Thread: Winter weather hard freeze motor care

I keep mine in an unheated pole barn here in western KY. I fish off and on throughout the winter and try not to run it on muffs when the weather stays below freezing for an extended period of time. My routine for cold weather storage starts at the ramp: after loading up I will bump the key a couple times to expel a large percentage of the residual water in the system. Then I cycle the outboard from full tilt down to vertical multiple times until the water stops running out. Once I trailer it back home, I remove the transom saver and trim the motor down to where it is vertical to the ground and I store it that way. This allows any residual water to drain out of the passages by gravity and in my pre-towing routine I place the outboard back on the transom saver when I hook up to the truck. Keep your fuel topped off in the winter to minimize open space for condensation to form in your tank as it warms up and cools down. I change my lower unit lube in the early winter before the first hard freeze to check for water intrusion before it has the chance to possibly freeze and cause damage.

That 60hp Johnson is a workhorse of an outboard and should give you many years of dependable service with regular maintenance.

I do the same with letting the motor down to let the water drain out.I also do this afterwards,don't know if it is of any help but what I do is take The cover off and pull the water discharge hose up above the motor ,use a syringe with RV antifreeze and squirt several syringe full in the hose till it runs out of the foot.(sorta the reverse way the water does when the motor is running,)