snowmobile maintenance | Outboard Motor Oil

Preparing for the First Snow

I always get excited when winter comes around and it starts to snow, because it means that it’s finally that time again where I can take my snowmobile out and about. Considering there’s so much time between winters, I always want to make sure that my snowmobile is in tip-top condition when the first snowfall occurs each year.

Typically in the autumn, so that I don’t have to think about it once it actually snows, I start stocking up on the supplies I need for my snowmobile. I get everything I need to clean and maintain it such as snowmobile oil and everything like that. By the time winter rolls around, I’m already completely prepared to take my snowmobile out in the snow!

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Testing Snowmobile Oil

Now that the summer season is over and I’ve made plans to winterize my boat, I’m turning my attention to winter. While the area that I live in has fantastic summers, we also get quite a bit of snow. Like most people in my neighborhood, I own a snowmobile for winter recreation.

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know that I’m pretty particular about the oil I use. I always conduct a paper test on snowmobile oil. I simply place a drop of the oil from the engine on a sheet of paper and then put a drop of oil from a new bottle next to it. I compare the two dots and look for black coloration in the oil engine oil. If the old oil has too much grit and color in it, then I know it’s time to change the oil.

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Offseason Snowmobile Care: Part Four

When your sled is left idle for a prolonged period of time, the fluid levels and charge in the battery to diminish. Before storing your sled for the spring and summer, remove the battery and put it in a safe, dark area悠 recommend putting it where you keep your outboard motor oil and other supplies. Throughout the offseason, charge the battery periodically and fill it with distilled water if the fluid level drops below the fill line.

Fill the carb intake, muffler, and cooling system openings to prevent small animals from crawling into and nesting in your sled. It is also important to loosen the track tension bolts as far as they will go. If the track is kept taut during the offseason stretching and cracking may occur. Tomorrow we will go over the last preparations and finish our series on snowmobile storage.

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Offseason Snowmobile Care: Part Two

Once the outside of the sled has been taken care of, it’s time to move to the more pressing concern: the engine. Begin by firing up your snowmobile and pulling the oil pump cable; doing this will enable a rich mixture of Evinrude XD100 oil to flow throughout the engine. The piston pin, bearings and some other engine components typically see little oil, and opening the oil pump ensures that they are properly lubricated before storage.

After you have ran the engine for 10 to 15 minutes, top off your fuel and add a fuel conditioner according to the specifications. It is important to top off fuel during the offseason to ensure there is no air in the tank. When the tank has air in it, condensation can form, which can wreak havoc on your machine. Now that we have dealt with the fuel and oil, tomorrow we will progress to the carburetor and drive belt.

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