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steering cable question

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youghpirate

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on my 2011 20SLI i have been adding a pump or 2 of grease to the 2 grease fittings on the mount for the outboard where the steering cable passes through the cast mount for the motor. (older 50hp evinrude 2 stroke, 1998 model) my first question is this. is this sufficient to or is there another way or place to lubricate the steering cable? please excuse my lack of knowledge, this is my first boat and i want to make sure im covering all aspects of maintenance.

second question, as noted i have an older 2 stroke,(runs flawless everytime out.... knock on wood). in the changing room compartment is the 2 stroke oil tank. when i purchased the boat new, the dealer had topped off the tank and gave me 1 gallon of 2 stoke oil. so this spring i filled itup again. now im down to about 1/4 tank of oil after todays trip and will need to refill. i was wanting to switch to a full synthetic 2 stroke oil. can i just add to what is already in there and not worry about it?

i know 2 strokes are disappearing quickly, but i got what i got and want to get the most out of it befor ei have to repower. i read that a synthetic oil would perform better with the ethanol blended fuels. i do use an ethanol treatment with every fill up to hopefully prevent any problems.

an djust in case anyone is wondering why i have a 1998 2 stroke on a 2011 beeny.... <_< , well the dealer had the motor in from a trade, it was baught new and serviced there every year since new, and basically included it with the price of the boat. my boat was a special order but the buyer backed out when the boat was delivered due to a dealer error on the ordering. the customer who ordered the boat wanted a 90 hp motor, but when the boat arrived at the dealer the capacity plate stated 60 hp max. so after all was said and done i baught the "error" with a used motor included.

sorry for the long post. hopefully i will get some advice since the members on here are always great with answering my "rookie" questions. lol. thanks as always and do appreciate any replies as always.
 
First of all, sounds like you got a pretty good deal on the motor and welcome.

I am by no means a expert on oils, but I can tell you that I have been told on certain oils such as rear end and transmission oils, it is not suggested to mix them. I would check with a oil professional before mixing.

Good luck
 
You can either mix them now or let what you have run low first, or, drain the tank and refill with the new stuff. Personally I wouldn't throw away good oil. B)
 
You're lubricating the steering at the right place. No other greasing is required.

If the boat has run great on regular outboard motor oil, I see no reason to switch over to synthetics. It's not like you're running an ETEC or a Optimax XS motor that are different generation motors.

If you switched oils, you would want to completely drain the big oil external oil tank. If there is a secondary oil tank on the engine, you'd also want to pull it off and drain that also.

(My Yamaha 115 hp 2 stroke has 2 tanks.)

I've been running WalMart's house brand outboard motor oil in both my 1985 Yammie 115 and 1990 SeaDoo since they were new. I pull the PWC head once, and it didn't even need decarbonizing. I don't think there's but a few sources of outboard motor oils, some of which are rebranded under different manufacturers' names. You just want to make sure the oil you run meets the proper specs for your motor--per the oil institute standards.
 
bamaman, thanks for the input. it runs good on the "conventional" oil, havent had any problems. i was thinkin of going synthetic to try to combat the dreaded ethanol problems. i have heard the synthetics help, and that theres no difference. was hoping someone would dispell or prove any myths associated with the oil and ethanol controversy. i see your point of why switch. i keep asking myself if its good on conventional maybe synthetic will cause a problem. but then again.... and on and on. maybe im just overthinking it. lol.

i do know most oils are produced by a few major refineries then just rebranded. i was looking at the walmart oil as you mentioned and it meets the NMMA requirements, and its a lot cheaper. :D i did speak to an evinrude dealer and they basically, after a sales pitch, said as long as an oil meets the requirements for the motor it would be fine, no matter the brand.

i have been reading a lot about the ethanol hype and all the articles. where i live in southwest Pa. we have 10% ethanol. i treat every fill up with the "anti -E" additive just to be safe. i pull the plugs every 2 weeks to check them and they are clean, no carbon or signs of trouble. i think i will just go with the old "if it aint broke dont fix it" theory.

thanks for the replies everyone, have fun on the water!!
 
Hi, I have a 2003 Bennington model #207L and the steering has locked up! Do you think the Cable has froze up?  It was working fine last fall when I quite using the boat. Where do I start looking for the problem and how do I correct the problem?

Thanks,

Will
 
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If you go under the helm you can disconnect the cable from the helm and see which is frozen. Also, I'm thinking in reverse, first disconnect the cable from the motor and see if it moves with the wheel. With the cable off the motor see if you can turn the motor by hand. If the cable has never been lubed you might be looking for at least a new cable.
 
Roughly how many gallons of gas does it take to go through a gallon of oil in a 2 stroke typically?  Just curious.
 
Will,

Is the motor up or down. Mine will sometimes bind if the motors turned then tilted completely up.
 
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Youghpirate,

You could do some research out there on the 2 stroke oil "mixers". I had one on my Four Winns jet and found out there was issues where it's possible to run the oil dry and you can smoke the motor. I'm not saying this is the case in your situation, but the fix I used and a lot of others is I just premixed it in the fuel tank. I also did this with a 2 stroke honda motorcycle and never had a issue. I felt comfortable knowing I never would have a dry tank, a clogged oil line, a pump defect, etc.....

Just a thought ..... Plus you get rid of the oil tank .......
 
Will said:
Hi, I have a 2003 Bennington model #207L and the steering has locked up! Do you think the Cable has froze up?  It was working fine last fall when I quite using the boat. Where do I start looking for the problem and how do I correct the problem?

Thanks,

Will
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