hunt the ice ''well whats your secrets to keeping your motor''

Shermie

Shermie

Well-known member
from icing up,
i have a 4 stroke honda 15hp runs fine out to set up by gawd she is one cranky sala ma b*&$tch ,i hunt the last 2 weeks of season up here until jan 15th and she dont like the cold at all ,
water pump fine warms up even when she is real cranky,,,its like running on 1/2 a cylinder by times..

temps here are always well below zero or 32f

breaking ice is normal for your day,so what do ya guys do??

either its the freezing air or fuel is so cold????

you guys up in the near artic like yukon and alaska whats your take on it any tips ???

thanks in advance because this is the only place to get a straight and proper answer...

shermie...
 
Make sure your sparkplugs are good, and it may be running full throttle is icing your carb. Do you see droplets on the outside of the carb? Is the insulation under the hood in tact? Look for a product called Reflect-tex, it is a 3/8" bubble wrap with foil on both sides and has a hell of an insulating r factor to it...stick some of that under the hood to keep engine warmth in there.
 
+1 on the carbs freezing... or possibly you're getting frozen condensation building up in the airbox itself. Running a dose of isopropyl gasline antifreeze should help some, if that's what's going on.

The plugs are another thing to check... along with the crankcase oil, i don't know what your Hondas calls for but we used to have a little 20 hp 4S Honda and found switching to a lighter, full-synthetic oil helped her do better in the cold. In the end that motor never did all that well in the cold anyway.
 
Keep an extra "new" fuel line with a ball... Just keep it in the boat... You never know... I needed mine the other day... Saved the day...
 
Keep the lower unit down in the water when tied off to the bank to hunt from the boat blind.

The second fuel line is a great Idea - ditto that one!
 
These responses are all sage advice. Also,I keep fuel stabilizer and de-icer in my fuel tanks and always carry a can of starting fluid just in case the motor doesn't want to crank quickly.
JMO,
Harry
 
I'm not anywhere near the Artic or Alaska, I have hunted several occasions here in Northern Indiana in temperature well below 10 degrees on a few open rivers...I do not run a 4-stroke but a 2-cycle 9.9...I buy a product called Sea Foam that is added to the gas tank...Sea Foam can be purchased at any Auto Store...It keeps engine components clear of any debris, cleans spark plugs, clears any water issues due to condensation in the tank or any left in the engine when you turn the motor off...Another thing I do when it is below freezing is that I pull the pump line off between the tank and the motor and let the motor idle until it runs out of gas. This is only done when termperatures are low and I know I am going to sit in the same location for any extended period of time...

My Grandfather taught me this....Kind of his joke towards not hunting on cold days...
Another thing that I pay attention to as well when temperature get too low is watch how many big rigs are stranded on the highway between my house and the place I am hunting...If I see more than 2 within the 45 min to hour drive I just turn back around and climb back into bed...Once diesel fuel sludges out the filters in a big rig, mother nature is too cold for me...Cold weather is the single greatest resource for figuring out you might have simple maintenance problems you haven't been keeping up during hunting season...Nothing worse then getting caught on the river when the engine won't start...Especially on the lake systems I grew up on in Kentucky....There some big gates on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes...

Best of luck,

Kristan
 
I have a 07 40 Honda 4 stroke on my work skiff, Friend has a 50, they do NOT like to start once you get below 28. My older 40 Honda was fine, but they did something to the newer ones for "better" or at least lower emissions, very aggravating.
I treat the gas with both Stabil's new ethanol blend gas stabilizer, and an enzyme product StarTron, overkill maybe, but it helps keep the ill effects of ethanol from raising havoc.
Also you need a strong battery, and good spark for cold starting. I actually got it started, finally, in this last cold snap of single digit and low teen temps.
Don't add any more alcohol to the fuel, there's already 10% of that crap in there already, The alcohol causes a reaction with moisture and aluminum and causes a type of white corrosion in your needle valves, jets,etc. The longer it sits between starts the worse it gets.
I also have a Racor water separating fuel filter, it is more expensive, but has a finer micron element, and all fluids are synthetic.
Even with all this, the b!+ch gives me a hard time when cold. Once it's been warmed up it'll start all day no problem.

On your motor, I'd run a strong dose of Sea Foam through it, and treat the gas with the above stabilizers to start with. If you don't use the motor regularly, I'd also unhook the gas and run the carbs dry. And learn new cuss words, lol. Good Luck.
 
thanks boys the more ideas the better,i have come up with one im gonna try next year as its over now but im gonna stuff as many as possible those hand warmer chemical packs into and around the motor and for sure get a feul seperator ,i used the stuff for the feul to get rid of the water ,may have used to much 2 bottles methl hydate the little ones,the steel tank is another thing that will be replaced it seems to sweat alot more then the plastic.new plugs are on the way too ,,way to much fun hunting the ice in the last 2 weeks of season not to try and get it to work...

when we hunt the flats the water is gone for 6 hours so she sits out in the cold i have painted it dark grey and i usualy have the stern facing the sun all day,,but it doesnt matter come dark when you need her to preform for ya she is COLD by then....

thanks again boys
shermie
 
George, I too have a Honda 40 (2004)... fortunately I don't have the starting issues re cold, but I appreciate the information you listed re ethanol. I hate ethanol. Really bad on engines, gas mileage, agriculture and ducks. Thanks a lot AMD and Cargill - your lobbyists did a fabulous job...
 
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