I have read about 50 post on this topic but I just looking for reassurance that I have this correct, Mine did not come with the little blue pump from the last owner and most seem to say it sucks anyway. So aside from the standards such as changing oil and drive maint. etc...

remove the blue plugs and drain - i found three.
fill a "winterize jug" with RV A/F pressurize sligthly
Connect muffs with "wye" valve one end to hose the other to A/F jug.
start engine on water then switch valve to A/F and pull all five gallons through. Keeping the A/F jug hiugh above the engine.

This fills the raw water cooled compents with A/F.

Really sorry to post another Winterizing post but just want to make sure I am clear on the procedure.

Thanks

No need to run 5 gallons of pink through on the raw water side of a 496. There is no water recirculation and a couple of gallons is more than plenty to displace any water in the system and have pure pink running out the exhuast. You really should find a pump and use it to pressurize and drain the system first. Not sure where you read this system sucks as it works great to get the majority of the water out. Just make sure to release the pressure before running the pink through. Gravity feed off the swim platform is all you need to get the pink in. No need to be running off water and then switch over to pink with a y valve. By the way, the pump is only about $15 new.

I have the blue pump and it seems to work fairly well, but I just don't trust it to get ALL the water out of the system. I will pump it up, to dump what water will, then run 3-4 gallons of pink AF in after it is warmed up (open stat). Of course I do this twice.

It doesn't even need to be warmed up... the t-stat is on the closed side of the cooling system. The exchanger and manifolds get raw water at all times.

T-stat does not see raw water on a 496.

Any type of tire air pump will fit on the quick drain fitting. It's a good idea to make sure the dump valves are working and it is a great way to get most of the raw water side drained down if you need to in a pinch for a cold snap or to supplement winterizing.

As said, the engine t-stat and warming up the motor has nothing to do with the raw water side. The block, circulation pump and internal to the heat exchanger are all filled with standard Dex-Drool AF. As long as you have comfort that your coolant is good that side is good to go for the winter.

You know, I wondered last year why the water coming out when I was "warming" up the boat never got hot! This makes much more sense now. I such a newbie to closed cooling, I just did the same thing I did on the old boat which had a VP 496. I still will run it on the muffs just to get the Stabil and Seafoam into the fuel system, but I will drain from the inside first then pump the AF in. Thanks guys!