Page 60 - BNB Fishing mag | May 2020

BOATING OATING
& marine
HEssential outboard maintenance
I, Craig Tomkinson here. I hope and fill the drum with water.
everyone is coping well in these Start the motor and let it run until it trying times and keeping active warms up to around operating temp to give
Boating Maintenance
by CRAIG TOMKINSON
while isolating. the motor a good flush and get the thermo-
Until the last 10 days of school holidays, I was working – for 12 weeks. So when I did get time off, I came home and ate and slept for the first three to four days.
Now many people are daunted by the thought of servicing an outboard. Though it’s no different to your car or 4WD except the motor is horizontal – that’s it.
stat working.
Check the prop in the drum is clear of
It was great because I was stuffed from working and needed a good break. After recovering, I thought I’d give our cars, four-wheel-drive, lawn mowers and gear a good going over.
In fact, if you flush your motor you should change the oil and filter every 50 to 100 hours, depending on how hard it works.
everything, and at a slow idle put it in forward gear for a short time and then in reverse.
I started with the 60hp Yamaha outboard on my 5m tinnie. I had a supply of oil as I’d previously bought 40 litres of Caltex Delo 400 MGX SAE 15W-40 – I’ve used Caltex oil in my motors for over 45 years.
You shouldn’t have to tune it or bugger around with it. Because there doesn’t seem to be any difference in oil colour after 60 to 80 hours I generally rotate between a genuine and non-genuine oil filter, both do a great job.
This stirs the oil up in the gearbox, which will be changed later. Drain the water out of the drum, move it away and make sure the motor is level.
I bought the filters from Slips AutoMate Spares in Cooroy, and because they’ve supplied me for years, they give me a great price.
I tend to change my oil filter frequently as oil is cheap when compared to a rebuild. My preference is to put a 200-litre drum, with the top cut out, under my outboard leg
Next take the cowling off, undo the yel- low fill plug in the top of the motor and take the drain bung out. Drop the oil out of the motor into a 4L container and have a rag there to wipe drips.
The colour of the author’s gearbox oil is fine, it just needed changing. Better this colour than milky.The author used an impact driver to get the stainless steel plugs out and put them back in tight.
Using a two-litre container and funnel to pour the new oil into the motor.
Page 60 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, May 2020
Check the dipstick after each litre to con- firm it’s at the right level, and when full put the top fill plug back in. Put the 200-litre drum back under the leg, fill the drum with water and start the motor.
You could set up a frame to hold the con- tainer so you can have a refreshing bever- age while it drains. Once the oil has slowed to a drip, undo the old oil filter with an oil filter strap wrench and remove it.
Where the new filter seals, wipe the surface with a clean rag. On the new filter make sure to remove the thin plastic cover and wipe a smear of new oil on the O-ring seal on the top of the filter.
Screw it back on and do it up firmly by hand, then wipe the motor bung clean and put it back in the motor. Tighten the screws but do not over-tighten otherwise you’ll strip the thread.
Four-stroke outboards are easy to overfill with oil, so ensure you read how much oil to put in yours. My motor takes 2.2 litres of oil, so I use a small funnel in the top oil fill plughole and slowly pour in a two-litre container of oil.
To make sure there are no leaks around the new oil filter, increase the RPM a little and after running it for a while, check the filter again.
If no leaks are visible shut the motor off and let the oil settle before checking the level again with the dipstick. If the level is low, add a little more oil. Then drain the drum and put the cowl back on.
To change the leg oil, make sure the mo- tor is level and prepare an impact driver with a big flat screwdriver head.
With the impact driver set to turn left put in the flat-headed top screw on the gearbox and hit the back of it with a hammer a couple of times until it be-
* continued P61 www.bnb shing.com.au