Ran my mercury out of gas

Is it ok that after I'm done being on the water for the day that I remove the gas and run my outboard out of gas? I read somewhere that they do this so the gas don't gum up the carb. Is this true? Is it good for the motor?

I have seen other people do this and I highly recommend NOT doing this (on a 2 stroke). The crank case needs lubrication inside it and by running it out of fuel you are basically running the motor dry of lubrication which is not good on the internal parts. It is much easier and cheaper to buy a carb kit or clean a carb than to rebuild your motor from the inside out. Also when you go to fire up the engine again after draining the carb, how many times do you think that your motor turns over without proper lube in it before she fires up? Not good IMO

I am from the school of run it dry. Been doing it for forty years and the only time I ever had problems was when I didn't run it out and let it sit longer than I intended to. (yep clogged up carbs then). The way I look at it is as long as the motor has enough gas to stay running then it also has enough oil. VRO motors is a no no however because it gets too much oil at the end resulting in fouled plugs.

The last several revolutions of your engine running out of fuel are REALLY lean or bone dry of lube........and that is not good on any motor. But that is just my 2 cents.

If your that concerned then just drain the carb itself from fuel

Both owner manuals of my 15hp Honda four stroke (new 2011) and my used 1996 40hp Mercury 2 stroke say to run engine dry after each use when using ethanol mixed gas.

A 4 stroke is an entirely different engine and I wouldn't advise running ethanol fuel ever either

The running of non ethanol is not a choice for many of us. Here in West Tn non ethanol has not been available for neary two years. Refineries out of Memphis no longer deliver it and we are not a particularly green state as far as enviromentalist. I am sure the rest of the nation will soon be in the same situation. Even some of the marinas on the Tenn river have quit carrying it due to availability and they get theirs from the Nashville area.

I've heard pros and cons of both for a long time. What I do is ,if its gonna sit for a few weeks I'll put the fuel line off carb bowl and drain it. No fuel in carb but engine crank still has lube. Now this is on a 2 cycle.

I have posted the same question on a number of boat/motor forums about my old 2 cycle Evenrude and you will get about a 50-50 answers either way...pros and cons. Another life mystery... :lol: