Flushing Techniques

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Dora~Jean

Active member
I just got my lower end back from the repair shop, it had a leaky differential seal, they suspect it was the driveshaft seal. There are 3 seal sets on my Yamaha 80 4-stroke, drive shaft, propellor shaft and shift shaft.

The bill was about $100 higher ($285 total) than was estimated because they broke the water pump lower housing trying to get it apart -- I had just replaced the pump impellor with no problem (upper housing). The mechanic asked if I used the hose flush attachment or mickey mouse ears? I said the hose attachment -- religiously after every outing, and the ears if I'm doing maintenance that requires the engine to run. He said that was my problem. I need to find a bucket or barrel to do my flushing, the fresh water is not washing off the salt surrounding all of the components in the lower end. He saved the parts, we examined them together and saw how the salt crystals had most likely caused that particular seal to fail.

I will now be flushing in a fresh water bathtub or barrel after every trip, and using "Salt-away" added a few times a year. Anyone else have data like this from repair shops or own experience?
 
Steve, I've often wondered about missing the lower end whilst flushing. I use rabbit ears, and have for years (like that?) The bag must do a wonderful job, but when I've tried a bucket with a small outboard, I learned not to put it into gear. Which the ears, you can try any gear, any speed. Also they're cheap and store on board, in the coaming compartment.

Anyway, this summer Journey On saw FRESH water. An unique experience. Next month, back to salt.

Boris
 
Charlie: Could you describe the procedure for flushing while in water? I'm very intriqued by this product for my Summer moorage situation. Thanks, Mike.
 
Yes Charlie, I had one of those bags for my 9.9 Yamaha about 6 yrs ago. The sailboat's stern was so high off the ground that the bag worked out very well. I have twins, would like to reuse the same barrel of water for both. If it proves too difficult, I'll go hunt down those bags! Thanks for the suggestion.

Boris, I also use 'mickey mouse' ears when I need to run the motor(never heard them called 'rabbit' ears -- but if that's what your rabbits look like, whoa, they must have REAL GOOD hearing..). That mechanic said the mouse ears don't do much better, I'm not sure I believe everything I hear either...
 
Hey Westward, it's a little tricky in the water but basically you tilt the engine up, fit the bag over it and start filling the bag with fresh water. As it fills, gradually tilt the engine down till it's in the running position and the bag is full of fresh water. Be careful to keep the bag top up so no salt water gets in. Run your engine for awhile till you think it's clear (one way is to "taste" the pee stream if you're brave :cry ) usually takes about 5 minutes, or until the pee stream gets warm.

Then, reverse the procedure, tilt up gradually (with the engine shut down), dumping fresh as you go until it's all the way above the water and then work the bag back off.

A little awkward but it beats hauling the boat! :lol:

BTW, I think on my Suzuki 115's I see a flush port connection for a garden hose on the port side of each engine. Can anyone confirm that? I don't have an owners manual (yet, Jim and Anne on COMPANIONSHIP are going to send me a xerox copy) and I can't find it in the service manual. I think I could use that to flush them when they're up on my lift by hooking up a garden hose and running them out of the water. Any comments?

Charlie
 
My Suzuki 90 has a flush port on the side of the engine. I would expect the 115 is the same. As far as that goes the 50 Honda I recently traded in had one that the dealer added. It was a hose tied into the cooling system somehow. I do my flushing in a boat lift also so the ears aren't and option.
 
I had been using mouse ears for both my H90 and H8 (new style) engines on Constant Craving, but stopped after frying the impeller on the H8 just before leaving for Canada last year. I am now using the hose adapters when don't have the opportunity to back the boat down into fresh water for a flush.

Charlie, your set up looks like the best overall solution I have seen. Thanks for sharing!

Steve
 
Thanks, Charlie. I've been uncomfortable with the idea of flushing with the motors tilted up, and had resigned myself to not flushing until haulout and using salt-away. But I've learned that the Honda 40/50 is particularly susceptible to salt buildup around the thermostat, which can cause them to stick open, then the engines run too cool. This bag system seems worth the effort and the 15 minutes or so it will take. I appreciate the helpful information! Mike.
 
I had been using mouse ears for both my H90 and H8 (new style) engines on Constant Craving, but stopped after frying the impeller on the H8 just before leaving for Canada last year. I am now using the hose adapters when don't have the opportunity to back the boat down into fresh water for a flush.
Click to expand...

Steve - Why did the ear-muffs / mouse-ears not work well enough? I am keeping my boat on a trailer at home and thought that using the ear-muffs with a running engine was a better way to flush the salt-water away than just using the fresh-water port with an engine that isn't running.

What am I missing?
 
Johnbenj,

I am not sure what really happened. Too much water pressure, too little???? Regardless, it did a number on the impeller. When I got to the dealer, I got a pretty good scolding (well mild anyway) not to use the muffs. The manual says never use the muffs, too. At my age and weight, you would think I should have learned to RTFB.

I did just order the bag from Quality Marine. For anyone with Honda 90's, it takes the larger size, and was $89 plus freight. I am tired of messing around with plastic garbage cans when I can't get to fresh water.

Regards,

Steve
 
Having reread this thread, I need to know if I can run the Suzi 115's out of the water with a hose hooked up to the flushing port on the side. The owners manual says you can do it with muffs but is silent on running the engine with the hose hooked up to the high port.

Don't want to do the impellers in! :disgust

Charlie
 
My guess is you can't run it with the hose only connection, ear muffs OK. That's per my Yamaha manual, I believe Honda's are same. Must not get enough water into the impeller area for running.
 
I have a 2007 Suzuki 115 and was told not to run the motor while flushing using the hose port.

After our sea-trial, one of the maintenance techs flushed the motor using the ear-muffs and running the motor. I questioned as to which method was better....ear-muffs while running motor or hose port with motor off?

I basically led to believe that it was just a preference.

Maybe a dealer rigging with Suzuki motors will chime in.
 
If I leave the engines in the water (salt water) to flush using the flushing port on the side, what good is it? Maybe it gets the salty stuff out of the powerhead? The water pump is still sucking in the salt water!

If I had it in fresh water, I wouldn't need to flush it at all. Maybe without the engine running and with enough fresh water pressure, the water will get all through the engine and it wouldn't be necessary to run it at all?? :?: :!:
 
Charlie:

Am I missing something? I have 150 Suzukis that are used in salt water. I flush them in the water with the engine off and the motors vertical (prop in the water). With the engine off, the water pump is not sucking anything.

I run fresh water using a garden hose attached to the flushing port for about 5 minutes each, with the water draining through the pee-hole . This is an approved way of doing it as per the manual.
 
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