Inspect Your Motor's Internal Anodes

D

DayBreak

Active member
Hey, I bring this topic up as I have never seen anyone discuss the importance of changing their motor's internal anodes. If the anodes wear out completely, the motor's internal metals will become pitted and corroded, significantly damaging it.
I decided to do my own scheduled maintenance (per the Suzuki 140 manual) and discovered that I should have checked my motor's internal anodes every 100 hours. I didn't know much about them so did some internet and YouTube research. They aren't hard to replace, but it is time consuming.
I was surprised to find that my motor's 5 internal anodes were more than 50-65% gone, even though its 2 external anodes looked almost new. (See link below for picture.) The motor has 260 hours in salt water, but has never been in the water for more than 2.5 weeks at a time. After each use the motor is flushed in a 100 gallon tank of fresh water for 15 minutes.
I post this just in case anyone else doesn't know about the importance of changing the internal anodes.

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?...ame=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php
 
On my Honda BF90D changing the internal anodes is such a huge PITA it's a wonder it ever gets done. If they designed the engine such that changing the anodes was reasonably easy then it is something that would get done regularly. The Honda engineers are pretty clever, surely they can come up with a better way.
 
We had a 115 Yamaha and there were 3 internal zincs and 2 outside
2 are behind the plastic covering the plugs
1 is on the Lower right side
1is the big square under the engine by the trim motor
1 is the steering skeg
 
ssobol,

Agreed! Can't speak on Honda, but with my Suzuki, I spent hours looking at the internet to learn how to change the internal anodes. Maybe someone can chime in on their experience with changing these on different motors. Unfortunately the anodes must be placed in the internal cooling system to do any good, and that makes them hard to get to. :(

In my case, the closest Suzuki dealer had a 2 week wait once the boat was brought in. Not acceptable during boating/fishing season. I chose to figure it out myself. I did find that I needed to be very patient during removal of the anode covers and resist the urge to force anything in the process! Feel free to PM me if anyone has questions on doing the job yourself.

Next task...water pump impeller.
 
Back in 2014 when this topic came up here I bought a full set of internal anodes for the new Tohatsu 50 I had just purchased (being an early adopter of a new model I was a bit paranoid about future availability). I tried to have the dealer check/replace them at the 100 hour service and they just laughed at me. Well, a couple years later I sold that motor to a buddy for his Arima, which he sold shortly after. I stumbled across the forgotten anode set in the garage the other day so if anyone has a 2014+ Tohatsu 40/50 and wants these, just send me a PM.

-Mike
 
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