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Posts: 335
Location: Pulaski, WI | I drove an hour up to Shawano, went through all kinds of troubles which I won't detail here and finally get the boat in the water. Fire her up and nothing is coming out of the cooling port. Shut her down and drove home.
Do I let it runs for a while next time and hope it melts? Or could there be other problems? I have to keep it outside. I'm thinking of wrapping a heating pad around it the night before.
Thanks,
John |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | If there is ice frozen in the impeller you could overheat and cook the motor in no time. I burned up a motor (major overhaul)that was my uncles when I was a kid. Impeller was bad but I didn't know to check for water comming out of the indicator hole. Now I'm a fanatic about it. |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | John,
This is funny that you ask about the heating pad. I was just telling my brother this weekend that I saw a guy do this once and it worked.
I was thinking about doing the same thing when I am at the lake and staying a lodges with the boat parked outside.
The heating pad will work. I think the guy that I saw put the pad just on top of the hood and put straps on it to keep it tight.
I am going to pick two up this week so I am ready for this coming up weekend.
Mike Hulbert
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Posts: 150
| Heat tape. I have used it in the past and it works great. It will even help dry up the cooling jackets. Get a 10' one with the largest amp rating you can find.
R |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | What is heat tape?
Hulbert
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Posts: 294
Location: Suspended | It could be as simple as a clogged hose off the motor, try taking it off and blowing through it, if its blocked reem it out and hopefully you're good to go!
The heat tape (also called heat trace) can be picked up at home centers or hardware stores and is made to wrap pipes in crawl spaces to keep them from freezing. They're plug-in and self regulating. |
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Posts: 5874
| Saturday morning it was about 18 at launch time. Fired up the Opti, and no tattle tale. I idled it at the launch while keeping an eye on the motor temp on the SmartCraft Tach. The motor slowly warmed up and reached about 155, and stayed there. Knowing that, I assumed that the tube for the tattle tale was probably frozen, but the water pump was working. I motored slowly out, and saw the temp go down some. After about 10 minutes, the tattle tale started working. I'm going to pull the cover this week to see if there is a low spot in the tattle line. Sure am glad I have that water temp gauge.
The tattle tale worked right away with the kicker, although the warm up period was quite abit longer to get it to run smooth. |
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Posts: 1939
Location: Black Creek, WI | I could use an education in this department as well.
My "tattle tail" was froze up too on Saturday morning. However, I don't have the fancy gauges on my Yamy like Shep's Opti... so just let it idle for awhile to warm up. She didn't open up until I started giving her some RPM's to try and break my boat free from the trailer! Yah... that's right... not only was my motor froze up... I was froze to the bunks too! Heh heh.... oh well... trying to fix one problem (froze to bunks) I fixed the other problem (frozen tattle tail).
I just rolled the dice that only the squirt was frozen. However, I also assumed that the motor has an automatic shut down if it gets too hot. Based on that is why I let it run in hopes of breaking open/melting. I'd really like to know the danger potential of this tactic. Anyone????
jlong |
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Posts: 670
Location: Minnetonka , MN. | Went out Sunday . The pads on the bunk were iced up and the boat slid off just as I got to the water. That was a first . Next it took a long time to get the motor to start pumping water. All that and no fish. |
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Posts: 1185
Location: Wishin I Was Fishin' | One other preventative measure:
When you pull your boat out of the water, and know it will be cold before getting out again, or storage, you should, trim the motor all the way down, let all the water drain from the motor, pull the tether cord(so it won't start), crank the motor over a few times to clear more water. Make sure you put the tether back in. hehehehe
I like the heat tape idea. I'm sure it is much better for the motor to be started with it a bit warmer with below freezing temps. Someone should come out with an outboard block heater. I would buy one. |
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Posts: 1294
Location: Stevens Point, Wi. | Never tried it but a magnetic block heater sold at most auto parts stores should do the trick. |
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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Magnetic block heaters need to be "stuck" to a flat surface (like the bottom of an oil pan) to be efficient, they also get hot enough to melt the insulation on wiring. Not to mention the fact that a magnet will not stick to an aluminum block. It may work well for the guys with IO's but with conventional outboards the heating pad tucked under the hood sounds like it might work a little better...
Where are they running the heat tape..? around lower unit, around block, or around the whole motor.
Remember for those of you with newer motors you motor has a thermostat and it may take a few minutes for it to open up so you are not going to see water until that happens. |
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | When this happens to me I will start the moror and let it idle then shut it down. Start it back up and give it a short run and shut it down.
This will let your water heat up some but not so hot that it can harm anything. After a few of these it will de-ice. I also have a opti and watch the water temp and psi.
The water will freeze in the motor but will melt with time. I don't recomend running it till it melts unless you have guages that will let you know whats going on inside you motor.
I think a slow warm up is the safest advice. |
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Posts: 1294
Location: Stevens Point, Wi. | Mark- wasn't intending on putting on motor--nothing worthwhile there to heat. Thought that laying the flat surface of the heater on the cavitation plate, even though it isn't a ferrous metal, would heat the lower unit enough to let heat up to H2O pump and tattletail tube. Just a thought, like I said, have'nt tried it. |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Went to Wal-Mart and found some Heat Tape. Looks like the ticket. How hot does it get? I opened the package to see if the instructions said how how it got, but it never said.
Also would this be safe in the snow/rain/sleet?
Hulbert
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Posts: 1430
Location: Eastern Ontario | I fish in freezing temps every year and here is what I do. First of all I let the motor run as I pull the boat out of the water, the minute or so won't arm it and will drain the water inside and then I lower the motor to let all the water drain from the foot and voila I am ready to go the next day. No water in the motor and you don't need to worry about heaters. But I would buy a block heater if available thats for sure. BTW my 4 stroke kicker has a termostat and water won't start flowing out of it for a while after it is started. I am too poor to get the gauges ($1500) for my optimax but I am not worried. |
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Posts: 5874
| Block heaters will not work. They work on a closed system like on your tow vehicle. They need water to work. If you need to heat up your motor, you could do like Doug Schrieber does when it's below freezing up at LBDN. He fires up his 2 burner Mr. Heater on the 40 lb. tank, and directs it towards his lower unit, and his kicker. Does this for 15-25 minutes in the morning. Purpose is two-fold. Heats up the lower unit lube, and gets the frozen water thawed in the water pump area. Must also get the tattle tale thawed, cuz in 15 degrees last year, his tattle tale was working as normal.
Smartcraft gauges are around $800(US)/set. I think the monitor is around $300. Just like my truck, I really like having water temp, plus all the other things, that my SmartCraft gauges monitor. |
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Posts: 45
Location: Appleton, Wi | Are you sure the water line was froze?Now dont hold me to the following explanation.I do not want to wreak anyones motor if Im wrong!!I believe that there is a thermostate and a pressure relief valve in the motors.The pressure relief valve will release the water back through into the block until the thermostate heats the water to the correct temp,in the block.Once the water has reached the correct temp the thermostate then opens and allows the water to escape through the pee hole.I think the outboards are pretty much self draining when brought all the way to the down position once the are on the trailer.If they were not self draining,we would have to pump RV anti freeze into them or try blowing them out with air pressure? |
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Location: Pewaukee, WI | We just went through this up at LBDN this past weekend......best trick was the heaters and some de-icer (of which the Escanaba walmart had pleanty of thank god)........and except for the frozen and broke steering cables to the kicker that had to be replaced.....no worries.... |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Is that heat tape safe in wet weather?????? Rain, snow, sleet, hail, etc.... Also how hot does it get?????
Thanks
Mike Hulbert
Edited by MikeHulbert 11/12/2003 7:41 AM
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Posts: 335
Location: Pulaski, WI | Thanks for the tips. I had pulled off the cowling and the tattletale line was frozen. I didn't know there was an alternate path, so I didn't want to risk it, no gauges either.
John |
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