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what do I do before cranking up a 115 opti that was sitting a while

vroomZOOM

Regular Contributor
Hello

I bought a boat with a 2010 115 optimax. Before I run the engine, what should I do? The engine sat for maybe a year or so and I heard of bad things happening after starting these engines after sitting a while.

Any advice appreciated, I don't want this engine to blow up!:rolleyes:
 
These computer controlled / high tech motors required dealer support.-----You might as well find out now how a shop will treat that machine.-----Time to make an appointment I say.
 
btw what is the best software? I want something that will work for many brands of outboards I go through (yeah I know I will have to buy a dongle for every engine). I am looking at DIACOM by Rinda, ($600) then there is also MEDS by CDI, and candoo pro. candoo is the cheapest but which of these will actually give me the things I need to do? Yes I will bust out $600 for the software, if you think about it its pretty much three trips to the mechanic - or less:(. I want to be able to do everything I need to do (i.e. prime the oil pump) and AFAIK its done through the software. Priming the oil pump at the techie is about $150! I need something with a little more functionality than reading codes.
 
Hello

I bought a boat with a 2010 115 optimax. Before I run the engine, what should I do? The engine sat for maybe a year or so and I heard of bad things happening after starting these engines after sitting a while.

Any advice appreciated, I don't want this engine to blow up!:rolleyes:

Put fuel to it hook up the water hose and fire it up. It will not "Blow up!"
 
Ok! now we heard what the expert has to say! 10-4 will hook up the water and crank er up! This thread really scared the crapola out of me: https://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/881582-starting-optimax-after-sitting-3-years-2.html

Thinking to maybe give the air compressor a tad of fogging oil, as well as the cylinders, turn by hand? also they talk about draining the VST, anything else needed to give this thing proper TLC?

Draining the VST is not a bad Idea... What you can do is power up the engine and shift it in and out of gear three times in short order, this will put the engine in break-in mode and pump in extra oil.... The Optimax outboard engine's crank case never sees gasoline... There should be sufficient oil in there for you to start.. Compressor included.

When Mercury builds and engine, they may sit for a number of years before it is put into service.... On a used engine that has been sitting for a number of years, the condition is dictated by how it was put up for storage.... Short of pulling this engine down into a pile of parts, there is really nothing you can do to correct the damage that may have been done, If any.

So, put fuel to it, put water to it, power it up, activate break in, purge the fuel system and fire it up. After you verify it is running good, change the water pump, gear oil and fuel filter. Then run it like you stole it.
 
ok I just fired it up finally, clean fresh gas and added some seafoam. Before running I took the tank out of the boat, dumped out the contents, washed it out with fresh gas and put new super gas in it. Drained the vst, and primed it up with the primer bulb. I turned the key and fired up with half a turn of the starter. Of course there was a little smoke from the engine fogger I put in it the day before, but it ran ok, with two exceptions: first, there is no tell tale or water coming out of any exhaust holes or prop. Second is the engine runs ok for a second and then misses, it has quite a lot of misses. Maybe I should run it more and it will get better?

Thanks
 
oh crap... I will get it out pronto... is it the ethanol in it that destroys the injectors... seafoam can says that it is for cleaning fuel injectors. All over the forums people have said to use seafoam on efi motors so I went ahead and did... ugh!
 
ok so should I pull the injectors and have them cleaned? It sounds much better at 1500 rpm, but I don't want to risk taking it out on the water till I am 100% sure it is cooling and burning and firing properly.
 
alright, so the intermittent miss is still there. I tried a cylinder drop test, disconnected an injector one at a time, but for each cylinder when I disconnect it the motor slows down, and when it misses it completely stalls. What should I test now?
 
aha! now I have found something... All the plugs are like this. with the sooty band on the insulator. Are they SUPPOSED to be like this??? IMO not... Would that cause the misfiring? Anyways the injectors are out and there's only 3 of them and they are like $20 each to clean so I will do that and sleep well without thinking about eating a piston.WIN_20200710_12_00_41_Pro.jpg
 
Alright, got the injectors cleaned and it is still doing the same thing, misfiring at idle. If I go to say 1000 rpm it doesn't miss a beat, but at idle it is still acting up. There is very little water coming exhaust, and no exhaust or water coming from the relief hole above the water. If I connect the flush port to my garden hose there is no water coming out ANYWHERE. I don't want to take it out on the lake because chances are it WILL overheat. If connect it to the ears and run it, there is a little bit of water coming out the prop, and a tell tale niagara falls would be jealous of. But I am not sure that it is actually cooling the engine! Last time I ran it there was no tell tale because some dumb mud daubers filled up the pee hole, so I cleaned it out and it pissed. Few days later and the hole is daubbered up again! I am thinking they maybe plugged something in the engine. What should I check now?
 
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