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Ok, I am curious, What does everyone else do? I have always left my gas line hooked up all the time on my outboard. I have recently talked with a guy who highly recommended unhooking it at the end of each trip and running it out of the carbs.
I can see pros and cons to both. What does everyone else do. I am Curious.
Thanks.
RILEY
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on all the boats/motors ive owned i always ran the carbs out of fuel
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There are only two times I run either of my outboards dry. One is if I'm putting the boat away for the winter or I know that I wont be back on the water for a few weeks. If you use a good fuel stabilizer then it helps to keep you gas from breaking down. I use sta-bil and they recommend not to run your carbs dry,so your carbs will stay coated with it.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Depends if you have oil injection or not.[/size][/black][/font]
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Her is my take:
1. I would consult the owners manual
2. In my opinion, I would at least disconnect the line from the outboard but not run the remaining fuel out of the engine. When the fuel line is connected the center bead is depressed allowing fuel to flow into the carbs, this will increase the chances of leakage into the engine compartment while trailering and such.
3. give me the boat and you will never have to worry about it! [  ]
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I rarely un-hook the gas line and almost never run it out. However, mine is a 4stroke and I've never had any prob's. See ya in the morning Mark!
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Mine is two stroke oil injected. Your thoughts...............
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I have a 115 hp and a 5 hp Johnson. For some reason I don't undo the 115 but do the 5. I run the 5 out of gas. One thing I do make sure of is that I have Staybl In both tanks. My boat is 1999 and have not had any trouble starting it. Thats 7 years of starting. I just changed my Plugs last year and they did not look to bad
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Although gas breakdown is a problem, and I'm glad you are using Sta-Bil, the biggest problem with outboards is gas evaporation! The fuel evaps, but the oil does not, therefore you can get the oil gumup the jets. Run them dry if you mix fuel and oil in the tank. If it's injected, don't worry about that problem.
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I was a mechanic in a previous life and I've rebuilt dozens, if not hundreds of small engine carbs. Mostly for neighbors that don't run their lawnmower/weedwacker/4wheeler/go-cart/etc. engines out of gas before putting it away for the winter or put Sta-Bil or some other fuel conditioner in it! 99 times out of 100 it is because the gas has gone bad and calcified, or turned into resin, or goo. This is caused by leaving the gas in it too long , without a fuel stability product being used. The other 1 time out of 100 it is due to bad gaskets or o-rings or seals.
The carburetor is just a bad deal. Eventually its gonna go bad. Here is what I do on my engines, some of which are two stroke, some are 4 stroke, which include: A lawnmower, a weedwacker, an edger, a 20 Horse Mercury outboard, which stays on the boat all the time, a 15 Horse Evenrude trolling motor which I remove from the big boat after every use, an ice fishing power auger, multiple cars, trucks, boats, blah blah.. Very rarely to I have to rebuild any of my own carbs...unless I just bought it from somebody who didn't drain the gas!
I ALWAYS use Sta-Bil, regardless of whether it is the middle of the summer or not, on all my small engines, and even some of my BIG engines. I drain when possible, or run till out of gas (such as the case with the outboards), and don't drain the others, such as the big boat, old Jeep, and the edger (its old and I really don't care about it...the darn thing keeps on running!). The Jeep I try to start at least once a month (we only use it during hunting season) but the big boat, stays unstarted, and full of gas and not drained, for 9 months out of the year. One of the reasons that I like to drain the small outboard is so that it doesn't leak gas in the back of my truck when I transport it!
I really don't think it matters if you drain it or not (even though I am biased towards draining), as long as you run a fuel stability product. Some will argue that the gaskets shrink, etc. And I have seen that happen also, but in most cases it was after an engine had been stored for YEARS.
All that mumbo jumbo said, I DO like to run my outboards out of gas after every trip, but like I said, I run Sta-Bil ALL the time, and the reason is because if you DON'T drain it, or run it out of gas, it evaporates anyway, and leaves behind all the deposits and bad stuff. The Sta-Bil prevents that. I disconnect the fuel line from the TANK, then hold the check ball open until it runs out of gas. This way all the fuel is out of the line also. On the Evenrude 15, this takes 5 MINUTES sometimes!
I'm also OCD, and some of my buddies mock me and make fun of me...but my engines ALWAYS start and run![cool]
Case in point: We took my cousins boat to Strawberry two weeks ago. He ran his engine out of gas last fall before putting it away for the winter, and he added Sta-Bil to his gas tank before putting it away for the winter, but his fuel line still had un-protected gas in it from the prior year. It had gone bad and smelled like turpentine. We didn't notice it at first and it took us about 1/2 hour to run all that bad gas that was just in the line through the engine! It wouldn't stay running, etc.
My boat on the other hand (used about 3 weeks ago) started up and ran fine. I believe it is because I use Sta-Bil.
I do not sell Sta-Bil, nor do I have any stock in it, ownership in it, etc. It's just a good product that I have used for years.
Randy
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I used to N.ot have E.nough T.ime O.ff to go fishing. Then I retired. Now I have less time than I had before. Sheesh.
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I do the same as kokeking. I was told by a boat mechanic that if you leave your line hooked up and dont run the engine for a long period of time you wil need carb work. Guess he was right because i cost me $300 to fix my carbs on my last engine.For storage i run sea foam before storing the engine.
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my motor has a valve to shut off the flow from the tank to the motor, so i guess i leave it hooked up all the time. but to kill the motor you have to shut off the gas, it has no kill switch i guess i could unplug the sparker, but its kind of far back to reach when you are on the water...i dont like to swim in less than 4 feet of water its embarrassing ask my wife. LOL.[  ]
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Sounds extremely dangerous to not have a kill switch on an outboard. I sure wouldn't want to have to always wait for an outboard to run out of gas before it stops running.
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I unhook my gas line and run the gas out every time if I don't it won't start next time without taking out my plugs and cleaning them or changing them OUCH there like 4-5 bucks each. I notice that in the begin of the year it would always start the 1st time out. Then after each use I would have to clean the plugs to start it. So thats what works for me.
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I have 74' Evenrude that I always run the gas out when finished. Never had a problem with it.
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