Nothing can bring more summer fun and satisfaction than a day out on the water — unless your outboard motor is giving you trouble. The most common cause of a pesky outboard is not enough maintenance.
Ultrasonic Engine Cleaning
If you own a boat with an outboard motor, making sure that the outboard is clean ensures proper operation.
Engine cleaning is one of the most important applications for ultrasonic cleaners. Outboard motors have parts that require small openings for air tubing for fuel and coolant are all open and operating.
These can easily be clogged with grease and debris from the water. Winter can also take a toll on these parts, planting moisture and mildew where it is not wanted. Cleaning these parts on a regular basis can be critical to keeping your boat working. An ultrasonic cleaner is an ideal tool for this job.
The Advantage of Ultrasonic Cleaners
- Cleaning using brushes and soaps can only go so far. An ultrasonic cleaner uses millions of tiny bubbles that can get into every corner and crevice of your engine parts. These bubbles pull away all of the dirt and grease, something that cleaning by hand just cannot do. Cleaning the Parts Start by disassembling your motor engine. If you are unsure how to do this or, more importantly, are unsure how to put it back together properly, stop here and get help. For most small boat motors (100 HP or less) you should be able to use a smaller bench top cleaner, such as the Omegasonics Quantum 7850.
- Using one of Omegasonics cleaners (OmegaClean is a good choice, an all-around degreaser safe for metals), fill the tank according to the instructions in the manual. Make sure to prepare the solution by using the instructions on the cleaner as well.
- Use a warmer temperature for cleaning these parts, around 160 F, and let the cleaner run for approximately 30 minutes without the engine parts. This will prepare the solution by removing any trapped air bubbles in it. When bubbles stop coming to the surface, your solution will be ready.
- Place your motor parts into the basket for the cleaner, and then submerge the whole basket into the cleaning tank. Try to make sure that the parts are not touching and have some amount of room between them. Start the cleaning process.
- Cleaning can take up to an hour, depending on how dirty the parts are. If you are unsure how long to leave them in, start with 30 minutes and at the end of the cycle inspect the
parts. If they are still dirty after 30 minutes, try some more time. NEVER reach into an operating cleaner to inspect parts. - Remove the parts from the solution and rinse them off using fresh water to get off any leftover cleaner. Dry them off and lubricate them as appropriate.
As you can see, cleaning using an ultrasonic cleaner is much easier, quicker and more efficient than doing the job by hand. Browse Omegasonics’ catalog today to get a cleaner for your outboard motor!
