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Quote:

Originally Posted by goldeneyee (Post 3230653)

I have a pair of 496 Mercs in my own boat and you CANNOT use Merc's water purge system to winterize--its only meant to extend the boating season in colder climates. The 496 is somewhat complicated to winterize and should be professionally done unless your an experienced owner. In my opinion money well spent.....

I actually find the 496 easier to winterize than the 454's I had in older boats.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neva satisfied (Post 3230971)

After you pump it out the first time, run about 4 or 5 gallons of AF through the system. Now pump the AF out. Now your done. The AF will dillute any water that was left in the system from the first pumping.

I have a 2001 496 HO, and I do this as well. I live in upstate NY and it gets COLD here, and never had a problem. I also run the RV AF through the water holding tank and sink, including running it out the swim platform shower.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allicat38 (Post 3230599)

Good luck if you think a marina will stand by anything other than repairs. Im almost positive a marina will not cover anything if there winterization went wrong. It shouldnt happen and doesnt but if it did it would be your resposibility. If they did cover it i would think it would be a long down time.

I think.
Just my opinion

I can only speak for the marina I work at, but we cover anything that happens as a result of us doing a winterization incorrectly. I should also add that we go to great lengths to make sure we don't do anything incorrectly. When you winterize over 400 boats, you can't afford problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave M (Post 3231049)

That's what I do. Also, I unscrew the 4 blue plugs. 2 on the sea pump and 2 on the cool fuel system and leave them out until spring.

Remember to poke into the opening after the plug is removed. Usually debris will block the opening even after the plug is removed. Usually a screw driver does the trick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by checkeredpast (Post 3230620)

It is very easy,use the pump to pressurize the dump valves.Watch for the two green dots to pop up and you will hear the water run out.You are done!

If only that was true... Better hope you don't see much of a hard freeze. If you rely on it alone, you'll be back on here in the technical section come spring time.

Yup. Running pair of HOs. I dump the water using the air system, use muffs to delivery the pink stuff until free flowing from thru hull exhaust, takes 4 full gallons, shut down and use air system to dump water/pink stuff and then double check by pulling blue plugs. I've never gotten more than a drop or two when i pull plugs Three seasons in freeze'n ass Buffalo with no problems

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave M (Post 3231049)

That's what I do. Also, I unscrew the 4 blue plugs. 2 on the sea pump and 2 on the cool fuel system and leave them out until spring.

What youve got to remeber is that the 496 is a closed cooled system and the main part of the engine is filled with anti-freeze.If your pump up system works ,Use the blue hand pump and pump up the system till the green dots blow out indicating that the system is pressurized, then you will here water running out.After that remove the 2 drain plugs from your sea pump and the blue plug from your power steering cooler and leave out till you get ready to put the Boat back in service..Ive been doing this process for past 5 years and it gets very cold here in Ky during the Winter months and Ive never had any trouble with anything freezing up.Im not gonna pay $600.00 dollars for a process that only takes about an hour to do if you have any mechanical ability.Good luck.

"Up Here" in Canada we know a thing or two about COLD weather, LOL as well as a 3 month boating season :-[

Make sure if you rely on the coolant in the closed loop season you use a tester and check the freeze point on the mixture. The boil point doesn't matter, but, if your antifreeze mixture is "good' for -10 and the weather goes to -20 you could have serious problems in the Spring.

I have been told that "wind chill" doesn't matter when it comes to freezing points, so, you probably dont need antifreeze thats good to -60.

Another thing I recently learned, is that the pink "RV/Plumbing" antifreeze WILL freeze, but, doesn't expand, it just kinda goes "mushy"

Just my thoughts, I have a closed loop 454 that I have winterized myself, I usually pull the lines off the risers, cooler, and sea water pump and let them drain for about a week, then I pour RV antifreeze into the lines, and "Squirt" a bit of RV anitifreeze into the seawater pump and the cooler [Coolant tester works well for this] Check freeze point of antifreeze and leave cap loose on coolant resevoir.

I do all the "regular" stuff too like fuel stabiizer, running motor with 2 stroke oil in fuel filter, change oil, etc

Not sure if its the correct way to do it, but, has worked for me.

Good Luck!
Michael