[mtty]

Flush your motor until the thermostat opens. Five minutes may not be enough. As for the lube on the steering, my experience has been not to lube the rod with anything but WD-40. I used marine grease for the first two years and had to replace the cable last spring. Apparently the VOCs evaporate out of the grease after a while and leave gunk and crude the prevent the rod from sliding. There are a couple of grease fitting on the pivot point of the motorwhere it tilts up and down. I still use marine grease on them but after a $300 steering cable replacement I no longer use grease on the steering arm. Checking the prop shaft for mono is a good thing too. I change my lower unit oil annually.