Maintenance

[deerfield]

The July 2010 issue of Powerboat magazine offers these three recommendations for proper care of a boat engine:

1) Warm the oil before getting on the throttle hard. This burns off moisture in the engine and brings the oil up to temperature where it flows better and is more effective at maintaining barrier between engine parts.
2) Change oil frequently and use good stuff. Oil suffers fuel dilution (unburned fuel going by the rings) in engines that have a lot of idling. The oil does not get hot enough to burn off the fuel, causing the dilution. Dilution reduces the oil's film strength and diminishes its ability to draw heat from engine parts.
3) If you can find it, fill the tank at that start of each season with leaded gas (race fuel). Lead is a lubricant that coats and gets embedded into engine parts, and does not go away right away. Then run the rest of the season on unleaded fuel, which is dry and has no lubricating qualities.

I do 1 and 2 above (oil warm up and change as recommended by Indmar). Can't do 3.

These recommendation are written with the "psycho-power" engine in mind. But the logic seems sound and could have application even to our boats and the environments in which we operate them. - Deerfield

[T100]

Do you know if there is a specific synthetic oil we can use in our boat motors? I use synthetic in both our vehicles. Do they say anything about Synthetic?

[deerfield]

Do they say anything about Synthetic?

T100 - Good question. With respect to synthetics: "When changing your oil, D'Anniballe recommends using high-quality synthetic oils. Mobile 1 might be suitable for the engine in your Porsche 911 GT3 or your ZO6 Corvette, but it comes up a bit short for psycho-power marine engines. To name names, D'Anniballe recommended synthetics from AMSOIL, Red Line, and Joe Gibbs, adding that they do cost more than Mobil 1 and Castrol SYNTEC." - Deerfield

[AaronWhitt82]

Deerfield - I'm sure up by you some gas stations like Citgo will carry race fuel on the pumps. Usually you can get Sunoco 110 octane.
A place by me sells it out of 55 gallon drums and they are selling it for $8 a gallon.... A bit pricey !!!!!

[phospher]

Yes sir. Amsoil is top notch. Run it in both our cars, my lawn mower, snow blower, in Harley (before i sold it), and I will also be transitioning my moomba to it soon too.

Deerfield, did you read my reply in the lake michigan thread?