Thread: WOT

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  1. #21
    I know I hope entire boat is made by sober, focus and proud of their work folks. Seems like a lot of stuff we buy now don't work right.
    From washers to toasters. Production line workers can have a lot on their minds at work that causes them not to think about their task.
    Just my luck torque wrenches used on motor parts will be off calibration or not used at all!

  2. #22
    I’m kinda on the unlucky side too, I’d be the group to get the 1 in 1000 chances the lemons winner

  3. Member Jeff Hahn's Avatar
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    #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Highcentered View Post
    If a 4-stroke is making oil can you heat it up and let it cool for a few cycles after initial break-in to "reseat" the rings or is that something that you only get one chance to do right? My 75hp Merc 4-stroke didn't really make any oil the first year but after the first oil change it did and just wonder if all the short runs on my home lake had something to do with it. I broke it in by the book.
    They’re not supposed to make oil. I’d have it checked out by a qualified mechanic.
    "The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments

  4. Member Skeeterbait's Avatar
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    #24
    Here is what I think. All 4 stroke motors with a crank case have some fuel seep past the rings into the oil, be it your boat engine, truck engine, or lawn mower engine. A lot is not normal, but a little cannot be avoided. You notice it in some engines but not others because of the nature of the engine and in some cases how you operate it. If the engine in question runs hot enough for long enough, the oil will heat sufficiently to keep the fuel contamination evaporated off. If you also tend to run an engine hard and for long periods this also helps to produce enough oil heat to evaporate fuel contamination off. Your truck engine runs hot and we usually run it more than 5 minutes at a time so most of us will never see a noticeable amount of fuel in the oil. Four stroke outboards run much cooler than a truck engine. But many owners run their outboard 3/4 to full throttle for long distances each trip so they also evaporate any fuel contamination out of the oil. But a person who operates a 4 stroke outboard on small bodies of water, does a lot of idling looking at electronics, rarely exceeds more than 1/2 throttle or does not have the opportunity to run the engine hard for more than a couple minutes at a time will see a buildup of fuel in the oil over time, "making oil". Such an operator just needs to accept that they need to watch oil levels and change oil more frequently. Now there is a greater than normal level also. If you frequently run hard, and still have oil level increase noticeably after each trip, that is beyond normal.


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    #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Skeeterbait View Post
    Here is what I think. All 4 stroke motors with a crank case have some fuel seep past the rings into the oil, be it your boat engine, truck engine, or lawn mower engine. A lot is not normal, but a little cannot be avoided. You notice it in some engines but not others because of the nature of the engine and in some cases how you operate it. If the engine in question runs hot enough for long enough, the oil will heat sufficiently to keep the fuel contamination evaporated off. If you also tend to run an engine hard and for long periods this also helps to produce enough oil heat to evaporate fuel contamination off. Your truck engine runs hot and we usually run it more than 5 minutes at a time so most of us will never see a noticeable amount of fuel in the oil. Four stroke outboards run much cooler than a truck engine. But many owners run their outboard 3/4 to full throttle for long distances each trip so they also evaporate any fuel contamination out of the oil. But a person who operates a 4 stroke outboard on small bodies of water, does a lot of idling looking at electronics, rarely exceeds more than 1/2 throttle or does not have the opportunity to run the engine hard for more than a couple minutes at a time will see a buildup of fuel in the oil over time, "making oil". Such an operator just needs to accept that they need to watch oil levels and change oil more frequently. Now there is a greater than normal level also. If you frequently run hard, and still have oil level increase noticeably after each trip, that is beyond normal.
    I agree with this. The key is the normal operating temp that the engine gets to. Engines with a closed loop cooling system like our cars and trucks have thermostats that ensure the engines get to an operating temperature that keeps oil and moisture "boiled" out of the oil. There is a big difference in an engine that normally runs at an oil temp of 195 degrees F and an outboard that struggles to make 142 degrees F. I've long thought that if an outboard mfg. could come up with an outboard that incorporated a closed loop water cooling system with a radiator and that engine not weigh a ton then a lot of our outboard 4 stroke problems would be solved and I think we would see much longer operating life out of our outboards. Probably not as much as a car or truck engine because they don't run as much on the top end of the RPM range but I think just having a more stable operating range and not shock cooling these engines would add to the life.

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