Winterizing 9.9 Mercury

[davidpm]

First winter with an outboard. Have had diesels last few years.

When do you winterize if leaving the boat in the water in Long Island Sound.
Any tricks to doing it in the water?

[night0wl]

2 stroke or 4 stroke?

[night0wl]

Here are steps I would take:

1) Empty fuel tank.
2) Drain all the fuel lines *COMPLETELY*
3) Disassemble the carb and clean it thoroughly...all the jets (saves time in the fall) then reassemble and remount
4) Put dry lubricant or spray grease on all throttle parts/linkages
5) Flush the cooling system
6) Flush the lower unit
7) Change the lower unit oil and top up fluid

Some have said that once you're ready to put the engine to bed, that to put a tiny bit of fuel in the tank...run it till it starts sputtering then put some oil in the tank so that oil goes into the block and coats everything evenly. Personally, I prefer pulling the plug and shooting some fogging oil in there instead.

[davidpm]

Originally Posted by night0wl

2 stroke or 4 stroke?

2

[davidpm]

And it is possible to do all this while the boat is in the water?
I'm assuming you have to do it from a dinghy.

Sounds like more steps than doing a diesel.

[night0wl]

Originally Posted by davidpm

And it is possible to do all this while the boat is in the water?
I'm assuming you have to do it from a dinghy.

Sounds like more steps than doing a diesel.

Take care of your two stroke and it wont cut out on you when you need it the most...maybe!

These 2-stroke Mercurys (basically a Tohatsu) are bulletproof engines, but can be pretty stubborn and ornery if they're not used frequently. Ethanol fuel really messes them up on the inside too. The steps outlined above are what I take to make sure my Mercury 5 hp 2-stroke plays nice...and even then, it quits for no reason once or twice a year, marooning me on the dink, usually in the middle of the New River as a 120 ft. megayacht is bearing down on me.

A two-stroke, 9.9 hp mercury is probably around what...100 lbs? Sure it can be done on the boat...but likely not while the engine is in the down position. It would be more comfortable and convenient however, to do the annual service on land. Lot less chance of losing some small, expensive part overboard. And since so many things in these outboards are spring loaded, its very likely you'll lose a part overboard while unscrewing various parts

Its amazing how a teeny tiny idle nozzle being lost can render your entire engine useless/a paperweight.

While it may seem like a lot of work...none of these tasks are particularly hard or time consuming. Just a series of 30 minute projects that when sequenced together can be done in a day. Just watch a lot of YouTube videos on how to do all the various things. Its not rocket science, these engines were designed to be worked on by the backyard mechanic. When you get into the bigger horsepower ranges (25, 35, 100 hp, etc)...thats when I'd get a serious mechanic involved. You could just drop this off to a mechanic to do and he'll probably charge you $300-$500...but for me, thats 30-40% of the the purchase price of a new 5 hp engine!!

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by davidpm

First winter with an outboard. Have had diesels last few years.

When do you winterize if leaving the boat in the water in Long Island Sound.
Any tricks to doing it in the water?

A 9.9 Merc 2-stroke only weighs 65 lbs. Why would you leave it on/in the boat? Buy yourself a stand, set it up shore-side in a trash-can filled with fresh water and a little Salt-Away and run it for 10-15 minutes to flush the sat out of the cooling system, disconnect the fuel line to let the engine run out the fuel in the Carb. Once it runs out of fuel/shuts down, empty the trash-can and let the motor drain, and while that's happening, pull the bowl off the carb and clean/dry it out, pull the plugs and spray fogging oil into the cylinders and turn the motor over with the starting lanyard a few times which will distribute the oil on the cylinder walls and clear and water left over in the cooling pump and then clean, oil and reinsert the plugs. You can clean the jets and do all of that but I'm not sure that's really necessary. Then set the thing up in the corner of the garage and wait for spring. You can do all of the foregoing aboard the boat, and leave the motor laying on its side in the boat for the winter, but I would not.

FWIW...

[dabnis]

Agree with SV. If left tipped up on the boat some water may remain in the engine and could freeze, causing damage. Suggest you take it home which may also keep it from being stolen, in addition to being a whole lot easier to work on.

Dabnis

[SVAuspicious]

I agree with HyLyte. It's an hour job the first time you do it and faster thereafter.

Depending on circumstances you might buy the brackets for homemade saw horses in lieu of an engine stand. It won't have wheels unless you are really creative but takes less room in season and is very much cheaper. I service my dinghy engine on a saw horse with 2x4 legs and 2x6 cross beam on the dock and leave the engine on a pushpit bracket for the winter.

[donlofland]

That's the engine I have-the winter before last I brought it home with the intention of cranking it up hooked to the water hose every couple of weeks. That went well at first, then we got some snow, and the plan fell by the wayside. So when I tried to start it after mybe two months, it wouldn't, and I had to dissaemble the carb to blow out a teensy weensy speck-then it did fine.

Last winter I kept it on the boat, started it every couple of weeks, and it did fine. But the water doesn't hardly ever freeze at my dock, (Everett, WA), so I don't have to deal with ice around the boat.

Pickling it for the winter is the other way to go, but I'd vote for starting it up periodically...