Car Engine Boat

I am putting my boat and car up for storage for the next 8 months. I can buy ethanol free gas for my 5 liter boat engine, but I can only buy E-10 gas at the pump for my car. I have heard E-10 will not affect an auto engine, deteriorating rubber gasket or seal components, but I hear it eats at the seals and gaskets in a marine engine. What is the truth?

Hi Jim

My answer will be between Mark and Jim.
My son takes a lot of these trips, and as such after 5 years of it, we have gotten a pretty good routine.
A. put a little gas stabilizer in the tank and drive it around before parking, same for the boat. When you park the car and the boat, pull the batteries on both or at least one terminal. The car is probably more important than the boat, the alarm system will discharge the battery and keep it that way which will kill the car battery in 6 months or less. I can't say for the boat, but I would disconnect it anyway, and don't forget the trolling battery.
As far as tires, I have not seen a problem and my son's truck has been sitting in the pasture for the bulk of the 5 years except when he is home on vacation, and I drive that one once a month or every couple of months, his car is in a storage shed and as such, never gets driven between visits. The car has the terminal pulled, the pickup does not, and if I don't drive the pickup every so often the battery dies. If I leave it to much longer than that, I wind up buying him a new battery.
Do not set your brakes, they can and will rust to the drums or disks, and are very difficult to get loose. Park is ok on an automatic or in gear in a manual.
When you get back and start the vehicle, let it idle for about 10 minutes, DO NOT accelerate until this period is over, oil needs to get recirculated in the engine as it has all ran off, if you give it the gas, you can pit the shafts, journals and cause the valves to seize. Also on an automatic transmission will need time to get fluid and pressure to the disks and bearings. In a manual, let the clutch out in neutral so lubricant can get worked around. Do not go on the freeway until you have a couple miles in city driving to get the bearings lubed.
Now for the boat, if it is efi your pretty much ahead of the game, if not, add a can of Sea Foam to the tank at the mix value given, it will help clean out any varnish that may have formed. Although if you put in a stabilizer it should limit that.
For the most part, 8 months is not that long of a storage period if you follow what I said, my son's have been put up as long as a year without harm, all 3 vehicles still run like new. A lot of that has to do with how we bring them up when he comes home.

As far as the E10, I do not think it will be an issue, as we get that stuff here also. On my boat, I make my last fill of the season just before the gas changes, and that will usually last me until spring when the gas changes back or nearly. Both of my sons cars are fairly new, and as such are made to work with ethanol. Methanol was the one that affected warranty. I have a new Merc outboard, 2008 and do not think there would be a problem with it, my sons is a 2007 and I do not see that there is applicable difference between them.

Good luck on your trip and hope you make it home safe.

2009-04-19 05:55:37 by Jim Z

random boat with stright pipe haha

I always thought that if the engine went out on an inboard boat that I could replace it with a car engine. Someone told me the other day just during a general discussion that that wasn't possible because the engine ran in the opposite direction. Is this true?

No, but you don't want to put a car engine in as it is not marinized. Marine engines are designed to work in enclosed spaces..aka they are built no to catch fire.

Also they are designed to work under constant load and to resist corrosion in a humid environment. You could do it but the car engine would probably have a short life.

2008-06-28 17:37:52 by Rickie B

Price: $150.00 $84.99

Features with heavy duty all steel constructions and a quick release foot pump
Maximum capacity rated at 1,500 lbs, rolls easily in any direction
Professional positioning hydraulic jack help to move your car or engine easily

I have a locked up 350 in a boat is a auto 350cid the same?
I guess what I want to know is there any diffrence in the short block?

The difference is the way the engine is cooled and geared. A car is cooled by a airflow radiator. A boat engine is either fresh water cooled which means the coolant is in an enclosed system with a heat exchanger or a raw water cooled system which sucks water in, cools the engine and is discharged or dry stacked with a keel cooling unit. A car is mated to a transmission. A boat engine is mated to a reduction gear

2008-08-13 16:24:09 by Scott T

Price: $12.00 $44.99

Do inboard/outboard boat engines use the same engines as normal carbuerated cars do? Could I build a boat engine the same way?

Marine engines use the same block as car engines, they are "marinized" with water cooled manifolds, spark proof ignition systems etc. Some of them do have a different crankshaft rotation but that is really the older engines. Now counter rotation is handled in the marine gear (transmission).

2007-05-27 15:07:12 by Rah

If you need to buy a boat and it's 100 miles away so you want to collect by road, and they have a four wheel trailer for it is this legal and can it be pulled bya 2.0ltr car engine Alfa Romeo

Not a problem. We have often pulled a 23' yacht that must have weighed tonnes behind a Mercedes with 2.0 litre engine on a 4 wheel trailer. Don't forget that the trailer has it's own brakes. The legal limit for towing is 85% of the kerb weight of the car, so look in the handbook and find out the kerb weight of your car is.

Your car should weigh about 1300kgs, so the towing limit is 1105kgs. See http://www.gocaravanning.com/cars/towcar s.html

All the best Bigpathome.

2007-11-21 14:46:35 by Rachael W