Another Winterizing Thread.....well sort of.
 

With this being my first winter with the new boat I have a few questions that I need answered. I have twin 496 Mag H.O. motors and I got out my little blue pump and pumped away. Here is my problem only one of the green nipple thingys popped out. The other stayed in...? Also when I did that only one of the motors had water draining out of it while the other motor had water barely dripping out..? Any help would be greatly appreciated

This is what I have always done and I live up in watertown where it probably is just as cold if not colder. I run the engines to operating temp to ensure the thermos pop. At that point I run 3-5 gallons of pink rv anti freeze through the engine ensure pink stuff comes out both exhaust exits, I have carbs so I fog the engines the last gallon or so. Never any freezing and if some water is by chance trapped I know its dilluted enough with pink stuff to not make a difference. I have been doing this on the fountain for 3 years and in total on boats since I was a kid and never an issue. I know some guys like to pull the freeze plugs and what not and not knocking it, but I think the method I have is the easiet and leaves out any doubt. I also lower the lower units all winter this ensures water or liquid can drain out. Never use green anti freeze in a boat as its toxic, unless you are going to catch it in a containment system in the spring.

You can make a jug with a hose that goes to muffs to hold the pink stuff, or just buy one from like west marine, I think mine was like 20 bucks.

496HO's are NOT to be winterized with the air-pump system! There are many, many threads on this. The air-pump system is designed to extend your boating season. This system leaves pockets of water in the sea-water side. The system can also have air-leaks which will not open the drain valves; and this will really screw you over. The air-pump is NOT pressurizing the sea-water side of the system like you might think. It's pressurizing a closed air system that pushes against two springs and opens two valves on the bottom of the engine's cooling system. If you don't have water pouring out, your valves are not opening.

You need to do a full winterization with anti-freeze run throughout the system ESPECIALLY at a NY state latitude. 600 miles south, maybe not so much. There is no thermostat on the sea-water side of the 496/HO, so you don't have to worry about warming it up as mentioned in the previous post. See this thread: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/d...terizing+496HO ... or do a search on " 496 winterizing. "

+1 on running the antifreeze through the raw water section.

As its your first winter with the boat and you're pretty far north, its not a bad idea for you to test the coolant in the closed cooling system with a hydrometer. You want to make sure what's in the block itself will protect it over the winter.

Sorry, I can't help you, I gave up winterizing, looks like you've got the info, good luck.

+1 I do the same minus the FOG. No issues and take less than 30 minutes.

Yup didnt know about the thermo on the 496 so its even easier.

But crane its the easiest and most proven in my mind. 20-30 bucks in pink stuff and 20-30mins and your done. What takes me the most time is getting my dang batteries. I know theres some other methos and knocking them if it works, but pink stuff ensure protection if you not get every last drop of water out. I also put dryer sheets through out to protect from rodents and moth balls underneath on the ground or concrete. You also should probably put some stabil in the fuel.

Thanks for all of the info guys. On all of my other boats I always ran antifreeze up through the outdrive and into the motor until it came out of the exhaust. Never had any problems doing it that way. I just wasnt sure with these newer style motors the best way to do it.

I still dont know why my other green nipple never popped out..?

On my boat I have 2 ports when I open the engine hatches where you can hook up a hose to run the engines. I am going to run the coolant through there with a tank that I made up for my other boats. My other question is does the outdrive have a place where I should put muffs on it to suck the coolant up instead of the 2 ports in the engine compartment..? I just want to make sure that the outdrives do not have any un-treated water in them also..?

My boat is older but I beleive on my fountain those are for flushing. Hook the muffs to the slits on the lower unit on the lower part of the drive and let it go, just like normal, this should suck pink stuff from the bottom all the way to the top and out. Unless you dont have bravos or have some closed cooling system that im not getting here.

I dont know if it matter but always open up the through hull exhuast as well, to let pink stuff go out the top and bottom exhaust

Don't worry about the outdrives as long as you do not have salt water in them. When you hook up the water hose to the fitting the engine compartment; it flushes backward out the drives; until you start the motor. When you start the motor, the SWP will pull the fresh water into the motor; same goes for the anti-freeze.

You probably have an air leak on the actuator air pump system. It happens. I took those little air pumps off and threw them away. Use a battery powered air compressor. (The kind of small air compressor built in to a jump-start-box.) Right next to the schrader valve is an air pressure pop-off valve, which is how you release the air pressure before you start the engine again. If you put to much pressure in the air system, it pops off right there.