[Capt. Bill]

What type and brand of outboard engine carbon protection (CarbonGuard, etc.) do you all use (if any)? Have you found that some brands are better than others? Is it absolutely necessary to use it with quality marine premium gas? Any brands best for Suzuki engines? Thanks in advance for the info!

 

[Makomagic]

I have always used Carbon Guard and Ring Free with complete sucess. I had a 1987 175 Evinrude with 1000 hours on it that ran with full compression till the day I traded it in towards a new 225 EFI Suzuki.I feel Carbon Guard contributed to that, plus the use of premium 2-stroke oil, that I believe the cheaper oils even though TCW-3, do not contain the additives that the better oils contain. IMHO. I am running Ring -Free in my new 250 Yamaha and Yamalube oil. Yes its expensive. But in the long run, I cant afford not to.
Makomagic

 

[617110]

Ditto...Ring Free is the way to go!

 

[614642]

Never used Carbon Guide

Is this a Gas additive or Oil Additive? How often do you add this?

 

[Capt. Bill]

Southshore, these are gas additives that you add each time you get gas and keep the additive concentration at levels recommended on the bottle (e.g. 1 pint/20 gals, etc.)

 

[614847]

I see that some manufactures reccommend using a can of engine tunere/carbon remover every 50 hrs as a alternative to the gas additive. Is this a good idea? Or is it better to use the gas additive?
What does excessive carbon buildup actually do?
Thanks,
RALPH

 

[615896]

Outboard Decarb

I spoke with an engineer at OMC at length regarding a motor problem on a 1997 150hp. My motor was eventually replaced with a 99 150hp because they were unable to resolve the problem after 4 months of trying. One of my many conversations with the Engineer at OMC was about Carbon Buildup and he told me the single most common thing to cause the demise of a outboard motor was carbon buildup. The key to avoiding this was in addition to proper maintenance and quality Oil, to decarb the motor every spring. Never in the fall because all that carbon was beneficial to protecting the motor over the winter along with the fogging oil. To decarb your motor: 1. get a can of decarb (like fogging oil)2. run the engine till it is at operating temperature. 3. spray in the decarb while the engine is running. 4. wait 15 minutes. 5. run the engine again and you will see all the crap comming out of your exhaust. and don not do this while your boat is in the water!

 

[Scalawag]

with Ring free & yamahas they told me I never have to engine tune anymore!

thats what the guys @ K & K outboard told me and I believe them, the ring free does the job, no more spraying.
Alan

 

[615896]

Scalawag

What is ring free???

 

[Capt. Bill]

Msolomos, why not when your engine is in the water? It is difficult, if not impossible to get an engine up to temp when your out and on the muffs, without back pressure and not being able to run it up to 4000 rpm for 10 minutes or so. Idling will not bring the engine to operating temps.

 

[615896]

Capt Bill

Capt, I agree with you and I only said to do it out of the water because of all the junk that will come out of the motor and the decarb itself is an oily substance so all of this will be in the water and that is not very environmently friendly.

 

[Capt. Bill]

Excellent. That's the best reason I've heard!

 

[Scalawag]

Msolomos1, Ring free is a gas addative put out by Yamaha

Its yammies equal. to carbon guard.
You add it to the gas I shock it once a month they suggest a couple ounces a day then a shock treatment but I do it i little differently, I just burned a 13 gal. tank of gas with ring free in it yesterday, Its around 8 bucks for a 12 oz. { I think} bottle, its pricy but supposed to really help. Alan

 

[happyhrs]

carbon

Hey Guys,
I have a 1997 150 johnson.No problems at all with motor.I was wondering if it is a good idea to start using this decarbing stuff??I hate to fix what aint broke.
To the guy with the 97 150,what problems were you having??
Thanks
Bill

 

[615896]

Johnson 1997 150 hp

I purchased the boat and motor new in 97. The first problem was over oiling, I would burn 20 gallons of gas and check my 2 gallon oil tank and it would be almost gone. They attempted 3 times to fix this, replaced all the parts remotely associated with the oil injection system. It still was not right so they replaced the pak. The Idle was way too high from day one (over 1200 rpms)which was never resolved. and the final straw was a problem throttling over 2000 rpms would cause the motor to sputter out.
Now maybe there is someone out there that could have fixed it but the folks at the dealer and OMC could not after 6 tries and a season later, that was enough for me to start a letter writing / phone call campaign till I got what I paid for... a new engine that actually runs. So now I have a 97 boat with a 99 motor, the motor is excellent, it runs beautiful, decent on fuel and has a lot more power than the 97 even though it is essentially the same motor except this one is grey and the 97 was white. I know there are plenty of 97 150hp's out there that run great, i think i just had a lemon. Oh yeah - decarb that motor! this is from the mouth of the people that built your engine.

 

[PorgyMan]

Ring Free

Scalawag - is there any negative effect of using too much ring free when you fill up. I use it every time I fill but don't use the exact amount per gallon of gas. I just put my finger over the container and add the ring free for a second or two. I fill up at the marina pumps and add the ring free first, then the gas.

 

[plugger]

carbon protection

guys is this more of an hours or years routine
i have a 1999 with about 70
total hrs.........
second thing i have a can of this stuff i remove the cover
off the engine and spray where,im lost looking at this
outboard .....so once again slow for the new guy