the MST Guardian flushing systems. If you can figure a way to install it, that would probably be the best answer. But you need to be confident about what you're doing. You can try the motor in a trash can and fill with fresh water or I've heard you can buy a bag that's made to filt over the motror and accomplish the same thing. That would probably be easier to work with while in a slip. About the only other thing you can do is pull it out once in awhile and flush it all out real good. After a couple years, I had so much salt in there it was starting to cause it to run hot. I just replaced the thermostat which was completely corroded. With it out I could reach in with my fingers and pull chunks of salt out. That was after having spent three days with it in the driveway flushing a few times a day with a trash can of fresh water and salt away added.

Captain Steve · Post by **Captain Steve** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:40 pm

I use one of those flush kits off Ebay. Have had it for over 2 years and it works great. When I replaced the impeller in 03 , The mechanic commented on how clean the interior of the engine was. Flush everytime and I am always in the salt. It was a cheap and clever solution.

Timm Miller · Post by **Timm Miller** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:48 pm

So there Dave :-p

dclark · Post by **dclark** » Thu May 05, 2005 1:04 pm

That thing is fine for pushing water in the pee hole and having it run down the lower unit. It does not get water up into the other areas of the motor. It's certainly better then doingnothing, but don't be fooled into thinking that you are flushing the salt out of your motor by using it. You're just rinsing out the bottom.

mike · Post by **mike** » Thu May 05, 2005 1:13 pm

Thanks for the info... I like the MST Guardian, and I think I could handle the install, but the pee-hole flusher thingie sure is tempting.

We're moving the boat from a just slightly salty bayou off Lake Pontchartrain to what I assume is a much saltier bayou on the MS Gulf Coast in a month or so, and this post made me realize that I'll have to come up with some kind of flushing solution.

--Mike

dclark · Post by **dclark** » Thu May 05, 2005 1:24 pm

If you decide on the Guardian unit, I'd suggest first going to their web site and printing the install instructions for your motor (It'll be the mini unit you want, the others are made for big boats). It;s basically a unit that fits in the motor cowling (anywhere you can find a place). It has an inlet for the water and two outlets. If you can figure out the right place for outlets to tap into and you are comfortable splicing into the lines then you'll be ok. On the other hand it's not always so easy. On the Mercury for example, they want you have to drill and tap a hole for a threaded brass fitting. Last I heard they "believed" it would probably be the same for my Suzuki. It was one thing cutting a hose and adding a T fitting for a hose, but drill ad tapping holes in my motor based on a "we think" and "probably" was more then I was willing to do.

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