Flushing a HDPI motor

[flyingwillie]

I did a search and found some info on flushing a motor. Alot of different opinions though. I am taking my boat to Fla next week and may fish some brackish water.
My owners manuel says to use the "garden hose" connection on the port side fo the motor and flush the engine for 15 minutes.......not running. Some people say you must use the muffs on the lower unit and flush it while running in idle mode but my manuel says that is only for the cooling system flush. I plan to do the simple garden hose version......do you agree? Many thanks

[Ranger391v]

My thoughts ...... and I'm sure they vary from others .......

- The flusher on the side is a good way to flush 'what you can' 'when you can't run the motor'. I'm sure plenty of people will jump on here calling me an idiot b/c I know several of you guys from other posts love to run your motor off the side-flusher connection. But that's fine.

- The 'ear-muffs-to-the-lower-unit-and-crank-it-up' (in my opinion) is still the best way to completely flush a motor. I figure, if it starts at the absolute bottom at the pump intakes and ends at the exhaust ports then 'everything' got rinsed.

If you've never flushed an HPDI, but have other V-6 motors .... ........... it will sound funny ...... just remember it's not hitting on all cylinders until it's put into gear. Also, don't rev' it, especially high. Outboards need back pressure on the motor and flushing does not supply enough.

Disclaimer:
I'm not a mechanic .... just a guy that has a duck boat that sees fresh, brackish, and saltwater; a bass boat that's never seen brackish water; and had other boats that had to pull double duty (fresh/brack/salt) ..... and I've yet to have a 'saltwater problem' with an outboard motor. -knocking on wood-