I was changing the gear oil in my new (June 2012) Tohatsu 4 stroke 4HP motor. I found that the vent screw was very loose, only two or three threads held it in. I was lucky it didn't fall out last time I had it in the water on Saturday.
So, I pull the fill screw and out flows white oil, not chalky, a very uniform white color, maybe slightly grey. Drained the lower unit well, no water came out, just the white oil.
I flushed it twice with motor oil to get rid of the white oil. Each time less and less white oil ran out with new motor oil. I left it filled with motor oil to keep any remaining moisture from harming the inside of the lower unit while I went to work today.
My plan is to keep flushing with motor oil until it runs totally clear, then flush it once with gear oil, then fill it with gear oil.
So my question is,, how would you go about flushing the lower unit more effectively than just running a couple of quarts of motor oil thru it? And how to keep these screws from backing out in the future? Can you use loctite on them?
I saw on-line everything from marvel mystery oil to a 50/50 mix of gasoline and oil.
I do have a shop manual, it doesn't seem to list procedures for this kind of problem that I can see.
Also, because this is part of my winterizing the motor, what are some good winterizing steps to take for a motor like this? Can someone point me to a winterizing checklist?
Thanks
Mike
So, I pull the fill screw and out flows white oil, not chalky, a very uniform white color, maybe slightly grey. Drained the lower unit well, no water came out, just the white oil.
I flushed it twice with motor oil to get rid of the white oil. Each time less and less white oil ran out with new motor oil. I left it filled with motor oil to keep any remaining moisture from harming the inside of the lower unit while I went to work today.
My plan is to keep flushing with motor oil until it runs totally clear, then flush it once with gear oil, then fill it with gear oil.
So my question is,, how would you go about flushing the lower unit more effectively than just running a couple of quarts of motor oil thru it? And how to keep these screws from backing out in the future? Can you use loctite on them?
I saw on-line everything from marvel mystery oil to a 50/50 mix of gasoline and oil.
I do have a shop manual, it doesn't seem to list procedures for this kind of problem that I can see.
Also, because this is part of my winterizing the motor, what are some good winterizing steps to take for a motor like this? Can someone point me to a winterizing checklist?
Thanks
Mike