4 stroke maintenance

[David]

I am a two stroke guy with an Evinrude 150 HO and a Merc 200 XS (and a yammi 8 Hp)

The Etec is less work than the Opti but neither is onerous.

how hard is it to change the oil in 4 strokes? Once a year?
do the valves need adjusting?

just curious how the other half lives

[flabum1017]

Depends on the motor, but some you have to remove one of the lower cowls to get to the drain plug, others, the drain plug is accessible without removing anything. You could also use a pump to draw the oil out through the dipstick. Every engine manufacturer has different interval recommendations, but I like every year or hundred hours, which ever comes first. Most FS I have worked on, there is no valve adjustment, but I have not worked on a whole lot of them, but there are timing belts that should be changed every 500 hours or so.

Basically, my standards are: once a year oil and filter, gear oil, fuel filters, spark plugs (they say every 5 years), thermostats, anodes in block, water pump and grease up the zerks and trim pins. Take apart the fuel reservoir every couple years (some have a fine filter inside that gets clogged up). You want to do the reservoir especially in salt water use to keep the lid screws from corroding in place. Belts as needed, but at least every 500 hours.

[Capt.Insane-o]

Prolly twice a year you need to drain the gas and water from the oil.

[Bodhi]

Every 100 hrs the engine oil needs to be changed along with the lower unit oil. On certain motors like yamaha there are internal anodes in the water jackets that require the heads to be pulled off to change. As stated above , then there are belts and odds and end that need to be done.
I love when I'm out on the boat and conversation will start at the island about how great and economical their four stroke is.........until that pesky 700 dollar service rolls around at 100hrs. My response is always "that's nice, 100hrs for me means a qt of gear lube for 11 bucks and a water pump for 40" .