MERCMAN
06-13-2003, 02:19 PM
after thouroughly reading the corrosion article , i think it is very informative. its a great idea that scream and fly doesnt endorse any products without prior testing or knowledge. Its nice to know that greg keeps it honest and too the point with scream and fly , that is what keeps this website above and beyond any available magazines. heres my 2 cents on flushing, salt away and corrosion inhibitors.
first , i know alot of guys here probably love the quick flush kits available on all of the larger merc producition outboards and those other slightly useful 2 stroke motors..?? the grey one and the white ones? just kiddin! but this is something of interest to anyone using there outboard in salt water. these flush devices where designed to flush the engine while it is not running. i have noticed a few local guys actually hooking this setup up and cranking the motor as well , THIS IS A NO-NO! im sure most of you know this (just a friendly reminder) even though this would seem to work fine, your not getting enough water to your pump to keep it from getting hot and melting (over a period of time) how do i know this? ive replaced quite a few impellers early because of this , im not telling you how to take care of your own motor its what i have seen happen personally i am just passing the info on to you guys,another big problem with the quick flush is that when your out in saltwater , the heat inside your motor causes the salt to stick to your internal metals just like when your hot water heater has to be replaced or cleaned when it gets full of deposits(not common , just an example). these deposits form from the internal heat. when you flush a cold outboard your not removing these deposits , your merely doing a partial cleaning job inside the motor , the true way to clean the inside of your engine is to use a standard flush adapter and let the motor get to temperature while flushing with fresh water. this helps remove those stubborn deposits that build up over time and eat away at your cylinder liners(on plated cylinders this will cause them to peel/flake). i have been recommending and flushing any of my engines for at least 15 minutes when they have been in salt water , the insides still look brand new. in the past few years i have also been using salt away. salt away is pretty much a mild form of metal/alumi-prep and yes it does an outstanding job of cleaning salt deposits (when used correctly) off of all of your engine parts and boat. the kit comes with a little cup attachment that combines the proper amount of salt away with water. simple directions as well , you just hook the adapter piece up inline of your hose between the hose and flush adapter. you set it to rinse mode and warm the engine up and then set it to "soap mode" which injects your motor with the chemical , after the chemical has completely passed thru your cooling system you cut the motor off and let the chemical stay inside the motor while not in use. i was at first concerned about leaving the chemical in an engine considering that it had the same ingredients to clean aluminum to prep for paint etc. i was worried about it eating away the protective coating on the inside of the motor. i started using salt away by running it through my engine through the whole wash out cycle after it has warmed up and then flushing it clean before cutting the motor off , it works fine that way for me. but if you leave it inside its supposed to do a better job of pretecting the metals while your not using it.
on the issue of corrosion inhibitors i use to use one from crc that was awesome , worked very well but it had alot of build up in a very short time and the engine just attracted grease etc , it was hard to keep clean , i then tried silicones and wd-40 they worked excellent but would not last very long and of course the oily wd40 had its share of annoying build up. i dont know about you guys but i love my motors looking spiffy clean year round without the annoying corrosion you can get from salt water. i started using mercury's corrosion guard , it has to be the very best on my list , is leaves a tough barrier film just like heavy duty corrosion inhibitors but it acts more like a silicone film , it doesnt attract grease etc either. i thouroughly hose the engine down after every outing with it , its a "must have" for salt water!
last but not least , the sacrificial anodes! they work excellent as well , but if you buy a used motor or boat , make sure you know where it came from , there are diffrent annodes for salt/fresh water. not having the proper anodes is no diffrent than not having them at all.
it is a great article and very informative , i hope everyone in any type of water reads it! and thanks to greg and screamandfly for bringing it to everyones attention. i dont know how he finds the time to make all this happen and carry on a regular life , i know im not up for that!
(please excuse misprints, unappropriate uses of periods and commas etc as well as capitals (bla,bla,blaaa) , i wrote this on the fly and really dont have time to edit it! )
first , i know alot of guys here probably love the quick flush kits available on all of the larger merc producition outboards and those other slightly useful 2 stroke motors..?? the grey one and the white ones? just kiddin! but this is something of interest to anyone using there outboard in salt water. these flush devices where designed to flush the engine while it is not running. i have noticed a few local guys actually hooking this setup up and cranking the motor as well , THIS IS A NO-NO! im sure most of you know this (just a friendly reminder) even though this would seem to work fine, your not getting enough water to your pump to keep it from getting hot and melting (over a period of time) how do i know this? ive replaced quite a few impellers early because of this , im not telling you how to take care of your own motor its what i have seen happen personally i am just passing the info on to you guys,another big problem with the quick flush is that when your out in saltwater , the heat inside your motor causes the salt to stick to your internal metals just like when your hot water heater has to be replaced or cleaned when it gets full of deposits(not common , just an example). these deposits form from the internal heat. when you flush a cold outboard your not removing these deposits , your merely doing a partial cleaning job inside the motor , the true way to clean the inside of your engine is to use a standard flush adapter and let the motor get to temperature while flushing with fresh water. this helps remove those stubborn deposits that build up over time and eat away at your cylinder liners(on plated cylinders this will cause them to peel/flake). i have been recommending and flushing any of my engines for at least 15 minutes when they have been in salt water , the insides still look brand new. in the past few years i have also been using salt away. salt away is pretty much a mild form of metal/alumi-prep and yes it does an outstanding job of cleaning salt deposits (when used correctly) off of all of your engine parts and boat. the kit comes with a little cup attachment that combines the proper amount of salt away with water. simple directions as well , you just hook the adapter piece up inline of your hose between the hose and flush adapter. you set it to rinse mode and warm the engine up and then set it to "soap mode" which injects your motor with the chemical , after the chemical has completely passed thru your cooling system you cut the motor off and let the chemical stay inside the motor while not in use. i was at first concerned about leaving the chemical in an engine considering that it had the same ingredients to clean aluminum to prep for paint etc. i was worried about it eating away the protective coating on the inside of the motor. i started using salt away by running it through my engine through the whole wash out cycle after it has warmed up and then flushing it clean before cutting the motor off , it works fine that way for me. but if you leave it inside its supposed to do a better job of pretecting the metals while your not using it.
on the issue of corrosion inhibitors i use to use one from crc that was awesome , worked very well but it had alot of build up in a very short time and the engine just attracted grease etc , it was hard to keep clean , i then tried silicones and wd-40 they worked excellent but would not last very long and of course the oily wd40 had its share of annoying build up. i dont know about you guys but i love my motors looking spiffy clean year round without the annoying corrosion you can get from salt water. i started using mercury's corrosion guard , it has to be the very best on my list , is leaves a tough barrier film just like heavy duty corrosion inhibitors but it acts more like a silicone film , it doesnt attract grease etc either. i thouroughly hose the engine down after every outing with it , its a "must have" for salt water!
last but not least , the sacrificial anodes! they work excellent as well , but if you buy a used motor or boat , make sure you know where it came from , there are diffrent annodes for salt/fresh water. not having the proper anodes is no diffrent than not having them at all.
it is a great article and very informative , i hope everyone in any type of water reads it! and thanks to greg and screamandfly for bringing it to everyones attention. i dont know how he finds the time to make all this happen and carry on a regular life , i know im not up for that!
(please excuse misprints, unappropriate uses of periods and commas etc as well as capitals (bla,bla,blaaa) , i wrote this on the fly and really dont have time to edit it! )