1996 merc/force gamefisher winterise

[drewmitch44]

I was just wondering the propper way to winterise my new 1996 gamefisher 15 hp. I got the motor from my uncle this past spring who had it in the origional crate with tie downs and all. He bought it in 97 new and it didnt run right so he took it to the shop under warrenty and they didnt know what was wrong or at least they ran it and it ran fine. He sold it to me for 300 beans and i ran it only to find that the primer bulb was loosing its prime. I replaced a few parts in the fuel pump area before i found a crack in the filter housing that was sucking in air. I replaced that and i had a strong running 15 that starts on the 1st pull everytime even on a weak pull. the motor had less than 3 hours when i got it and i followed the break in instructions. I have already moved the motor into the heated basement for the winter but was curious as to how to winterise it so it is fresh in the spring. I am not sure wether to run it out of gas with sta-bil in the gas? I heard people putting oil in the cylinders through the spark plugs? I hear a term Fogging but i dont know what that means. Thanks in advance for any input!!

 

[roscoe]

Re: 1996 merc/force gamefisher winterise

Typical winterization would include:

Sta-bil in fuel, run it thru the motor, drain the carb if you want, do not run the motor out of gas. This will mean you are running the engine lean, with insufficient lubrication.

Spray fogging oil thru the carb for a minute, then spray heavily until the motor chokes out.
Remove the sparkplugs and spray a little in each cylinder.

Drain the gearlube, replace with fresh gearlube.
Check for water or metal shavings in the old gearlube.

Clean the motor up, grease all fittings, spray WD40 on all surfaces and linkages to prevent corrosion.

In your case, I might skip the wd40 this year.
Also, you want to change the gearlube before storage, because if water has gotten into the gearcase, it can freeze and crack the case. Since yours is in the basement, you can probably skip this. But crack open the drain screw and let a couple drops drain out. If there is water inside, it will drain out first. If you find water, you have the winter months to have the seals replaced.