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2 Stroke

898 views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  laker taker 
#1 ·
I am a first time boat owner & purchased a 2000 starcraft 160C it has a 2000 Merc 75 HP 2 stroke outboard. The motor is very loud and it smokes a lot. I had a friend check it last year and he was of the opinion that It needs a tune up. Since then he has moved out of state. It has carborators, do you know of anyone who can help and is reasonable. I was not aware I had to winterize and hopefully no damage has occurred. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
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#3 ·
Snag said:
If you live up in north Denver I can recommend "Mercs and More", look in the phone book. They treated me well, but no ones cheap!
...and my advice would be if you're going to take it in, do it sooner than later. Some of these places end up with a 2 or 3 week waiting list during the warmer months and we're getting close to Memorial Day.

I have a 115 Merc. I never winterize it (what's the point if you go to Pueblo in the winter -which I've been swearing I'm going to do the past 3 years). This year I ran some injector cleaner through it and it's running great. A change of plugs will set you back about $7 each (based on the brand Mercury recommends) and is worth it at least once per year. Don't forget to change the oil at about twice per year. My neighbor's motor smokes much more than mine (I have a 2002) and can't offer any explanations there except I know that some places put a coating on the motor when winterizing it that will cause it to smoke. I would say shop around for a tune up. I think the place here on Federal in Littleton is about $150 for a tune up and Aurora Marine is even more.
 
#4 ·
2 strokes typically smoke a lot  because they burn oil in the combustion chambers. 2 strokes don't have seperate crankcase oil like your car (although they do have gear oil in the lower unit). In a 2 stroke, the oil is mixed with the fuel which circulates in the crankase and the oil 'sticks' to moving parts. any oil that doesn't stick gets burnt with the fuel. places that winterize may 'fog' the engine where they add additional oil to coat the cylinder walls for storage. the engine may smoke more on initial startup as this oil is burnt off but it should only last a minute or two. it is normal for a 2 stroke to smoke to some degree and they are pretty noisy engines, not to mention high poluters. their advantages are that they're lighter and simpler than a 4 stroke and produce more power for a given displacement because there is a power stroke every crankshaft revolution instead of every other.

In our dry climate...the only 'winterizing' i think you really need to do is add a fuel stabilizer to the gasoline and run the engine for a few minutes before shutting it down (to get the stabilizer in the carbs) it's so dry here that corrosion really isn't a problem...cylinder fogging for storage is probably not necessary.
 
#5 ·
Mr. Ed said:
I have a 115 Merc.  I never winterize it (what's the point if you go to Pueblo in the winter -which I've been swearing I'm going to do the past 3 years). 
Sounds like you are playing with fire not winterizing your motor... I personally know a guy at work that did not winterize his and the motor froze up and he ended up spending about $5K to repair it... If it is stored in a garage all winter you would be ok I imagine but outside when it hits -20 sometimes in the winter is asking for trouble.
 
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