By the way, I treat the fuel for my two 6-71 detroits the same way. On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 9:16 AM, Jack Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi, > > The shop I worked for is a Nissan outboard dealer, primarily selling the > smaller size Nissan's engines. The little 9.8 is a very popular engine. > Unfortunately, Nissan doesn't have any recomendations. Very few, if any, do. > Why? That would severly cut into their after warrenty parts sales. They are > pumping out carburetors as fast as they can to satisfy the demand. You can > imagine that the dealers aren't wanting to suggest anything. At $300 or more > for replacements plus labor helps a lot towards monthly sales for their > sevice departments. The carb problems seem to be more related to the smaller > engines used for dinghys. I feel that the manufacturers of these small > engines are cutting costs to satisfy their bottom line by using inferior, > metal alloys in their castings. This applies to all the engine castings, to > keep their suggested retail prices cheaper for the consumer. Nobody wants to > spend the money that a new dinghy engine costs, much less, the extra that it > would cost if they were manufactured from quality materials. > > So, with all that said, we are all left with the question of "What do we do > to help solve this issue and prolong the life of our very expensive > engines?" From back in my stock car racing days, I became very impressed > with pretty much all of the "Lucas" products and "Lucas" does manufacturer > marine additives of which I still use today. Although I have been searching, > I still haven't found the, so called, Holy Grail of additives. For now, I > still stick with "Lucas." > > One thing that seems to coincide with the carburetor problems is fuel > quality. It seems that even extemely, small amounts of moisture in the fuel > system greatly compound the deteriation problem. Moisture can found even in > brand new fresh gasoline straight from the pump, especially, regular > unleaded. If the engine is not run very often, as the gasoline is aging, it > will absorb some condensation, compounding the problem. Even though the > manufacturers highly recommend running their engines completely out of fuel > after each use, either by turning off the fuel valve or diconnecting the > fuel hose, that still doesn't erradicate all of the moisture out of the fuel > system. But, it is much better than not doing anything. > > I drove eighteen wheelers for a while. Up north in the really cold > climates, drivers would add a product called "Heet" to their diesel fuel to > disperse the moisture in to microscopic droplets, thus, keeping their fuel > lines from freezing up. "Heet" also makes a gasoline equivalent that helps > with the moisture problem. I'm not sure if "Heet" has a marine approved > additive but I would want to think that they would. It's worth > investigating. > > What I tell my customers is to keep those fuel filters changed and add a > small bottle of a moisture controlling additive, such as "Lucas" fuel > treatment, to every tank of gas they buy. Don't skrimp just to save a few > pennys. Buy quality stuff. So far, that has seemed to help prolong the > enevitable. > > Hope this helps, > Jack > > On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 10:57 AM, Perry & Cindi <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Hi Jack, >> >> My boat is diesel but I have a 9.8 gas outboard. When you worked for the >> outboard shop, what did they recommend to use for small outboard engines to >> protect the carburetor etc? >> >> Thanks, >> >> Capt. Perry >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> *From:* [email protected] [mailto: >> [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Jack Smith >> *Sent:* Saturday, March 21, 2009 9:38 AM >> *To:* [email protected] >> *Subject:* [UnifliteWorld] Re: gas >> >> >> >> Hi there, >> >> >> >> I can't really say anything about the possible harm that ethenol may cause >> to your 350's, but I do know that it is eating up the carburetors on >> outboard motors. I worked for a time for a shop servicing outboards, >> primarily Nissans, and saw a lot of that. I think it depends a lot on the >> material the carbs are made of. To go a ways to the other side of the >> spectrum, this refers to race engines. The only way to make a fuel system >> bullet-proof, that runs alchohol, would be to use stainless steel fuel >> lines in place of the normal fuel lines. Even with that, the carburetor is >> still in trouble. People racing with alchohol fuel would usually flush their >> systems to help stop the chemical reactions that alchohol starts with most >> carburetor metals. There are additives available that can be added to gas >> that help protect fuel systems and some work really well. The problem is >> that they aren't necessarily marine approved and their combustion >> by-products are harmful to marine life. Using these additives can result in >> a big hand-slap from the coast guard if caught. Whatever you decide to use, >> make sure that it is marine approved. I, personally, like Lucas products. >> >> >> >> Hope this might help, >> >> Jack >> >> On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 9:24 AM, james clark <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> hi. I have a 1978 34' uniflite with 350 motors. I have heard that the gas >> with ethylene or what ever it is will harm wy motors. I am 68 and this new >> stuff in the gas is nuts. Please let me know what i can do. thank you >> >> >> <br >> >> >> >> > > > -- > Jack Smith > [email protected] > -- Jack Smith [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
