I have an '08 150hp Yamaha 4 stroke with 900 hours. I change oil and all filters every 100 hours and use only Yamalube. I use Stabil Marine every fill up but other than that, I haven’t used anything like Ringfree yet. Question is, should I?? And what does it do for the motor??
Fishing is a prefectible art…in which nevertheless, no man is perfect – Gifford Pinchot
Key West Sportsman 1720
Ice Blue Pathfinder 2200
“Kemosabe”
<’}}}><
Using Yamaha’s Ring-Free cleans/reduces carbon deposits inside the cynlider walls of the engine.
Stab-bil takes care of the gas/ethonol problem, nothing for carbon deposits. Use the Stab-bil green (Marine), not red (red version has alochol in it, your trying to reduce the alcohol content in the gas).
Yamalube is made to reduce to carbon deposits, but it does not eliminate it.
Fishing the beaches, Bays & Ocean of Wildwood/Cape May, NJ
Soon a resident of Georgetown, SC
Personally, I like to use Chevron’s Techron found at Advance Atuo or Autozone. It is the same stuff as Ring-free, accomplishes the same end result. AND IS CHEAPER than ring-free.
But please bear in mind, my boat has a 145 gal fuel tank. Mixing the Techron to the 145 gals does the job, but does not clean the cynlinders completely due to the dilution.
Your '08 motor can certainly benefit, but unless your mechanic has identified a problem with carbon (he should be looking at the spark plugs before winterizing to tell) or better yet scoping the spark plug holes with a light to see the top of the pistons, keep doing the same regimenment your doing.
I am a former Yamaha certified mechnaic, but not working in the marine industry anymore (making more money as an environmental permit consultant)
. The Yamaha brands are the same, but more expensive products. As long as the oils are certified, TCW-II they are good as the Yamaha brands. The difference is ash deposts coming out of the exhaust (the black streaks comming down from the dry exhausts). Carbon deposits are different than ash deposits.
Fishing the beaches, Bays & Ocean of Wildwood/Cape May, NJ
Soon a resident of Georgetown, SC
Sea Foam is the best cleaner for carbon - but the secret is to use a high ratio dose and a separate 3-gal portable gas tank. You will see the carbon deposits fall out of the exhausts. This 3-part method on an combination of the flush adaptor and then running the engine in the water at full throttle will clean out 90% of the carbon.
But this is ONLY needed to do if carbon has been identified as a problem (either by looking at the spark plugs & making a decision to do it or bore scoping the cylinders.
Fishing the beaches, Bays & Ocean of Wildwood/Cape May, NJ
Soon a resident of Georgetown, SC
Limit
Carbon builds up inside your engine, just like the black soot inside the tailpipe of your car
your boat motor runs much harder than your car
when the carbon builds up it makes life harder on the motor
seafoam in a small tank is okay, but its not a substitute for a true internal engine cleaner that is injected directly into the intake in the form of a spray foam and undiluted.
Eric
I will assume you meant TCW-III, but that is a 2 stroke oil and has nothing to do with the ratings for 4 stroke oil
the MINIMUM requirement for a Yamaha 4 stroke outboard would be something with the FC-W rating, but don’t think that just because it has that rating, that it is as good as the Yamalube products. The difference isn’t the actual oil, Yamaha doesn’t drill and refine its own oil, but it does pay to have the oil blended with additives specifically for its requirements, and that’s the difference. things like corrosion inhibitors to prevent down time corrosion.
Having been a victum of carbon build up…use it…its expensive if you dont…
God forbid your motor is mounted to low and really straining,it really makes it worse.
Ask me how i know.
SAFMC you suck!
Google “Dunk’s Decarb”
I do it to every used motor I buy and I do it to every motor I own once a year. That’s including the motors I buy new.
Use a barrel, not muffs. Float some oil absorbent sheets in the barrel and get ready to see some goo. It’s a nasty bit of business but it sure is satisfying to see all the crap get flushed out of the motor.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask as I’ve performed the procedure dozens of times and haven’t killed anyone other than mosquitoes or a motor yet. So I have that going for me on my resume.
Ditto on Dunk’s Decarb procedure - didn’t want to give the www.bassbarn.com the “advertisement” value.
Opps spelling error - TCW-III is correct for the 2-stroke.
Fishing the beaches, Bays & Ocean of Wildwood/Cape May, NJ
Soon a resident of Georgetown, SC
Wow, sure seems that everyone has an opinion on this topic. I appreciate all the responses. I’m familiar with Chevrons Techtron but I certainly never heard of Dunk’s Decarb so I’m going to research it a little more to find out more info about it. Does anyone know what Yamaha recommends for its 4 strokes??? Guess I’ll have to call my service tech to find out what Yamaha recommends.
Fishing is a prefectible art…in which nevertheless, no man is perfect – Gifford Pinchot
Key West Sportsman 1720
Ice Blue Pathfinder 2200
“Kemosabe”
<’}}}><
Yamaha does recommend running ring free in its 4 stroke motors
1 ounce per 10 gallons of fuel