300/440/550 how to winterize???

alberta guy

alberta guy

Location
edmonton
How do you guys winterize your jetskis? I got one weekend left of riding then i plan to winterize it. What do you do with the fuel? Do you take apart the carb and clean out the fuel? ect? If it matter its a 91 550sx being winterized.
 
mattchow88

mattchow88

Location
Appleton, Wisconsin
First make sure all the water is out of the exhaust system by running it out of water and the hull, then Either 1 stabilize the fuel and run it so it gets through the carb (works the best In my opinion If your going to use it again asap in spring) Also a full tank stabilized lasts longer than a small amount of fuel stabilized. or 2 completely drain the fuel from tank. then run it till the is carb is empty and fog the engine till it smokes heavily out of the exhaust. I would use Yamaha fogging oil I Have had really good luck with it . Then I would recommend some silicon spray or Wd-40 and lightly spray everything inside the engine bay and store it with the hood off and the stator cover plug out (you can even spray some silicon in the stator cover)! Any questions feel free to ask.
 
alberta guy

alberta guy

Location
edmonton
Does running it till its out of gas get it all out of the carb? I come from the four stoke world were when you run it out of gas there is still gas in the carb because of accelerator pumps and what not that you can only get out by taking the carb apart.
 
jamesgunter68

jamesgunter68

Location
Bakersfield
alberta guy said:
Does running it till its out of gas get it all out of the carb? I come from the four stoke world were when you run it out of gas there is still gas in the carb because of accelerator pumps and what not that you can only get out by taking the carb apart.
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running it out of gas will take too long and will send your engine into a out of control lean rev
 
mattchow88

mattchow88

Location
Appleton, Wisconsin
jamesgunter68 said:
running it out of gas will take too long and will send your engine into a out of control lean rev
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That is not always true It all depends on the ski. I work at a dealership and prep ski's all the time and have never had a ski run away doing it, Either way if it does run away, it would be very short lived because the fuel would be off and have nothing to run on at that time. You do have to use some "what I call common sense" when doing it if you plan it right once it starts to feel lean is when I start fogging it.
 
mattchow88

mattchow88

Location
Appleton, Wisconsin
If you remove the fuel in line from the carb with the fuel in on position and gas cap off, blow it back into the tank then shut the fuel off, if you do that it will only run for a short time on what is in the carb.
 
FearMyWrX

FearMyWrX

Location
Seattle
Fuel stabilizer will be fine. Pick up a can of "fogging oil" as use as directed. First spray into the intake for 5-10 seconds per cylinder while holding enough throttle to keep the ski running. Then remove spark plugs and spay into each cylinder for 2-3 seconds. Lastly replace spark plugs.

But yes you will want to blow out as much water as possible. Simply brapping your ski a couple times while it is out of the water will do. I'd recommend doing this more than just once as water seems to find a way to settle. Two times you should be fine.

What are normal winter temperatures for you? Are you going to be storing inside or outside?

Unless in extreme conditions I don't see a need to remove the fuel from lines and tank. Gasoline can get to ~-150 F before freezing, not to mention the oil that is mixed into it. It shouldn't be an issue and is just a added hassle.
 
mattchow88

mattchow88

Location
Appleton, Wisconsin
FearMyWrX said:
Unless in extreme conditions I don't see a need to remove the fuel from lines and tank. Gasoline can get to ~-150 F before freezing, not to mention the oil that is mixed into it. It shouldn't be an issue and is just a added hassle.
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The reason I recommend blowing the Fuel back from the line is that It goes bad in a smaller area such as the in line, and it will start much easier In spring If it gets Fresh fuel from the tank rather than having to run through the crappy fuel in the lines along with the fogging oil in the engine.
 
FearMyWrX

FearMyWrX

Location
Seattle
mattchow88 said:
The reason I recommend blowing the Fuel back from the line is that It goes bad in a smaller area such as the in line, and it will start much easier In spring If it gets Fresh fuel from the tank rather than having to run through the crappy fuel in the lines along with the fogging oil in the engine.
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Makes sense with good reasoning.
 
davy87nj

davy87nj

Location
Santa Maria, CA
If your useing fuel stabilizer and run it for a little so its in the lines and carb is it necessary to blow the fuel from the line and run till out of gas? I would actually like to pick up a few jobs this fall winterizing skis here in NJ if possible. Being from CA I dont have much experience. Does anyone run that bio friendly anti freeze thru a ski? Or is that just for boats? Sorry for the hijack, but i think its on topic, so why start a new thread.
 
FearMyWrX

FearMyWrX

Location
Seattle
davy87nj said:
If your useing fuel stabilizer and run it for a little so its in the lines and carb is it necessary to blow the fuel from the line and run till out of gas? I would actually like to pick up a few jobs this fall winterizing skis here in NJ if possible. Being from CA I dont have much experience. Does anyone run that bio friendly anti freeze thru a ski? Or is that just for boats? Sorry for the hijack, but i think its on topic, so why start a new thread.
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I've seen that in boats and 4 strokes. Have no encountered that on a 2-stoke before. I too am from CA. I have not had problems the last couple winters with just,
1. blowing water out of pipe, water box ect.
2. Fogging engine with fogging oil as instructed.
3. Just dumped the gas into another ski and started with fresh gas (or fuel stabilizer works too :) ) I'd rather spend a couple extra bucks and just run new fuel.

With that, you should be all set. If you want to be extra cautious, you can wrap your ski in thermal sleeping bags to keep it warm all winter.
 
mattchow88

mattchow88

Location
Appleton, Wisconsin
There are certain model skis that you cannot get the water out of the system simply by revving on it, they then require the antifreeze, some tell you to pour a certain amount into a certain area, some tell you to tip a certain angle, some require hose removal. there are way too many models for me to list what to do with them.
 
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