Redex in a small outboard

xhurleyman

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Hi Gents, Happy New Year!
Just been servicing my Suzuki 2.2 outboard and wondered if it would be any good putting Redex in to help it?
Cheers, Kevin
 
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VicS

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Should not think so but which Redex product were you thinking of https://www.holtsauto.com/redex/product-categories/petrol/

Fogging it as part of your laying up procedure is a good idea I now use some TCW3 in trigger spray bottle for that>

Sea foam http://seafoamsales.com/marine/ is popular with outboard users in USA I beleive. Helps with ethanol containing fuels and also for decarbing

Other wise use a TCW3 oil and use a bit extra if the engine is said to be suitable for 100:1. 50:1 preferably

Use fresh fuel next year. Dont know how fussy the Suzuki is but not worth the potential troubles by saving a few dribbles from one year to the next.
 

ghostlymoron

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I'm tempted to say 'I don't think it would do any harm' but I've made a New Year resolution not to reply to questions on here that I know nothing about.
 

VicS

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I'm tempted to say 'I don't think it would do any harm' but I've made a New Year resolution not to reply to questions on here that I know nothing about.

I think you can say it wont do any harm with confidence.

Probably wont do any good either!
 

Skylark

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Hi Gents, Happy New Year!
Just been servicing my Suzuki 2.2 outboard and wondered if it would be any good putting Redex in to help it?
Cheers, Kevin

Help it do what? My experience of Redex takes me back to the early 1970s when I owned a few Lambretta scooters. Then, Redex helped the exhaust to billow smoke, it helped give the exhaust gas a wonderful smell but I don't really think it helped much else. Trendy at the time, though.

Now, a lifetime later and after a career in automotive engineering I think I would heed the recommendations found in the engine service manual.
 

simonfraser

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After several blocked jets I now always use redex and drain the carb every six months by removing the bottom nut in the hope that removes any crud.
Been ok so far ........
 

burgundyben

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I found a bottle of Redex in the pigshed a few days ago, must be over 20 years old, I poured it into the tank of my morris minor for no particular reason, not much happened, I was expecting a load of smoke as that's what used to happen, I suspect cleaner modern fuel is the reason for no smoke.
 

Topcat47

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Redex and old smokey 2-strokes go together because the old 2T oils back then weren't low ash and the Redex helped keep the cylinders clean. In old cars I used it to help decoke engines, removing the air cleaner and pouring it into the Carb throat which used to produce a copious amount of smoke. 50's&60's snake oil methinks and probably not much use with modern fuels and engines.
 

xhurleyman

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Ok gents thanks, just thought it might help so I don't need to strip the engine right down. It has been running ok and I have just put a new impeller in and cleaned the tiny little holes through which the exhaust sputters, will of course use new fuel, tank is clean. And when I have the fuel will wait till the bin men have been, make sure it is clean then fill with fresh water and run her up. Are there any water additives which would help to clear any crud in the head?
 

LONG_KEELER

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Help it do what? My experience of Redex takes me back to the early 1970s when I owned a few Lambretta scooters. Then, Redex helped the exhaust to billow smoke, it helped give the exhaust gas a wonderful smell but I don't really think it helped much else. Trendy at the time, though.

Now, a lifetime later and after a career in automotive engineering I think I would heed the recommendations found in the engine service manual.

In the 60's Castrol R was the business. :cool:
 

oldharry

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Should not think so but which Redex product were you thinking of https://www.holtsauto.com/redex/product-categories/petrol/

Fogging it as part of your laying up procedure is a good idea I now use some TCW3 in trigger spray bottle for that>

Sea foam http://seafoamsales.com/marine/ is popular with outboard users in USA I beleive. Helps with ethanol containing fuels and also for decarbing

Other wise use a TCW3 oil and use a bit extra if the engine is said to be suitable for 100:1. 50:1 preferably

Use fresh fuel next year. Dont know how fussy the Suzuki is but not worth the potential troubles by saving a few dribbles from one year to the next.

Adding more oil than recommended to fuel will alter the petrol /air mix. the difference between 100:1 and 50:1 is so small as to make no difference, but go from 50:1 down to 35:1 say would make the engine run lean, with the potential for a range of problems. The old Seagulls had to be rejetted if you wanted to change the oil mix to 25:1 (from a hideously polluting 10:1 which actually left an oil slick on the water!) otherwise they ran too rich, and fouled the plug making them even more impossible to start! With some modern lean-run 2Ts, further reducing the fuel ration by adding too much oil can cause all kinds of starting and running problems. But I agree with Vic S - 100:1 is just not enough oil to provide adequate engine lube. Increasing it to 50:1 can only be a good thing, and isnt enough to upset the carburation.
 

Skylark

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In the 60's Castrol R was the business. :cool:

A while ago there were ads in the biking press for "scented" two stroke oils, I distinctly remember strawberry....

Oh for the romance of bygone days. I seem to remember that it cost a penny for a squirt of redex. Not sure if it was any good for the lungs but I still have fond memories of the smell and the plumes of smoke from the exhaust (which of course had been cut in half, baffles removed and welded back together).

I think I can trump Castrol R, too. In the 1960s and early 70s I flew model aeroplanes (which I've recently restarted) and mixed my own fuel from methanol and Castrol M. That had a wonderful smell.
 

nemodreams

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To clean the waterways you need to take off the head. They are prone to furring up used in salt. Worth doing every few years. Gasket is about £10.

Recently mine stopped pumping at the telltales - after checking imepellor - I had the power head off ( easy job - 6 bolts or so ) and all it was, was the outlet passage from the head through to the leg furred up. There is a tight little hole there through the gasket - poked a bit of wire through and it was ok again.

I did take the head off anyway to check it ( it needed a helicoil as well on one of the power head threads )
It was surprisingly clean. Thats about three years since last time off.

Nice little engines. Run mine on 50:1 generally, though used 75:1 for while no problem.

I have it apart quite a lot - they are nice easy engines to strip. Clean the carb regularly. Just like stripping down and checking engines like this !

Its was rebored and new piston/rings a while back. Starts like a daisy. Old too - still has points !
 

Seajet

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To clean the waterways you need to take off the head. They are prone to furring up used in salt. Worth doing every few years. Gasket is about £10.

Recently mine stopped pumping at the telltales - after checking imepellor - I had the power head off ( easy job - 6 bolts or so ) and all it was, was the outlet passage from the head through to the leg furred up. There is a tight little hole there through the gasket - poked a bit of wire through and it was ok again.

I did take the head off anyway to check it ( it needed a helicoil as well on one of the power head threads )
It was surprisingly clean. Thats about three years since last time off.

Nice little engines. Run mine on 50:1 generally, though used 75:1 for while no problem.

I have it apart quite a lot - they are nice easy engines to strip. Clean the carb regularly. Just like stripping down and checking engines like this !

Its was rebored and new piston/rings a while back. Starts like a daisy. Old too - still has points !


Spot on, I and my chums take the heads off our Mariner 2 & 5 horse outboards every couple of years, to clear the quite surprising salt build up in the water galleries.

I still have affectionate memories of Redex and Castrol R - whenever a bike like an RD400 using it went past we had our noses in the air ' AAAh ! ' like the Bisto Kids - but wasn't the latter at least vegetable or mineral based, I forget which is standard ( mineral I think ) so if you use the other one mixed, watch out for big problems with gunged up lubrication, the engine needs to be running on the same stuff throughout !
 
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ex-Gladys

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Spot on, I and my chums take the heads off our Mariner 2 & 5 horse outboards every couple of years, to clear the quite surprising salt build up in the water galleries.

I still have affectionate memories of Redex and Castrol R - whenever a bike like an RD400 using it went past we had our noses in the air ' AAAh ! ' like the Bisto Kids - but wasn't the latter at least vegetable or mineral based, I forget which is standard ( mineral I think ) so if you use the other one mixed, watch out for big problems with gunged up lubrication, the engine needs to be running on the same stuff throughout !

Yeah, my memory tells me Castrol R was castor oil based? But at my age that may be unreliable!
 
I found a bottle of Redex in the pigshed a few days ago, must be over 20 years old, I poured it into the tank of my morris minor for no particular reason, not much happened, I was expecting a load of smoke as that's what used to happen, I suspect cleaner modern fuel is the reason for no smoke.
My Dad used to put Redex in his Morris Minor in the 1950s.
 
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