Hi... I have a 1996 Evinrude 70hp that is heading into its third summer with me. I have winterized the boat each of the past two winters, and it has started immediately both times I broke it out of mothballs. It runs great! My wife likes to go slow, so this engine ends up doing a lot of "slow, no wake" speeds. I open it up every 15-20 minutes for about 5 minutes, just to try to prevent carbon build-up, but I don't know if that will prevent problems or not. Any suggestions? Anyway, I premix oil with gas because the VRO was disconnected when I bought it, and I'm running the same plugs in the motor as when I bought it two years ago. Should I change plugs just as preventative maintenance, or wait until there is some indication that I should? The plugs still look good to me. What are your opinions? Also... what kind of gas should I burn in this motor? Almost everything around here has up to 10% ethanol. Is that a problem? I have been using premium. Should I continue to do that?
