Like2Fish
10-19-2008, 08:20 AM
I have a 9.9 Johnson four stroke that I will winterize for the first time in a few weeks. I winterized a 9.9 two stroke for years. What will I do differently with the 4 stroke as compared to my old two stroke?
Thanks
Like2Fish
Phil T
10-19-2008, 10:54 AM
Start with your owner's manual. Follow its recommendations.
There are two schools of thought concerning 4-stroke winterizing. One is to treat it similar to a 2-stroke, run stabilized gas through the system, fog the cylinders, drain or change the lower unit grease, and since it's a 4-stroke change the oil and filter (run the engine briefly to get the fresh oil on the moving parts) and run the engine's fuel system dry to prevent varnish buildup.
The second is to treat it minimally, only do to it what you would do to an RV that's going into storage.
MarkG
10-19-2008, 11:13 AM
If you "fogged" your 2 stroke,that is, with the engine running ,sprayed fogging oil into the carbs to coat all the moving parts on top and bottom end with storage oil, you do not have to do that any more. Reason is that on a 4 stroke,most of the moving parts already have a coating of crankcase oil. Fogging is unnecessary. The biggest thing that is different is you need to change your crankcase oil and filter,then run the motor one more time to get the parts coated with fresh oil.
Here is my method and SEQUENCE (important).
Stabilized fuel into fuel system and carbs. Run engine on earmuffs, if needed to do this.
Change crankcase oil and filter.
Run engine one more time to get parts coated with fresh oil.
If you used to run your carbs dry for storage,or drain your carbs,you can do this at this time,as after this step, you will not need to run engine again.
Optional (Some think this is unnecessary,but many think a good idea)
Pull spark plugs,spray a little storage oil into cylinders
and spin motor over a few times. Make sure ignition and safety lanyard is off to disable ignition when you do this. Then replace plugs.
Change lower unit oil as usual.
Thats it ! (except to lament that you had to do this at all and it will be awhile before you get to use it again! )