Updated 01/03/04
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Updated 01/03/04 |
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Required materials:
1. Engine Tuner Cleaner part# 771297
2. BMCA Fuel System Cleaner part# 772031
Optional materials (recommended):
1. BMCA Carbon Guard part# 772048
2. Oil tank filter screen part#174377
I use 1 spray can of Engine Tuner Cleaner for each cylinder (a V6 would get 6 cans). I recommend adding BMCA Fuel System Cleaner before starting the decarb treatment. Each bottle will treat from 12-20 gals. The 20 gal mix ratio would be for a routine treatment but we want to mix it to the 12 gal mix ratio, so buy how ever many bottles needed for your fuel capacity. If you have 24 gals of fuel on board at time of doing this, slug her with 2 bottles of the Fuel System Cleaner. Get that in there before you start the process and get it shook up well in the fuel by driving around the block towing the boat. This would also be a good time to start to use the BMCA Carbon Guard in the fuel to help keep the carbon from building so quickly. If you choose to, one bottle treats 96 gals of fuel, so mix it to how much fuel you have and then add as necessary when you refuel.
Oil is the next thing to consider. This would be a great time to start the use of the Ficht Ram oil as well if you have not done so. It has carb-X in it and is a better oil than the plain TCWIII oil. You should drain the oil tank and check it once a season for crud that could get into it anyway. It is easy enough to unhook it leaving the hoses attached, lift the tank up and pour it out. You might even change the filter screen in it as well. You will need to take the top out of tank with a torx driver and slip the nylon filter mess media off the suction tube. Then just put the tank back in boat and add new oil. It should still be primed as you should not drain hoses. Look all the hoses over though and replace them if needed.
Now that we have that all out of the way, as an annual routine I would:
1. Get a new fuel bulb as well. Make sure to get the right size for what HP
motor you have. 2. I think this would be a good time to change the lower unit
oil too.
3. Change water pump impeller if it's been over two years since last replacement.
4. Pull the prop off, grease the splines and check for fishing line and get
that all squared away.
5. Get a new set of plugs for the motor as well so that you can replace the
old with new after you get through decarboning the motor.
Once you get on a routine of all this, I would try to decarbon her once every 75-100 hours if you use the Ram Oil and Carbon Guard. Every 50-65 hours if not. That will keep that under control.
When the shopping's all done, put the chemical in her and drive around
the block to mix that all up you can begin. The FICHT motor is somewhat tricky
to do this with as compared to the carbed motor. There are a couple of ways
that I have found to do this that work ok. With the dealer software, there is
a way to do this on the driveway with limited risk of having her hit the limiter
BUT, since this is for the guys that want to do this on their own, let's do
this without the software involved. It's safer and works really well. Find a
ramp or a back-in test tank to use. One that is not busy is bette,r but you
can do this at the busy ones and pull out once you get each treatment done.
So let's head for the ramp. Bring lunch and drink. You will need it...
Once you get to the ramp, make her ready before backing her in. Pull the hood and air box off, remove the spin on fuel filter and dump it out into something. Get rid of it in a proper place, not into the lake...Hell anyone can do that and we are better than that... Fill the filter with the seventh can of tuner cleaner I didn't tell you about LOL... I highly recommend this and every so often afterward too. Every 5-6 tanks of fuel wouldn't hurt a thing. Fill the filter with the tuner cleaner. This will take some doing as the spray has a foaming action to it. I like to spray it into a plastic drink container like a gatorade bottle and then pour it into the filter. It is quicker that way, but either way just fill the filter with fluid not foam, spin the filter back on, pump the bulb on the fuel system up good and you are ready...
Leave all the straps on, back her down the ramp and put her in the water just enough to get the motor down in the water good. Light her off and let her get to temp. The cleaner works with the temp in the motor like an oven cleaner, so we need her warmed up. A good fast idle (say at 1500 R's) will do the trick in about 5 minutes. You may have a check engine light go off with a horn. This sometimes occurs with certain temps outside. The chemical we put in the filter has a specific gravity that is close to water and the sensor sees it as such, so just proceed. The horn will go off in 30 seconds and the light will disappear later after you get through so don't worry about that. This gets tricky now if you have Hotfoot. You will need someone to help. If no one likes you, you must rig something up to hold a constant throttle setting at 1800-2200 R's in gear. An adjustable car hood prop rod works well against the foot throttle and the back of the seat to get the R's up if you don't have someone to help. With a hand throttle there's no problem. Just put her in gear and run the throttle up to that speed and then go back and do the nasty to her, whichever way you have to...
Now we have all this figured out how we are doing the throttle so let's proceed. With the throttle at the R's, you need to get on the back deck with the motor and first can of tuner cleaner in one hand (shake the can good before you start), hold the throttle bodies open as if you were going to give her full throttle. Now with FICHT, nothing much is going to happen but lots of air is going to be pulled in, but the throttle is going nowhere. This way, the extra air will help carry the tuner cleaner through the motor. NOTE: If can(s) have a hose attached, cut off to about 3" in length. DO NOT, in ANY CASE, attempt to inject cleaner through the Schraeder valve! The FICHT Scraeder valve is ONLY for testing fuel pressure reading. Start to spray the tuner into each cylinder for 20 seconds or so and then right to the next one, going from one to the next till the whole can is gone. As the can nears empty, get ready to kill her soon as it runs out. Pull the rig from the water, leaving the motor down as low as possible to keep the chemical in her, but don't drag the skeg up the ramp either. Once you get in a parking place, let the motor down all the way and let her soak for one hour. You can't hurry this, so plan on it. Clean and straighten the boat, tackle boxes, truck, whatever.
Once an hour has passed, back her down the ramp, light her off again and fast idle her for 5 minutes at 1500 R's. Then put her back in gear and run her still tight against the bow stop on the trailer... You should not see more than 3000 R's that way even at WOT. The prop will have her loaded up hard. Run her up and down like that for 3 minutes, then setup as before, pour another can of tuner through her, let her soak 1 hour again...
On the last can, I like to let it soak over nite if possible. If not, don't, but it works better. This will let her soak the very hard and stuck carbon and when you go back to the ramp tomorrow she will be ready. Once you get the last can in her and soaking, pull her out and put the air box back on. Don't forget the airtemp sensor that goes in the air box. Put the hood on and trailer her back to the house. Once there, let the motor down all you can and let her soak. In the AM we go back to the ramp, fast idle her first for five minutes, then back her off the trailer and go run the hound out of her. I mean get it too! This will get rid of anything that you loosened up and she will be as clean as she will get. Run her for 15-20 minutes around the lake too. Then bring her back to the trailer, pull her out and put the new plugs in her (index them as they should be). Re-launch, go run her again and see how she does. If the check engine light and horn is still going off at this time, just pull the filter back off, pour it out and reinstall, then pump the fuel bulb to fill the system and check her out. This would be a good time to put a new spin on filter on her after all this has been done. You should change it out once a season as well. There are two part numbers for these filters, so get the right one!
For those of you who didn't have the time to soak her over nite, let her soak for as long as possible after the last can (one hour minimum), make her lake ready and go run her. Follow up with the procedure as noted above. You will be ready at this point and she will be too...The truck and boat should be clean and in order too since you've had plenty of time to straighten them... LOL
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