TOPIC:

I know I'm dragging in getting my motor winterized. I planned on doing it myself last weekend but a cold kept me inside all weekend. It's been about 3 weeks since I last ran my main motor and it looks unlikely it's gonna get much above freezing the next 2 weeks. Do I need to get my motor in a garage ASAP to keep warm or do I throw some ear muffs on and run it just to get some condensation out til the next warmup? Its a 2 stroke motor and i know they take cold weather a little better than 4 strokes but most of the 2 stokes I've owned were small enough i could throw them in the basement for the winter. I seen Sunday might get above freezing slightly so it might be my last chance if it isn't snowing too hard to try and winterize it.

Kingme,
with a two stroke all you really have to worry about and take care of is the lower unit. Take off the prop and check to make sure you didn't pick up any fish line during the season. The line can work it self in towards the seal and cut it or worse. Thats were the water can seep into the lower unit. If you have water in it, the cold will freeze the water and ice expands. It will crack your lower unit.
There are 2 drain plugs, lower and upper. So take out both. Drain out your lower unit, after inspection for line. Get the right lower unit oil and pump it in from the bottom til you have a good flow of oil coming from the top. If you have any water in the lower unit, it will get pushed out by filling from the bottom. When you see that your flowing good oil out of the top, cap the bottom off, and then the top, and your set for next season.

Only other part then is to make sure you have your fuel system taken care of with stabil and you should be ok. I'm sure there are some good youtubes out there to watch but its not bad at all to do by yourself.

Thanks for the info! As far as my fuel I've been trying to keep it close to empty and I always put enzyme treatment for the ethanol, is that the way to go or do I need to fill it up?

That question will get different answers. With as bad as our gas is anymore, I leave mine as low as possible with good treatment added ahead of time and ran thru the fuel system. Todays fuel breaks down easy. Good fresh fuel come spring and your ready to go.

Lickety-Split wrote:

That question will get different answers. With as bad as our gas is anymore, I leave mine as low as possible with good treatment added ahead of time and ran thru the fuel system. Todays fuel breaks down easy. Good fresh fuel come spring and your ready to go.

Agreed