Gas and Oil mix.

[ReBel_]

I am new so this may be common knowledge here.How long should you let a premix set before getting rid or it?I just got a boat with internal tanks and was wondering how long the premixed gas was good? :-/

[oldfisherman]

as long a you use a good gas stablizer it should be good for at least a year. saying that i do not rercommend doing that . i like to keep my gas fresh as possible and always keep the tanks top off. this helps prevent condesatioin / sweating to happen cutting down on water build up. the fresher and cleaner you can keep your fuel the less likely of breakdowns.

[Rob Mak]

sardis
if i was you and did not know if it was stabilized i would empty the tank. and start fresh i don't know what type of moter ya have . but if it is made in japan- yamaha, honda,nissan,ect.. do not use high test ever, in them. there is no way to adjust the timing or tune them for high test. i made that mistake with my yammy.carbon build up was very bad.like 3 pounds of carbon inside a 50 horse two stroke. it barely ran at all.

zooker

[ReBel_]

Thanks for the replys,The motor is a X-2 150 Merc.I guess I should just get rid of it after six months or so.Does that sound about right?

[jeffman]

SARDIS,

Why are you pre-mixing your oil and gas? A 93 Merc should have oil injection unless someone disconnected it. I think I would take it to a Merc mechanic and have it checked out before you go running pre-mix gas/oil in it.
I had a 91 Black Max 150 on my prior Ranger, and it was oil injected. Look in the battery compartment of your boat and see if there is a oil tank back there for the oil injection, and make sure it has oil in it before you run the motor.

JackL

[catfishtonyd]

I ain't going to swear to this, but in '93, I don't think Mercury was building an XR-2. I had a Mariner Magnum (same engine as the XR-2 Mercury) in '87, and had upgraded to a Magnum II/XR-4 in 89. I would think a 93 Mercury would be an XR-4 if not an XR-6.

(I'm assuming you mean XR when you say X.)

If it's an XR-2, a lot of people disconnected the oil injection on that engine after the warranty expired. I did I know. The XR-2's and some of the XR-4's had a flaw in the oil injection that allowed a little seal to get cocked so that it would lose prime and stop pumping. You didn't get an alarm because the alarm worked off a gear turning. Well the gear kept turning when the pump lost prime, but you didn't pump any oil.

I had both my XR-2 and XR-4's disconnected and lot of other people did then too. The problem got fixed in the XR-4's but a lot of people were gun shy of them. I've never heard of an oil injection problem on a XR-6.

Oil Injection, like wiskey, get's the blame for a lot of things it don't do.

Your original question though. I've never had any problem with gasoline that been setting over the winter. The oil will not seperate from the gas. I'd just fill the tank with some fresh gas, add something like Pennzoil marine fuel additative to the tank and run it. You might want to add a water seperating fuel filter to the engine just in case you got some water in the tank, which could happen anytime really. Cheap insurance.

[Rob Mak]

cajun what in the world are you doing up at 4:42 am? i thought only myself and other loonys were up and going at this hour.

or are you waiting for the old truck to warm up to drive to the launch?


zooker

[catfishtonyd]

I'm a shift worker. You might find me around any time day or night.

[ReBel_]

Misunderstanding here,my boat is a 93 but the motor is a 1988 so I guess it was never oil injected. Thanks guys!

[catfishtonyd]

Nope it was oil injected, but was probably disconnected. If it's an 88, it's an XR-2.

[ReBel_]

OK,I understand it now.Learning is great!

[catfishtonyd]

Just make sure the oil injection has been disconnected. Â*Ask the previous owner if you're not sure. Â*There should be a remote oil tank in one of the rear compartments if it's still hooked up that has a hose running to the engine. Â*If you don't have that, be sure to keep mixing the oil at 50:1. Â*If you don't the first alarm you'll get will be a very expensive noise from the back of your boat. Â*If it's still hooked up, running double oil won't hurt it. Â*If it's been disconnected, running no oil in it will.

If you don't have one, most boat supply places sell a plastic bottle that is marked off to show you how much oil to add to X number of gallons of gas. Â*Cost about 3-4 bucks. Â*Well worth the cost.

[ReBel_]

I will check on it!

[jeffman]

SARDIS,

If you do have to pre-mix your gas/oil, I would suggest that you also mix in an appropriate amount of fuel stabilizer, such as STA-BIL, which can be bought at any automotive supply, lawn mower shop or Wal-Mart.
This will keep your gas/oil mix from going bad in the tank. Although my Merc is oil injected, I still mix Sat-Bil with my gas to keep my gas injectors from gumming up while sitting in the garage.

JackL

[ReBel_]

Thanks,I will do that!