Question regarding trolling on my new motor...

[CRFan1]

Ok, So I have about 20-30 minutes on my motor (60 4 EFI) and I did about 5 good hole shot pulls to get the rings seated and such. Runs great. My question is, would it be bad to be trolling with it so soon? The salmon/browns will be going nuts here (in lake Michigan)over the the next few weeks and it involves a lot of trolling. Just not sure it's good to do it yet.....

Thoughts?

[marine_man]

Have you reviewed the break-in procedure outlined in your operators manual?

From a copy of a 2008 4-Stroke 60 hp Merc (sorry, all I had handy), break-in procedure is:

Engine Break-in Procedure

IMPORTANT: Failure to follow the engine break-in procedures can

result in poor performance throughout the life of the engine and

can cause engine damage. Always follow break-in procedures.

OPERATION

1. For the first hour of operation, run the engine at varied throttle

settings up to 3500 RPM or at approximately half throttle.

2. For the second hour of operation, run the engine at varied

throttle settings up to 4500 RPM or at three-quarter throttle,

and during this period of time, run it at full throttle for

approximately one minute every ten minutes.

3. For the next eight hours of operation, avoid continuous

operation at full throttle for more than five minutes at a time.

I'd stick to that if it were me...

marine_man

[CRFan1]

Yeah, I did read that but honestly, I am not a believer in the "easy" break in methods. I have a mechanic background (airplanes) and I have broken in my engines a certain way and they have always been top performers (including my dirt bikes). Basically, I believe in putting a load on the engine after warm up to get the rings seated. Mind you I am not blasting around at high RPMS....just a quick pull and back off and repeat. Tuesday was the first day I had the boat out and after about 5 quick pulls, the rest of the time was spent at 4K or below and varied. Petty much on par with what they say. I definitely won't be pulling wide open for any length of time for a while and I agree with that. I think it's very important to seat the rings on these 4 strokes.

Now aside from that, I guess idling for long periods would not be good either but it might be ok for short periods followed by some normal driving.

[solbes]

Hmm, my Yammie break in procedure was pretty much identical to that one. I agree on not babying a new motor, but I pretty much followed the procedure. I made sure to run it at WOT for short periods followed by a cool down period in that 2nd hour. That's probably where most of the break in occurs. I also did plenty of short WOT spurts for the next 8 eight hours to make sure the rings were fully seated. I generally avoided trolling until I was at least close to the 10 hr mark. I used the electric to pull cranks in the fall anyway.

If it were me, I'd take it out on a large lake or reservoir and burn some gas before you get to your trolling & fishing. 10 gallons of gas is pretty cheap compared to the cost of that shiny outboard hanging off your transom.

[CRFan1]

Ok cool. No trolling for quite a while. When I took it out Tuesday I was using the trolling motor to do that and I will continue. Appreciate the info. from you and Marine Man. Just thought I would ask anyway.

I will be following the book now that I have done my ring seating procedure anyway.

[marine_man]

For what it's worth, I agree 100% with your ring seating procedure... not doing something along those lines on 115 yamaha 4 strokes has resulted in reports of motors making oil... but, in my opinion, once that's out of the way, I'd follow the procedure the rest of the way, as you plan on doing.

marine_man

[CRFan1]

For what it's worth, I agree 100% with your ring seating procedure... not doing something along those lines on 115 yamaha 4 strokes has resulted in reports of motors making oil... but, in my opinion, once that's out of the way, I'd follow the procedure the rest of the way, as you plan on doing.

marine_man

Yep, Thanks Marine Man