Changing oil on a brand new outboard

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scoobeb

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I have a brand new 20hp 4stroke efi suzuki,i'm very anal with maintenance.I know it says to change the oil and filter after 20hrs but that seems a bit long to me.This is just a question i have whether it's right or wrong it makes me feel better.

If i do an oil and filter change after a few hrs use will i hurt anything?I believe the metal shavings will wear off very soon,as in an hr or 2 and i can't see letting it sit in the motor and lower unit for 20hrs and then changing it.I want to get as much of the shavings out as possible in the beginning,I'm thinking to most the worst thing i may be doing is wasting money on oil and filters.

My goal is to change the oil and filter,plus lower unit oil 3 times before 20hrs,i will do it at say 2 hrs use,then at 5 to 8 hrs use,then at 12-15 hrs use then i will do a final change at 20hrs for the 4th oil change,then i will do it every 50-75hrs after.

I know it sounds a bit extreme to most but be honest please,am i going a bit overboard here?Does the metal shavings come out any other way besides changing the oil,if so then that will make me feel better and i may ease up on the oil changes a bit.I just want the oil in the engine and lower unit to be as clean as possible,thanks for any info.
 
IMHO
You will not hurt anything changing it frequently (except unneeded petroleum products in the environment)

Your schedule is way more frequent than needed. Filter the first change and tell us how many metal shavings you see. I suggest you follow the manufacturers schedule.

Tim
 
I hear what your saying.I just paid alot of money for this outboard,the most money i have ever dished out which may not seem like much($3k)to some people because i know people spend 10's of thousands of dollars on outboards but this is an outboard i have never owned,it's so darn pretty i don't even want to use it,lol.

No i'm just a maintenance freak.After every use i wash it down with freshwater,clean the outboard with the muffs good,then i use the walmart super tech lubricant which i find to be the best for the money to lubricate the whole inside and outside of the motor to shine her up and clean any remaining salt in any groves in the powerhead,then i usually wax it once a week with turtle wax black,awesome stuff.I guess i like to overkill take care of my stuff.I look at it this way,if i want to sell it in say a yr or 5 it will look as new as the day i got it and will get more for it,thats if i ever decide to sell it.

appearance is alot in selling an outboard,at least i think so.
 
When you are in saltwater, you gotta try to keep that salt off. I don't disagree with that. If all that cleaning and shining keeps ya happy, go ahead and do it. Don,t forget to shine the prop nut, it is getting jealous. I hope when I buy my next motor, I get one of yours. My motor is a 1988 and it looks every bit of it, I bought it that way. I almost think maybe the thing must have caught on fire at some point, the engine has hardly any paint on it but I cannot fault the running. Outside does not look quite as bad but if I ever sell it, I will probably have to answer a lot of questions. :LOL2:

Tim
 
Just remember this. When you change the oil, you are starving the motor for oil for the first few seconds. Over time that adds up. Running a motor with no oil is not a good thing. That is what you are doing every time you change the oil.

When I built my race motors, I changed the oil after 30 minutes of run time because of using special oil for the cam to break it in. After that it got changed every 4th trip to the drag strip. But your not running 700hp of NOS either. You are going to hurt the motor more changing it that often. It has already been ran at the dealer and the oil drained. There is your first oil change. Change it at the 20 hr mark. The check engine light will come on when it meets the 20 hour mark.
 
For that matter every time you start the motor, it's not going to have oil pressure for a few seconds. So it will wear out quicker if you don't just leave it running all the time.

What race motor with 700+ HP of "naws" needs break in oil? Just curious as to what type/kind of vehicle/engine we're talking about. Solid rollers, to my knowledge, don't need anything special...and they've been the the standard to which all other camshafts have been compared to for the last 20 some years. Especially on the drag strips.

It's my opinion that about every 10 hours is about right. 4 stroke outboards don't generally run hot enough to boil moisture off or evaporate unburned hydrocarbons from the oil. So it's been my experience running small outboards (4 stroke) that the oil level will rise because it gets contaminated with moisture and hydrocarbons from the combustion process that leaks past the cylinder (perfectly normal....ALL internal combustion piston-driven engines have SOME leakage past the piston/rings). Seems to be worse when run in cool/cold temperatures and cool/cold water temps. On mine, if I don't change it about every 10 hours (or thereabouts) it'll "make oil"....and I have verified this being normal with a factory representative AND a factory engineer (who doesn't speak english). 10 hours of outboard use is about twice a year, at least for me. I have a tiny tach on it. Had 11 hours on it this time last year, as of about 2 hours ago it's got 31.3 (and won't change anytime soon since temps are going to be below cold for a few days).
 
I would stick with what the outboard manual says. If it says 20 do 20. The poster above changes his every 10 hours but it takes him 6 months to put on 10 hours and his engine probably states to change the oil every X amount of hours or every 6 months. Will it hurt to change it more often? Probably not. I have a car that says every 7,000 miles but I change it every 5,000 because it is easier to keep track of when oil changes are due.
 
Unless you know that there are no special additives added to the oil at manufacturing and that need to run for a specific breakin period, I would stay with what the manufacturer recommends.

Oh, and see your Dr. about that OCD. I think there are meds for that now.
 
Turbotodd i have to disagree on outboards don't get hot enough.The only reasons that oil rises is if the engine was babied on breakin,meaning you have to give it some wot burts to seat the rings right or you lost the war,the manual doesn't wan't you to do that and i believe it's wrong,sorry my opinion.All i have done in the past yr is research this and it seems the people who followed the manuals to the T have had a ton of oil making issues,the people who just ran it hard out of the box(not beating on it but just running it like you normally would)have had less issues.Iv'e talked to mercury about this and they confirmed it,They said run it in hard burts every once in a while within the first hr out of the box to avoid making oil,this is when i was going to get a 20hp merc,so i asked why don't you change the manual,the rep had no answer.Makes no **** sense to me.You have limited time to get the rings seated correctly,now i'm not saying beat on it,i'm saying follow the manual but put some short wot bursts to seal the rings good and you will have no rising oil.

Reason 2,people who do nothing but troll will make oil due to not getting the motor hot enough to burn any moisture or gas in the oil off.If you do some wot during early breakin you won't have the gas issue.If you do alot of trolling then you need to get the motor hot to burn anything off by going wot for a while.Like i stated before i have owned tons of new cars and never broke one in and they ran fine for a long time.An outboard is built similar to a car motor,same stuff,cams,belts,etc....Yes i'm sure the outboard has to marine grade parts but the parts are close to the same in use.Your not going to hurt an outboard on breakin by going wot in the beginning,if anything your going to help it make the motor run at it's highest power it can in the future.Iv'e never broke in any of the 5 new outboards i have owned and they ran like power houses,3 of them i sold to people i know still run awesome today.I'm not saying that's the right thing to do,to each their own.Iv'e been very successful in 5 outboards,could be luck,but 5 times with luck,i just believe the manual is just a precaution the manufacture wants you to take,thats it.
 
Another point worth mentioning (and I shoulda said it before) is that not every lake has areas that will allow wide open runs for any period of time. I typically do all my fishin' within 2 miles of the ramp. On a couple of lakes, they are FULL of submerged trees, stumps, and a TON of trees/stumps that are not submerged. Idling is the only way. A river that I like to fish is shallow...usually 12" or less in a lot of places, with some places less than 6" (get out of the boat and pull across). Again, in situation like that, idling and low speed running is the key to not tearing anything up.

Was a guy last spring who was running one of the rivers and hit a submerged log, threw himself out of the boat and drowned. I knew him and his boat. 28 mph was top speed on that deal, similar to mine, tiller steer outboard. Doesn't sound very fast but it's fast enough to kill ya apparently. But it's also a good example of what I was talking about.

There is ONE lake that I fish that I can run wide open on, and I usually don't run all out. I ain't in a hurry and neither are 99% of folks that frequent that area (older folk).

It's impossible to run full throttle all the time. I guess you can try though? At least that way it won't make any oil...

BTW operating temp for the cooling system on my F25 is around 145-150°. Oil temp is roughly the same, but closer to 145 is the highest I've ever seen. Even in the middle of summer with water surface temps up around 90° it doesn't run much more than 150° at the cylinder head. I believe I could benefit from an 85° thermostat but in 14 years it hasn't hurt anything with the stocker......YET. I did put a new stocker in last year for preventive maintenance, along with an impeller, sleeve, and plate (the plate & sleeve were worn). Those are also maintenance items and frequently neglected, except for folks like me who are OCD when it comes to maintenance :)
 
Well i'm going to give this 20hp 4stroke a chance to see how it works,i fish on the gulf coast so 80%for me is wot getting to my spots.I don't do any freshwater fishing.The only time i go slow is when i approach my fishing areas or in a no wake zone or if there is alot of oyster bars or rocks around.Most of the time it's go,go,go.If i don't like the way this outboard performs i will just sell it and i will find a as new as possible 2stroke or just buy a 25hp etec and get it over with.

The only other 2stroke i will get is a 15 -25hp merc or yamaha,i have had bad luck with any other brand.They are a dime a dozen in my area but finding one in mint is near nill.You have to travel to find one.If i go with a nice 25hp 2stroke merc or yamaha i will look out of state in all freshwater areas,chances are there is going to be a ton less corrosion if any from freshwater compared to saltwater.
 

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