Do 4 stroke motors drain water completely

[thefireman]

Hey all, have gotten quite a few different opinions on this. I want to use my boat (mercuy 90hp 4 stroke)into November. I live in Northern Ontario.

 

I guess the question is: Do I have to flush with antifreeze every time I come home, or does the engine completely drain so that I don't have to worry about any freezing parts??

 

I have read that if the motor is trimmed all the way down that all water will drain out. I also know that there are lots of spots that water can get trapped. What do you's do when fishing late in the season? Thanks

[Dara]

I have a 2009 60 hp yammie and it drains completely.

I used it till mid November last year. I even got blown off the lake in snow squall whiteouts.

 

I pulled it onto the trailer, tilted it right down, let it drain and put it in an unheated garage for the winter.

The dealer said it was the thing to do.

I am not gonna comment on how Mercs work.

[corvette1]

lower motor let the water drain out i start mine for a few seconds your good to go i keep mine outside i change my lower oil twice a year

[canadadude]

outboard motors are self-draining,it's not a closed cooling system,no anti-freeze is needed and they can be used in the winter.We fish the Niagara in January with no problems,except some engines run alittle rougher in the cold the never really get warmed up when the water is around 40F

[troutologist]

Ran my 75hp Merc 4 stroke til Nov 30 last year. Once on the trailer trimmed it down completely while cleaning up the boat, drained most out, then start it a few times the the kill switch in the OFF position, this clears any remaining water out.

[capt bruce]

last year we used the 25 honda on christmas day out off the nuke plant , and it ran all summer like a top , self draining as I didnt do anything special , loaded boat on trailer after fishing all day in cold cold weather, and home we went , was COLD that day but fishing in the steam got us a mixed bag of browns , sheepies , white bass and one huge eye .Never gave it a thought , but reading this thread maybe I should of , allways thought they drained , the small boat stays in the unheated garage all winter with the honda on it ,I just give it a good fogging on the last day of use and put her away in the garage . Hope Ive been doing it right , have not had any problems so far , plan on fishing the nuke more times this winter , will be watching this thread in case I need to learn something .

[irishfield]

My 9.9 Merc pro kicker even drains when tilted.. it has an extra hole in the front of the lower unit (by design smart ass! LOL)

 

One thing you do have to watch.. is some of the "pee" lines run from the fitting on one side of the power head base.. under the power head and out the other side. They tend to have a low spot and this can freeze and make you think the water pump isn't running. Most motors these days will go into limp mode if they overheat anyhow.. so not a big deal if you are actually frozen somewhere.. the engine shouldn't be harmed.

 

My Verado.. we fished last year right 'till the day the channel at the ramp was toooo frozen to get out on the lake. Stored in an unheated hangar.

Edited October 21, 2010 by irishfield

[Headhunter]

As others have said, should be no problem.

As Wayne alluded to, running your engine in extreme cold (below freezing) requires that you really keep an eye the discharge... make sure your engine is "peeing"

Runnin my buddies 225 Opti in December/January on Quinte, many times after launching, we found that it was not discharging water... the impellor was frozen. We used his kicker to get out to the fish and periodically would try the big motor to see if it had cleared... and it would. Sometimes rether quickly, some time after a few hours of trolling.

HH

[Tom McCutcheon]

Just a word of caution, that all of the above mentioned motors are running normal. If for some reason you have a seal in the lower unit leaking, which has allowed water in, then you may be in for a rude awakening when everything is frozen and a crack appears in the housing due to expansion.

 

Tom.

[irishfield]

DEFINTELY Tom !! This is why I do my oil changes on uppers and lower BEFORE I start the late fall Muskie season. The other benefit of that... is the new oil gets misted around the engine before winter storage.

[thefireman]

Thanks guys! Good advise changing the foot oil before fall fishing. I will only be fishing till November, cause most if not all the lakes around will be starting to freeze soon. It's cold up here.

Thanks again.