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COLD weather coming.....help me out.

Old 01-23-2003, 12:12 PM
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DON'T FORGET OIL/PS COOLER, RAW WATER PUMP, Etc., or you will be sorry this spring!

Also, tilt the drive down so there is no chance of water collecting in your lower.
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Old 01-23-2003, 12:25 PM
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DON'T FORGET OIL/PS COOLER, RAW WATER PUMP, Etc., or you will be sorry this spring!
ok now you've opened up the can of worms......sorry i'm a newbie with all this. What can I do to prevent it?

I'll tilt the drive down ASAP
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Old 01-23-2003, 12:33 PM
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If it is a Bravo drive, it will have an external raw water pump on the front of the engine that needs to be drained, or it will freeze and crack. If you have an Alpha drive, you are probably Ok because they have internal water pumps. The pump will have a small brass drain plug, but sometimes the pumps are mounted upside down so that this will do you no good. In this case you have to remove the output hose from the back and turn the engine over a few times to pump the water out. Likewise, your oil cooler (usually mounted low on the port side of the engine, or sometimes on the back) will have a drain plug, if you can get to it, and it is at the lowest point on the cooler. Alternately, you can just pull off the hose on the low end. Keep in mind that some engines have a separate oil cooler and power steering cooler - in this case, oil cooler is usually on side of oil pan, and P/S cooler is usually on back of engine. Follow the PS lines to locate it. Some of them use a combination oil/PS cooler.

Don't forget to drain the manifolds too. Some have drain cocks; on others, you have to pull the hoses.

Welcome to the wonderful world of winterizing!!

What kins of boat is it?
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Old 01-23-2003, 12:33 PM
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Many motors will trap some water in points that are below the drain plugs. Often this is the coolers and the exhaust manifolds. If you want to be sure, get the hose out and run the engine until it starts to get warm. Quickly switch over to a 5 gallon bucket of rv antifreeze/water mix. Run until the bucket is sucked dry and then shut down. Now drain all the water out. Any pockets that are left will be protected by the anti freeze. Now up here in the great north this stuff doesn't provide adequate protection, but for your purposes, it'll be OK.
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Old 01-23-2003, 03:45 PM
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pulling plugs does NOT drain oil coolers, steering coolers, fuel coollers etc.

If you own a newer motor, merc or otherwise water stays in these areas by gravity.

What it is worth to start up the motor on the hose to run 4-5 gallons of pink stuff at a cost of 10-14 bucks???

Iuse the green Rv in mine down to -100 it cost $8/gallon compared to the 2$ but I sleep knowing its fine I run 5-8 gallons through each. Exhaust and transom is coated with it when done. I KNOW the motors free flow.
Also while preheating the blocks and thermostat I pull the plugs one at a time to visually check water flow from each vavle just for the reasons stated from sludge build up. This I learned from my old jet boats that would sludge up consistantly.

Good heater as mentioned for a night or two. Or if you are in the water start the blocks, warm them up and the internal heat will help.
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Old 01-23-2003, 04:16 PM
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OH well.......I won't have time to do all this stuff by tonight. I've taken all the plugs out and I'll put the drive down...and pray that nothing happens hehe. I don't have the hose hookup deal so I'm out of luck there unless there's some other way. The motor should be dry i'm assuming because we drained it and it has not been run since mid October.
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Old 01-23-2003, 04:21 PM
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Drop a light bulb in the bilge and hope for the best.
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Old 01-23-2003, 04:24 PM
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just drop like a work light below the engine?
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Old 01-23-2003, 04:36 PM
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That should work, or you could even use one of those small ceramic space heaters. I would stay away from an open-element wire-coil heater because of the chance of igniting gas fumes. Also, if you elect to use one of these and it has a thermostat/heat setting, leave it on the highest setting to reduce the chance of sparks arcing from the T-stat switch. Also, make sure your bilge plug is out - gas fumes are heavier than air and will tend to exit here vs. accumulating in your bilge.

But a 100W light bulb should do the trick. You might consider using two - one on each side of the engine. This would also give you backup if one burns out.
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Old 01-23-2003, 04:45 PM
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Sounds good...I'll buy some 100watt bulbs and drop one on each side.......(crosses fingers)
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