I now have a pontoon boat with a 90 hp Mercury EFI outboard engine. Every boat I have had until now has been in an inboard/outboard so this is all new to me.
I kept hearing from various folks that there’s really nothing I need to do to winterize the engine so after an hour and a half (no kidding) I was finally able to get it into my garage safely for the winter (I live in Montana).
Yesterday I was talking to a friend who has a fishing/diving boat with two large outboards and he told me I had to run the fuel out of the engines or my injectors would “lacquer up” and I would have to have them serviced next Spring.
This is the first I have heard about this lacquering problem, and spending an hour getting the boat out of the garage so that I can run the engines dry and then another hour and and half getting it back into the garage seems like a lot of effort, especially if it’s not really necessary. BTW, I can heat the garage above freezing for the whole winter if I have to.
So before I do this I wanted to run it by you experts to see if 1) I really have to do this and 2) if there is some alternative to just ruining the engines dry?
I would sure want to run the fuel system dry. The gas degrades and gets varnishy/gummy and may cause a headache come spring. Put some Sta-Bil in the tank to keep any leftover gas fresh (or better yet, use it in something else and start fresh next season)
How long can you safely run dry before any impeller damage? Might be long enough to purge the fuel from the lines. If you think so, run 'em where they sit! Open the garage doors first, please!
Why did it take an hour and a half to get into the garage?
It took an hour and a half to get it into the garage because the boat is too tall so I had to let the air out of the tires and remove parts of the boat and the garage door to squeeze it in.
I don’t think I want to run the engine without water… seems like a risky thing to do to a brand new engine.
Does it matter that I only buy fuel without ethanol in it?
I think the manual is saying to drain the fuel, especially if it has ethanol but if you do not use fuel stabilizer. I would drain it.
My parents and G-parents would drain the fuel and clean the cooling system at the same time. Run the engine with the prop and water intake in a trash can full of water. Let the engine run long enough to clean out any lake/river gunk and then hit the fuel cutoff valve or disconnect the fuel tank and let it run out of gas. Do not rev the engine much as water will go everywhere.
