To WD-40 or not...to antifreeze or not...

[QBhoy]

Evening,
For the past 20 years or so, I have religiously winterised my boat (by varying means and methods depending on many different gm engine instructions) Some by old fashioned plug removal and poking to make sure...most recently by mercruiser single point drain and filling with antifreeze.
Don't won't to start a riot (as recently, by posting on an American site), but I have recently read that covering all components with wd40 is perhaps not a good idea ! It's always served me well in this climate...just wondering what the general consensus is on here.
Allan

 

[bigwow]

I prefer to spray my engines with ACF50 rather than WD40

 

[QBhoy]

Bigwow,
Why is that ?
Being totally truthful, this year I did it with "protective spray and lubricant" as well as wd-40, 2 weeks previously.
I read recently not to do it with wd, because it leaves a yellow stain.
It's always served me well, but I find myself worrying about this newer type "MPI" engine more than ever before. Perhaps because it's the nicest and best engine I have ever owned.

 

[Plum]

Evening,
For the past 20 years or so, I have religiously winterised my boat (by varying means and methods depending on many different gm engine instructions) Some by old fashioned plug removal and poking to make sure...most recently by mercruiser single point drain and filling with antifreeze.
Don't won't to start a riot (as recently, by posting on an American site), but I have recently read that covering all components with wd40 is perhaps not a good idea ! It's always served me well in this climate...just wondering what the general consensus is on here.
Allan

I have been spraying WD40 on my boat diesel engines regularly summer and winter for decades, one of which i have now owned for 17 years. It stops the corrosion and does no harm at all to any components or materials.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[Chris_d]

I've sprayed WD40 on everything for years too and it seems to be beneficial in stopping corrosion.

As with anything (eating , drinking etc... ) there will always be someone who knows better and tells you not to do something

 

[BartW]

I prefer to spray my engines with ACF50 rather than WD40

I've also used ACF50 a few winter seasons on our Karnic's engines
and I use it also in our Canados, on the hi lo platform hydraulic pump, which is in a very corrosion sensitive position.
all with good results !

WD40 seems to be a similar product, but I'm not sure if it lasts as long as ACF50
never tested

 

[spannerman]

Evening,
For the past 20 years or so, I have religiously winterised my boat (by varying means and methods depending on many different gm engine instructions) Some by old fashioned plug removal and poking to make sure...most recently by mercruiser single point drain and filling with antifreeze.
Don't won't to start a riot (as recently, by posting on an American site), but I have recently read that covering all components with wd40 is perhaps not a good idea ! It's always served me well in this climate...just wondering what the general consensus is on here.
Allan

I too have encountered hysteric responses on american sites ( the grammar would infer at their parents were cousins or closer!).
Its standard practice here in Scandinavia to liberally spray outboard engines with WD40 or similar prior storing for winter, and we do the same on end of season service with inboards both petrol and diesel as the worst thing is 6 mths inactivity in a damp environment. And modern engines have so much electronics now that mostly works on 5v or less it doesn't take much condensation to cause problems so the view is keep the water out. Under normal useage the engine will dry out every time its run but october too april is a long time to sit with inevitable moisture on the engine unless you have a heater, not so easy on an outboard.

 

[longjohnsilver]

I read somewhere that rubber can be affected by WD40, but whether that's right or not, I don't know. I've used lots of WD40 in the past, but now use more Duck Oil as it seems to last longer on the engine. I bought a 5 liter can of each, each of which came with a small hand sprayer, years ago and I suspect I'll be gone before either can runs out!

 

[QBhoy]

All good points and useful info.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one !

 

[dpb]

Having tried wd40 and ACF50 the latter dries cleaner (no sticky residue) and seems to last a lot longer.

 

[gordmac]

I think one of the mags did a test to see which was the best anti corrosion spray, from memory it wasn't WD40 but that is what I use as it is what I have.

 

[neale]

I think one of the mags did a test to see which was the best anti corrosion spray, from memory it wasn't WD40 but that is what I use as it is what I have.

If that was my test, WD40 came out ok. It wasn't the best, but it offers good value for money. What I learnt from that test is that you need to reapply, maybe every couple of months, for best protection. WD was comparable with Duck Oil. For best long term protection, the discontinued Starbrite product was best, followed closely by Quicksilver corrosion guard.

 

[BruceK]

I used ACF 50 but not sure if it was the right one. I hear there is a marine variant. I used the one I use on my bike. Anyway, cut a long story short, belt dust and other particulates..... made a right bloody mess sticking to everything I had sprayed. Sure the engines didn't rust but they did anyway after I had to scrub the mess off come June. Wont make that mistake again. No getting away from painting exposed areas it seems.

 

[QBhoy]

BruceK
I totally agree. The serpentine belt flack does tend to stick a little worse after a good oiling.
There isn't much room in and around my engine space, purely because of the size of it. Haha. Clearly not meant for such a boat and god knows how they got it in there...no doubt it was before the rest of the boat was built round about it.
Point is, it's not easy to clean round about it....all that said...I once heard that a dirty engine bay is an honest engine bay. Haha