Boat motor tip

[Bduck]

With the warmer weather soon we all will be pulling out our boats for spring cleaning and maintenance. We usually know when the impeller needs replaced on the outdrives on a time schedule. My tip is if your doing a maintenance driveway run with your outboard motors and there is no water circulating coming thru pee hole doesn't mean the impeller is bad. If you have access to an air compressor shoot a blast of air up thru the pee hole and this will unclog any formation of sediment thats had to time to scab up over the winter months. When I bought my current boat in Everett, WA the dealer noticed even though the kicker started up ok it wasn't circulating. It was a salt water content that built up clogging pee hole. A blast of air fixed that solution. During the same time frame a friend who de-winterized his boat for a Bear L spring run had both outboard motors clogged. I suggested this tip and he called me back an hour later informing me this trick worked. This tip will get you on the lake but it doesn't mean to avoid a vinegar flush.
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[BearLakeFishGuy]

Before you blast a shot of air up the "pee" hole, check it first with a piece of bailing wire or coat hanger. The mud-dobber wasps LOVE to build a plug right near the opening. They can do this in a matter of days (I have first hand experience here). You don't want to blow a wad of hardened mud further up the tube where it become inaccessible to the wire. I've checked many of friend's motors and 99% of the time their impeller was fine, it was just blocked by a mud clog.
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[Bduck]

Your right Scott, I have seen the mudders clog the pee holes before but usually during warmer temps. Some folks shove a piece of weed whacker line into the hole prior to storage. My tip was intended for those long cold idle winter days when a boat doesn't have much use. By the time we put them to bed for the winter the weather is cold and lakes are on the edge of capping. I have been using my boat at the Bear during the cold season as long as its not capped. The last time I went out about 2wks ago my kicker showed signs of clog but pressure from water circulation forced a blast enough to clear it. I have it on my spring to do list for vinegar flush
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[utahgolf]

Interesting. My boat sat during july and august and in september I hooked it up to the hose to run some stabil through the motor and all I got was a trickle of water to shoot out. Maybe it's clogged? it was a pretty cold cold morning, could be the motor was too cold and the thermostat didn't have it shooting water? I only ran it for a minute because I was scared when I didn't see water coming right out.
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[Bduck]

That time of the year I would be concerned with the possibility of mud daubers to start with and going fwd assuming sediment has built up internally, time for a flush.
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[RILEYFISH]

So Roger, tell us more about how you do this vinegar flush?
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[Bduck]

Try using a barrel or plastic garbage can with a minimal amount of water(6-8 gals) to circulate through engine with about 4 gallons of distilled white vinegar. Vinegar is not expensive. Don't do it near any lawn or plants, it seems to work better than roundup. Newer engines can be attached with a pump system from the tank to circulate thru engine without running the engine. It will take at least an hour minimum for the descaling process. There are products that one can opt to use in place of vinegar for descaling and of coarse scheduling for shop maintenance. If its a DIY project and you have to run motor it would be a good idea to remove prop for safety purposes.
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[fish_hntr]

This is what my impeller looked like before replacing it recently.
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[GEEZER]

That puppy is TOAST!!
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