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floves

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For those of you who do their own maintenance, what type of oil and lube do you purchase (brand, weight) ?    I have an F150 Yamaha, any idea how many quarts I will need?    If you have any favorite websites you like to purchase from, please list name.   Besides a lower lube change, engine oil and filter, treat fuel, and disconnect battery, is there anything else I should be doing?    
 
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BobIsTheOilGuy.com is the #1 site on lubrication, and it's a good read for any boater or gearhead. 

Come to find out, many offshore fishing boats with numerous outboards are running mega hours.  They often use Universal Oil or the diesel oils like Delo, Shell Rotella, Mobil Delvac, etc.  Diesel oil is inexpensive (approx. $3.25 quart) and does a great job in any engine that doesn't have a catalytic converter.  That includes modern 4 stroke outboard motors.

I'm not putting that many hours on my F150 to where I change oil more than once per year.  But I'm considering switching to Mobil 1 after another year, which is high of quality oil as there is.  Yamaha's oils are great, but very highly priced.

The YAMAHA 69J-13440-00-00 filter for a F150 is the same as WIX 51394, FRAM PH4967, STP S4967, PUROLATOR L14476 or MOTORCRAFT F836.  They can be purchased at any national auto parts store, usually for less than $5.

If you have a pump for the lower unit oil, you can get away with one quart of Pennzoil L/U Lube for $5.49 at WalMart.  WalMart also sells Mercury brand 4 stroke outboard motor oil, but it's some expensive stuff.

One thing about the first oil change on a Yamaha F150:  Yamaha must use sumo wrestlers to screw on their oil filters, as the first oil change requires a filter wrench and a strong person.  I promise you they've never had a leak, however.

Two other things: 

Before you drain the oil and change the lower unit oil, raise the motor as high as it can go and then lower it after a couple of minutes.  You want all the oil to come out of the engine.

With an oil filter, the F150 is supposed to use 5.7 quarts.  I would suggest you start with 5 quarts and see where the oil shows on the dipstick.  I prefer to add just enough oil to be 1/2 way between the minimum and maximum levels on the dipstick.  Then you can watch closely to make sure your engine is not "making oil" in case the piston rings were not properly seated upon break in.  On any 4 stroke outboard, closely watch the oil level on the dipstick.
 
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Bamaman said:
One thing about the first oil change on a Yamaha F150:  Yamaha must use sumo wrestlers to screw on their oil filters, as the first oil change requires a filter wrench and a strong person.  I promise you they've never had a leak,

My 115 was the same way. A big set of channel locks was utilized to get mine off.
Click to expand...
 
The Rotella full synthetic would be great stuff.  I was really surprised to read that fishing fleets running of South Florida use diesel oil for the low price.  And I'm talking about boats that run all day, 7 days per week.  I've read they put a quick 5000 hrs. on the motors before repowering.

Since we have a boathouse, we don't have to go out and run 8 hrs. on a Saturday afternoon.  We're more like 50 hr. yearly users @ 3500 rpm's.  The oil's not even black, as of 9/19, for the boating year.  In other words, we're not so demanding of our motor.
 
There is a very large dealer down south that sells engines to many fleet service groups. They send the used oil out to be analyzed. The Shell Rotella T tops the list. I choose the synthetic version simply because the lubrication properties of a synthetic base stock exceed that of a petroleum base stock. The rest is all in the additive package.
 
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I finally found my manual and it says to use Hypoid gear oil SAE 90 for the lower unit, is 80w 90 the same?  Thanks.  
 
Yup, it's the same. I use synthetic.
 
What about trailer maintenance?   I have a new trailer this year but I haven't greased the zerks yet.  Is any type of grease OK?    

I just read the following comment on another site.     

  • Too funny this type of bearing pack makes Me Lots of money every year...There is no substitute for cleaning and visually inspecting bearings Period...adding grease to grease does nothing and If you have a bearing failing the grease coming out cannot report that too you.. Dont waste your time with the grease gun GREAT MARKETING by dexter for an assembly line time saver..Not designed for bearing Care ..

 
Marine grade grease ..... I would tend to agree with above that periodic inspection is best. Is it a guarantee against failure, no, but it sure as heck does not hurt. As I only used mine previously twice a year I did not worry much. Pumped a couple pumps till I saw it just starting to ooze out and stopped. Wiped it clean and off I went. I'm NOT saying this is best or proper, but it served me fine. Bearings are cheap, so don't skimp when hauling a 25-75,000 dollar boat !!!!
 
I'd say that the mechanic should have been a salesman. I bet he makes more money selling that line to people so HE can clean and inspect their bearings than he ever would if they just pumped a little fresh grease in those bearings themselves.............with that "marketing ploy" of a greasgun that's been around much longer than he has. Idiot.

BTW, I use Mercuty High Performance gear lube. Great stuff.
 
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Oh yeah, by the way, as Ben stated above, sounds like a ploy to make you pay him to do something you can EASILY do yourself.

Pulling, replacing, packing, etc .... Is an easy DIY job. Just spend a couple bucks on a bearing packer and it makes the job much easier & cleaner.
 
Or do it the old fashioned way like my daddy taught me. A handful of grease and start working that bearing into it LOL! Yeah, I like the idea of the bearing packer a whole lot better. Cleaner and much less work!
 
That's why they make nitrile gloves.
 
I pack by hand with the gloves. Before gloves, yes it was bare hands but now my nails are always clean.  :D
 
Yep.  There's nothing worse than to burn up a set of bearings.  We went to Pickwick once (w/friends), and had to leave my friend's boat down there to get a new axle put on it.

Leaving your boat on the side of the road is a very bad feeling.  I no longer want such trailer surprises.  Check your grease and bearings.
 
Having a hard time removing plastic cover that is just below cowling engine cover. I remove two bolts that are closest to the boat. Cover only moves about 3 inches on each side. Are there more bolts that I need to remove?
 
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