Is if possible for oil, like gas to go bad if it sits in a boat too long?

I'm getting that '89 Merc 40hp four banger Tuesday. I remembered when I was
talking to the guy that he said it has problems running at top speed. I
asked if he ever ran it without oil in the gas, and he said he always ran a
50:1 mix, IIRC. Well, that boat has an oil injector. Maybe he ran too much
oil. Is it possible to disable the oil pump and run just mixed gas? It
looks like I will have to take some time and a manual on this one to figure
out what's up with the engine, and the tilt. I did pick up fresh plugs for
it.

Should I drain the old oil, as well as the old gas?

Steve

SteveB wrote:
Is if possible for oil, like gas to go bad if it sits in a boat too long?

I'm getting that '89 Merc 40hp four banger Tuesday. I remembered when I was
talking to the guy that he said it has problems running at top speed. I
asked if he ever ran it without oil in the gas, and he said he always ran a
50:1 mix, IIRC. Well, that boat has an oil injector. Maybe he ran too much
oil. Is it possible to disable the oil pump and run just mixed gas? It
looks like I will have to take some time and a manual on this one to figure
out what's up with the engine, and the tilt. I did pick up fresh plugs for
it.

Should I drain the old oil, as well as the old gas?

Steve



What's it got, a small oil tank under the hood, or an external one? No
harm in draining and properly disposing of the old oil. Are you saying
the previous owner mixed oil directly into the gas and also put oil in
the small tanks?

If the oil tank injector system is working, why would you want to
disable it?

"HK" wrote in message
m...
SteveB wrote:
Is if possible for oil, like gas to go bad if it sits in a boat too long?

I'm getting that '89 Merc 40hp four banger Tuesday. I remembered when I
was talking to the guy that he said it has problems running at top speed.
I asked if he ever ran it without oil in the gas, and he said he always
ran a 50:1 mix, IIRC. Well, that boat has an oil injector. Maybe he ran
too much oil. Is it possible to disable the oil pump and run just mixed
gas? It looks like I will have to take some time and a manual on this
one to figure out what's up with the engine, and the tilt. I did pick up
fresh plugs for it.

Should I drain the old oil, as well as the old gas?

Steve

What's it got, a small oil tank under the hood, or an external one? No
harm in draining and properly disposing of the old oil. Are you saying the
previous owner mixed oil directly into the gas and also put oil in the
small tanks?

If the oil tank injector system is working, why would you want to disable
it?

Won't know exactly if the pump is working until I did get it. When he told
me it was having problems on high end, I asked if he was sure he never ran
straight gas. He said he always ran mixed, inferring he mixed the gas. I
did not know it was Oil Injected until I saw it. Now, I think he may have
overoiled it and fouled it out. He said the plugs looked oily.

There is an opaque tank under the cowling on this model that fills through a
cap going to the exterior. I am going to make sure the injector is working
properly, as that is a lot easier than mixing gas.

I'll probably dump it, but in my shed, I have cans of two stroke oil that
are years old. Just curious if any of that went bad, and should I use it or
chuck it and get fresh.

Steve

SteveB wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
m...
SteveB wrote:
Is if possible for oil, like gas to go bad if it sits in a boat too long?

I'm getting that '89 Merc 40hp four banger Tuesday. I remembered when I
was talking to the guy that he said it has problems running at top speed.
I asked if he ever ran it without oil in the gas, and he said he always
ran a 50:1 mix, IIRC. Well, that boat has an oil injector. Maybe he ran
too much oil. Is it possible to disable the oil pump and run just mixed
gas? It looks like I will have to take some time and a manual on this
one to figure out what's up with the engine, and the tilt. I did pick up
fresh plugs for it.

Should I drain the old oil, as well as the old gas?

Steve
What's it got, a small oil tank under the hood, or an external one? No
harm in draining and properly disposing of the old oil. Are you saying the
previous owner mixed oil directly into the gas and also put oil in the
small tanks?

If the oil tank injector system is working, why would you want to disable
it?

Won't know exactly if the pump is working until I did get it. When he told
me it was having problems on high end, I asked if he was sure he never ran
straight gas. He said he always ran mixed, inferring he mixed the gas. I
did not know it was Oil Injected until I saw it. Now, I think he may have
overoiled it and fouled it out. He said the plugs looked oily.

There is an opaque tank under the cowling on this model that fills through a
cap going to the exterior. I am going to make sure the injector is working
properly, as that is a lot easier than mixing gas.

I'll probably dump it, but in my shed, I have cans of two stroke oil that
are years old. Just curious if any of that went bad, and should I use it or
chuck it and get fresh.

Steve



A couple of cans of oil...cheap enough. Buy some new oil. Does the
engine use plain old "regular" two cycle oil, or something different? My
first new Merc I bought in the 1990's used TCW-3 oil, an animal quite
different from the plain old two cycle oil.

On Sun, 8 Mar 2009 14:18:41 -0600, "SteveB"
wrote:

I'll probably dump it, but in my shed, I have cans of two stroke oil that
are years old. Just curious if any of that went bad, and should I use it or
chuck it and get fresh.

There's no reason the old oil should be bad unless water has gotten
into it. That would typically show up as light colored cloudy
streaks.

Why not have a mechanic check it out? You could ruin it very quickly
running with no oil.

SteveB wrote:
Is if possible for oil, like gas to go bad if it sits in a boat too long?

I'm getting that '89 Merc 40hp four banger Tuesday. I remembered when I was
talking to the guy that he said it has problems running at top speed. I
asked if he ever ran it without oil in the gas, and he said he always ran a
50:1 mix, IIRC. Well, that boat has an oil injector. Maybe he ran too much
oil. Is it possible to disable the oil pump and run just mixed gas? It
looks like I will have to take some time and a manual on this one to figure
out what's up with the engine, and the tilt. I did pick up fresh plugs for
it.

Should I drain the old oil, as well as the old gas?

Steve



The carb is dirty and needs to be thoroughly cleaned. That would
explain the problem occurring only at higher speeds.