I have 350 sbc - when I pull the drain plug on one side of the block, and then the pull the plug on the other its already empty? Its the same on my 351 Ford too, I pull one block drain and it drains, then I pull the other side and its always empty? Are the water passages connected from one side of the block to the other internally?

Are you poking something into each drain to make sure you don't have a blockage? I can't count the number of small blocks I've winterized in my career, and I've never been able to drain everything from just one side. Now if one side happened to be blocked, it would give the appearance of having been drained.

Guess I will have to poke harder

You are the man Andy

As I have mentioned before, I am a new guy with this boat I have. I tried to do the pink RV fluid but I am concerned that the thermostat did not open. I put the RV stuff into the motor using the Donzi supplied wash out valve. I could see that the container needed more push and I added a pressure pump to do this. I only got three gallons of pink stuff through the system, so I am concerned that that is not adequate. The motor is a a Mercruiser 454 c.i. '420'. Even though I have the supplied manual I can't figure out where the the darn drain gizmos are and what the size of the socket should be if in fact I can find them. Do any of you have photos of this procedure?

I'll say it again, though nobody will listen, just take the thermostat out!!! The it can be warm cold, whatever...

I winterized my boat this weekend. Bought a "kit" from a shop in Everett Saturday and winterized Sunday.

The kit came with a 5 gallon jug and several valves. I put 3 gallons of concentrated AF in the jug and put 2 gallons of fresh water in it. Shook it up and placed it on the swim step. I ran the engine on the garden hose for 15 minutes, changed the oil and filter then ran it for another 15 minutes. The temp gauge read 170 ish and the water coming out of the exaust tips was hot. I turned the water supply valve off / AF jug valve on and let it idle for a couple of minutes. I couldnt see green coming out but could smell it. After the gallon AF jug was almost empty I shut the engine off. I had a can of Stabil winterization oil in hand, started the engine back up and sprayed the oil into the open TB blade until the engine stumbled. I shut it off at that point. I backed out one of the exaust manifold plugs and saw bright green AF coming out. I called it good at that point.

After reading this I guess I should have dumped the drain on the block prior to introducing AF and pulled the T stat?

wwahl, I dont live far from you. Let me know if you want to borrow the AF kit.

Something nobody has mentioned is make sure your pets are not around.

wwahl,

Engine Block brains plugs should just a few inches rearward of engine mount/bolts on the Port side and just even with the forward end of the starter solenoid/housing on the Starboard side. Hex head size on mine were 9/16". Be ware that the one by the starter may be partially hidden by the starter at first glance.. FYI, this is if you have a traditional low mounted starter...with top mounted starter it should be easy to spot

I just finished mine and it took 6 gallons of Anti-freeze(pre-mix) before it started to come out of the exhaust and Trans Cooler fitting. Again this was after draining the block, the Headers, trans cooler, and removing/draining the seawater pump to Thermostat housing hose as it holds a lot of water at the bottom of the "U" section of that hose.

For clarity sake mine is plain 454 w/TRS, no external coolers (other than Merc trans Cooler) with GIL Offshore type exhaust/headers..but the tail pipes are very long so they can be used with either a BW 72C or Merc Trans TRS setup.

Since my fuel was already drained due to cleaning fuel tank, replacing all fuel lines, fittings,etc, I just used my starter to turn over the engine (no more than 30 seconds at a time to not overheat the starter) and letting the seawater pump suck in the anti-freeze via my flush hose fitting.... I didn't have a clean 5 gallon bucket handy so I used a 1 gallon jug upside down with the "bottom" cut off and duck taped a cut off section of a old yard hose I had in the "cap" end of the jug (other end threaded into flush fitting)....oh and a wife to hold the cut off jug upright and pour in the 6 gallons of AF as I turned over the engine. FWIW, it will suck it up pretty fast like this, no external pressure needed.

Hope that helps,

Dave

I work at a marina and we have this same conversation with at least 50 people every fall. We always tell them that it's much safer to have a pro (like us) do it and guarantee the job - unless you really know what you're doing.

Every spring, we get at least 4-6 of those same folks sheepishly asking why their oil looks like a milk shake. And then we get to quote them a price to replace their engine. Guess which is cheaper?

Just my 2 cents.