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First timer BF130 Winterization

O

occh

Contributing Member
Hello, I have been taking my Boat/engine to a Honda Dealer since I have owned the boat (5years) and have been happy with the service. The dealer is 20 miles away and I recently turned in my truck lease, so I don’t have a way to tow my boat to them. Anyway, I was hoping to get some help on the winterizing. I looked at some videos and I know I have to drain the lower gear oil which I did yesterday. I am going to change the engine oil/filter and I remember my mechanic saying that he ran a concoction of I think gas, stabile, and maybe fogging oil ? Don’t remember exactly. I put a bottle of stabile in the tank already and ran the boat to store the fuel but I havent seen anything on the internet as it refers to my engine, running this concoction. I was told to take off the prop to check for fishing line then grease and put back. I will change filters next spring and maybe plugs.
My question is mainly about running stuff through the engine to lube internal parts.
whatever else anyone may suggest would be greatly appreciated
thank you
 
Hi occh,

Chawk_man beat me to it! He's a :ninja:!

It sounds like you have a pretty good plan already but expected winter temps and indoor or outdoor storage will need to be considered.

The removal of prop and inspection for fishing line is an excellent one. Only not just for winter storage. If you operate in a highly fished area, that's something I recommend doing at LEAST twice a season. Monofilament line....the #1 propshaft seal destroyer.
Also, while there, inspect the thrust washer with a keen eye. ANY wear should have you replacing it immediately. A new thrust washer is an item always present in my spares kit. It is an often overlooked maintenance item but will help make your transmission last much longer. An always fresh thrust washer and proper gear selection technique can make a HUGE difference in gear wear.
 
I don’t fog a 4 stroke, I use sea foam instead of stabil in my fuel, run the outboard in a barrel for a good salt water removal rinse and the sea foam cleans out the fuel system in the outboard. It also absorbs any water in the fuel system.

I store my boat indoors but unheated, engine full down so any water in the lower end fully drains. We get a bit of below freezing winter weather, storing an outboard engine up could cause damage to lower end/seals in a freeze.
 
First of all I’m going to disagree with needing to know the winter temperatures/conditions you’re going to store outboard in.
Lower Unit, every fall I drain the lower unit oil into a clean container, drag a magnet through the oil checking for metal and looking for water. I only put 30-40 hours per year on our 90HP so every second year the oil drained goes back into the lower unit. On alternating years I add brand new oil. It gets too expensive to be dumping 30-40 hour oil out that’s perfectly fine. Depending upon your usage this may not apply to you. Water intrusion will destroy your lower unit internals, ice formation will add to the damage and cost to replace.

Engine oil/filter, I change oil in the fall and filter every second year, again low hours for the filter. As far as lubing the engine internals I run the engine to warm it up prior to the oil change then after the oil change to check for leaks. I want my engine internals sitting in clean oil for the 8-9 month hiatus.

Prop and vertical storage covered above. One note to add, if your engine is left tilted up, out side, the prop exhaust hole will be exposed to rainwater and could possibly fill with water and freeze potentially cracking the bottom of the lower unit. Water expanding during freezing should expand outwards(the way it entered) but why risk it.

Fuel stabilizer and Seafoam, probably overkill, is added before the boat comes out of the water and onto the trailer for the winter. It takes a long time to completely replace the non stabilized fuel with stabilized fuel at idle.

I guess I do need to know what temperatures your boat will be sitting during the winter, my boat will be seeing temperatures in the -30C range so the battery comes out and sits in a heated crawl space. Two reasons, batteries hate cold temperatures and degrade quickly, if it ever froze and split I’d rather not deal with that mess in the boat. If your winter temperatures aren’t too extreme then you could leave the battery in place after a charge.
 
William01 said:
First of all I’m going to disagree with needing to know the winter temperatures/conditions you’re going to store outboard in.
Lower Unit, every fall I drain the lower unit oil into a clean container, drag a magnet through the oil checking for metal and looking for water. I only put 30-40 hours per year on our 90HP so every second year the oil drained goes back into the lower unit. On alternating years I add brand new oil. It gets too expensive to be dumping 30-40 hour oil out that’s perfectly fine. Depending upon your usage this may not apply to you. Water intrusion will destroy your lower unit internals, ice formation will add to the damage and cost to replace.

Engine oil/filter, I change oil in the fall and filter every second year, again low hours for the filter. As far as lubing the engine internals I run the engine to warm it up prior to the oil change then after the oil change to check for leaks. I want my engine internals sitting in clean oil for the 8-9 month hiatus.

Prop and vertical storage covered above. One note to add, if your engine is left tilted up, out side, the prop exhaust hole will be exposed to rainwater and could possibly fill with water and freeze potentially cracking the bottom of the lower unit. Water expanding during freezing should expand outwards(the way it entered) but why risk it.

Fuel stabilizer and Seafoam, probably overkill, is added before the boat comes out of the water and onto the trailer for the winter. It takes a long time to completely replace the non stabilized fuel with stabilized fuel at idle.

I guess I do need to know what temperatures your boat will be sitting during the winter, my boat will be seeing temperatures in the -30C range so the battery comes out and sits in a heated crawl space. Two reasons, batteries hate cold temperatures and degrade quickly, if it ever froze and split I’d rather not deal with that mess in the boat. If your winter temperatures aren’t too extreme then you could leave the battery in place after a charge.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing !
I also take my battery off of the boat and store inside.
So, is it useless at this point to put sea foam in and run on the muffs because I would imagine it will take a long time to get that stuff through the system or take a “ it can’t hurt approach”
 
Before you change the engine oil you will want to warm the engine up to ensure the all the particles are suspended in the oil add the stabilizer before you start the engine. Warm the engine up, change oil, restart the engine checking for leaks and let it idle for 10-15 minutes. If you have a high idle lever then you can speed up the process in NEUTRAL only. You’re going to pull the prop off checking for fishing line, leave the prop off while running. If you are using muffs then NEVER run it in gear with the prop on, every thing will be wet and slippery add some vibration and the probability of the muffs slipping off greatly increases. When I warm up my engine(on muffs) my wife is in the boat as the emergency shutoff person and I’m on the ground monitoring the muffs and readjusting as they slip.
I burn ethanol free fuel so theoretically I shouldn’t need to stabilize the fuel but I still do because I don’t trust any fuel supplier plus some states/provinces mandate ethanol to be added. I would recommend you take the time and effort to stabilize your fuel specifically the fuel thats sitting in the VST. The fuel in the tank is easy and happens as soon as you add stabilizer to the tank, getting the stabilizer into the VST is what takes the time and patience. These newer 4 strokes burn so little fuel it takes a while. A bit of stabilizer in the VST is better than none. Take your time and think the process through, if you don’t take the prop off visualize what a rotating propeller would do to a garden hose then visualize what it will do to a body part. Safety first!!!
 
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