How To Protect Your Mercury Outboard

Grime, oil residue, salt buildup, rust, and corrosion. These are all good reasons to clean and protect your Mercury Outboard on a regular basis. Performing routine maintenance on your Mercury Marine engine will keep it running reliably for plenty of fun on the water with family and friends.

To help you avoid problems due to lack of maintenance, we’ve compiled a list of the best products to help recover lost engine power, keep your engine tuned for optimal performance, and increase the overall lifespan of your Mercury Outboard.

Protect Your Mercury Outboard

Mercury/Quicksilver Corrosion Guard 

Cover it with Corrosion Guard. This rust inhibitor forms a water-resistant barrier on both painted and unpainted surfaces. We recommend using it at every service interval with a liberal application to all metal engine surfaces. You can also use it on outdrives, lower units, and power trim motors.

The marine environment is one of the harshest on the planet. This is why protecting your boat from corrosion is extremely important. For premium defense against rust, we highly recommend this product.

2-4-C Marine Grease With PTFE

All of our Mercury technicians swear by Marine Grease 2-4-C with PTFE. It’s a high quality, exceptionally versatile, lithium-based grease that won’t break down when mixed with water. This product works to resist oxidation and degradation. With extreme pressure additives, the lubricant is able to withstand friction in a variety of operations and temperatures.

You can use this product on steering systems, cable linkages, remote controls, prop shafts, swivel pins, tilt lock mechanisms, hinge pins, and even your boat trailer wheel bearings. This multi-purpose product does it all.

Quickleen Engine and Fuel System Cleaner

This deep cleaning treatment should be used at regular intervals throughout the boating season. It thoroughly removes carbon deposits from carburetors, injectors, intake valves, spark plugs, piston-crowns, and cylinder heads. Use of the product prevents engine knocking, piston seize up, and also extends spark plug life.  

Quickleen can be used in all 2 and 4 cycle carbureted and fuel-injected gasoline engines. We recommend using it in conjunction with Quickare (below) to prevent fuel breakdown and oxidation. One ounce of this product treats 5 gallons of fuel. NOTE: if you have not used the Quickleen product, use of it can result in larger than normal amounts of carbon deposits breaking free in a short time period causing spark plugs to foul requiring their replacement.

Quickare Fuel Treatment

In order to maximize your engine’s performance, use this complete fuel treatment at every fill-up with any grade of gasoline. Quickare is an excellent defense against the problems associated with ethanol-blended fuels, including its corrosive effects on metals as well as the gum and varnish that result from fuel oxidation. See PartsVu’s Knowledge Center for our article on the problems of ethanol gasoline.

This product can also be used to clean up existing deposits in untreated fuel lines, tanks, carburetors, injectors, intake valves, and spark plugs. It will keep your fuel fresh for up to three months and can be used in all 2 and 4 cycle carbureted and fuel-injected gasoline engines. Use one ounce to treat every 10 gallons of fuel.

Quickstor Fuel Stabilizer

This product stabilizes fuel for up to a year while preventing fuel system corrosion and keeping injectors and carburetors lubricated. A good habit to get into is adding this product to your fuel before storing your boat in the offseason. It will also prevent regular and ethanol-blended fuel from breaking down and oxidizing.

Quickstor Fuel Stabilizer can be used in all 2 and 4 cycle carbureted and fuel-injected gasoline engines to keep your engine running at its peak. Regular use should help your engine start easier, idle smoother, and get out of the hole quicker. One ounce of product treats 5 gallons of all octane grades of gasoline, as well as ethanol-blended fuel.  

Mercury Storage Seal

Storage Seal will prevent rust from forming on internal engine surfaces whenever an engine sits idle for extended periods of time. Storage Seal is specifically formulated for use with 2 and 4-cycle gasoline engines and forms a protective barrier against rust on internal metal surfaces. Use before putting your engine in storage at the end of the season or whenever it will not be used for more than a month.

Power Tune Internal Engine Cleaner

Carbon, gum, and varnish deposits, unfortunately, accumulate on the combustion chambers of gasoline engines due to low-temperature operation, the use of lower-grade fuels, and even just normal engine use. These deposits cause loss of power, and removing them helps to improve fuel and airflow as well as overall engine performance.

That’s why we recommend this internal engine cleaner for your Mercury outboard. It’s a laboratory and a field-tested blend of chemicals designed to remove power-robbing deposits. The product can be used in all 2 and 4 cycle carbureted and fuel-injected gasoline engines.

Click to shop Mercury Power Tune Internal Engine Cleaner

Mercury Marine Engine Oils & Oil Change Kits

Here at PartsVu, we’re strong advocates of always using Genuine Mercury petroleum products for several reasons. Firstly, they outperform automotive oils by far because of their specialized additive package designed specifically for marine engines. They also provide up to 33% better camshaft and wear protection.  

The benefits of using Mercury Marine engine oils include increased engine reliability and performance; they have industry-leading strength and viscosity retention, and ultimate corrosion protection. Over 5 years of engineering and development by the largest marine engine manufacturer in the world have gone into these specifically formulated engine oils. For your convenience, PartsVu carries a wide selection of Genuine Mercury Marine lubes, oils, and additives.

For your convenience, PartsVu offers Mercury oil change kits for Mercury outboards and Mercruiser engines. Mercury oil change kits contain the exact amount of Mercury marine engine oil needed for your outboard model and in the following oil weights.  Additionally, each kit includes the appropriate Mercury oil filter and oil plug drain gasket.

SEE ALSO: GUIDE TO MERCURY MARINE PRECISION OILS & LUBRICANTS.  

Mercury 100-Hour & 300-Hour Maintenance Kits

Mercury Marine 100-hour maintenance kits and Mercury Marine 300-hour maintenance kits contain genuine Mercury Marine outboard parts, conveniently assembled to meet the service needs of your specific Mercury engine. Each kit contains the outboard parts and products you need for proper Mercury-directed 100-hour or 300-hour service. Kits include parts and products such as: Mercury outboard oil filters, Mercury gearcase drain seals, Mercury gear lube, Mercury thermostat kits, Mercury fuel filters, NGK spark plugs, Mercury anodes, belts, Mercury water pump repair kits, Mercury in-line fuel filters, Mercury fuel rail filters.

Mercury High-Performance Gear Lube to Protect Your Mercury Outboard

This lubricant provides maximum protection against excessive wear, even in the presence of water. Pressure additives improve oil film adhesion and advanced emulsifiers protect gears in case water enters the gear housing. Prevent corrosion and pitting to extend gear life with Mercury Gearcase Lubricant.

Keep your Mercury outboard running reliably longer by taking the necessary steps to protect it. Remember, every time you take it out for a spin, your boat is subjected to wear and tear caused by the harsh marine environment. But thankfully, the use of these products on your Mercury Marine outboard takes very little time and effort, and will surely pay off in many extra years of enjoying time on the water.

Shop PartsVu for OEM Mercury outboard parts and other boating essentials.

SEE ALSO: GETTING YOUR MERCURY BOAT ENGINE READY FOR THE SEASON