Winterizing An Outboard Engine

by Jim Hebert

An Annual Chore

If you live in the northern U.S. or Canada, your boating season comes to an end in September or October. You've got six months of fall and winter ahead, before you'll be able to get back on the water. Your outboard engine should be prepared for this storage period. Here is a quick summary of the procedure I use with my 5-HP FORCE outboard engine.

Tools and Materials Needed

Gather the following materials and tools before starting:

13/16-inch Spark Plug Socket
Needle Nose Pliers
Very Large Flat Blade Screwdriver
Medium Flat Blade Screwdriver
Saw Horse
Lower Unit Grease Pump
Water Hose adapter
Paper plates, paper towels, plastic garbage bag
Hypoid 90 Lower Unit Grease
Fogging Oil aerosol spray
Fuel stabilizer

Procedure

Warm Up Mount the engine on a saw horse or other support. Remove Cover. Pull cord from starter and knot cord at recoil mechanism. Remove pull handle. Remove cover from engine. Re-install pull handle on engine, sans cover. Connect the water adapter to garden hose. Mount hose adapter to engine water intake. Turn on water hose. Connect gas to engine. Start engine and run at moderate throttle until warm.
Run Out Disconnect fuel line from engine. Let engine run out fuel from carburetor. As engine starts to stall, spray fogging oil into carburetor. (Don't use the tube adapter, just the nozzle spray.) Count "1001, 1002, 1003", for timing duration of spray. Engine smokes (from oil). Engine eventually runs out of gas and stalls. Disconnect gas line. Turn hose off. Remove hose adapter from engine.
Direct lubrication Remove spark plug. Spray fogging oil (via tube) into cyclinder. Replace spark plug. Operate pull start several times to spread oil.
Lower Unit lubrication Place paper plate under engine to receive oil discharge. Remove drain/fill screw, carefully recovering the washer and screw. (This requires a very large flat blade screwdriver.) Open bleed screw. (This requires smaller screwdriver.) Allow engine to drain for several minutes. Tilt engine to drain completely. If grease appears milky color, this indicates presence of water in grease, which may mean leaking seals on propellor shaft. Wipe away old grease. Connect grease pump. (Note the FORCE engine has different thread than Mercury, so pump only threads on about a quarter turn.) Re-fill lower unit with new lubricant, until grease oozes from bleed screw. Tighten bleed screw. Remove pump and quickly replace with fill/drain screw and washer. Tighten fill/drain screw.
Clean Up Allow engine to sit upright for a few minutes to drain any fluids. Wipe off lower unit. Lubricate other areas of engine with Lithium Grease or other appropriate material. Re-install cover, reversing procedure with pull handle. Move engine to storage position. Allow to drain additional fluids. Wipe engine clean. Store for winter. Throw oily paper plates in plastic garbage bag and dispose.
Fuel Storage Add appropriate amount of fuel stabilizer to remaining gasoline/oil in tank.

Spring Start Up

When starting engine in spring, the heavy oil content may foul the spark plug. Replace the plug after initial run has cleared oil from cyclinders. Save the fouled plug for the next year's winterization.