Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

I've seen many posts with pics in the past and some were really good ideas as well as cheap and easy.

What are some good methods?
Where did you pick up your homemade parts?
What are the issues with placing a t-fitting in the raw water intake line of a 496HO? There's a funky piece/valve inline it looks like, probably associated with the air pressure water dump from the manifolds? Do you place the t-fitting behind that?
I've obviously got a Sunsation with a tight engine package. Any tricks to getting to the feed hose on the port engine?

Oh, got any picks of your homemade flush kits installed?

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

on to port mtr easy way is to pull the mtr, short of that its a pain luckily im small so somtimes I can get under the mtr

as for home made no need really perko makes a great kit that even has a check valve in it and has every thing you need in it

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

if you have a sea strainer just run a line to it, then when it fills start the engine and run fresh through it...

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

here's mine, 3 parts per motor. Garden hose connector, SS tee that I made, hardwalled hose.

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

US1-how do you shut off water from the drive?

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

I don't need to worry about the drive. No valves are used either. Just gotta make sure the cap is on tight so it does not suck air. When I turn on the water, (motors off) the water will go out the drive because the seawater pump is not turning and blocking that path. Then when the motors are started, with the tee being right at the pump inlet, the suction then pulls the water thru the pump, stopping all water flow out the drives. works like a charm, with absolutley no dry start up waiting for the pump to pull water from a set of muffs or worry about muffs that slip down. I do my flushing/winterizing on the trailer, so this works great for me. Actually, I have a tee that I screw into the garden hose adapter for winterizing. 1 end water supply, other end to 5 gallon bucket full of antifreeze. Run the motors until up to temp, shut the supply leg off, open the antifreeze. Instantantly sucks the antifreeze down. For someone wanting to flush thier motors while in the water, naturally a valve would then be needed between teh tee and the drive.

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

with the perko kit it has a check valve that shuts it off

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

Rick,
I don't like the Perko system as it allows a problem area for clogs and failure.
I made my own with no check valve and no shut off valves. I plugged a T into the raw water intake into the SW pump. This hose was a REAL PAIN IN THE ASS to remove, but pulling it completely out is the only way to do it right. My boat is at my house outside of Richmond now, so if you are in the area, feel free to take a look. I bought the snap in quick connect from Mercury (BAM Marine, OSO advertiser) and the T for the raw water hose and a 90* fitting from CP Performance. With not having a valve installed, as soon as you turn on the garden hose, it flushes the drive out quickly and as soon as you turn on the motor, it takes the water into the SW pump.

The only disadvantage I have is I can't flush the motors with fresh water if the boat is sitting in saltwater without getting in the water and putting tape of over the UWP and LWP on the drives.

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

I have used the Perko kit on several applications. You can install fittings (like first pic of US1 Fountain), so that they are easy to acess when flushing. This is installed from the factory on many inboard boats. I would recommend supporting the "flusher valve" instead of just leaving it hang in-line. Rick, check with Bob Conway, I think that was the system that we installed on his boat at the dealership.

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

Great ideas. Brian when you say all the out, do you mean disconnect the intake hose from the transom as well?

Starboard engine no problem. Port engine real tight. I suspect I have to pull the at least the riser to get a little more access to the hose to cut the inline location for a T fitting. It's all super simple looking, I guess my biggest hurdle is simply access to the intake hose to cut into it, or "add to it" maybe? What diameter hose is the intake?

Any better pics form anyone?

rackster I have seen Bob's, but he has a bit more wiggle room to maneuver than I in his 35 Executioner.

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

I just put the Perkos on my Formula when I did water pump impellers. Just had to pull the hoses up and cut them while they were off the pumps. Ran 3/4 hose to fittings on the flushers and to hose fittings on the inside of the engine compt. I can probably get pics this weekend.

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

That would be great, thanks. I'm one of those visual kind of guys... :eek:

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

here ya go, kinda hard to see in there.

Re: Do-it-yourself flush kit installs?
 

More

I installed my flush kit and op-checked it immediately afterwards and observed it working perfectly.

One week later (this past weekend) i take ti to a poker run and upon first starting it up once in the water I start getting these double-beeps, and above 35oo rpm during the run i get a solid alarm until I came off plane with the double-beeps consistent all day as posted in my other post in the tech section.

The only common denominator for the two engines is the flush kit since it last ran great 3 weeks before, and just one week after it ran great (no alarms) on the lift. But several other folks have installed thses with no problems that i have heard of. Has anyone experienced maybe a water pressure sensor alrm or similar anomaly since installing theirs?

Attached is my setup using 5/8" non-collapsible reinforced PVC line.

Make sure the valves are fully closed and the fittings are 100% sealed. Any air leaks and the seawater pump will suck in air starving the motor of water. Was the alarm for water temp?

Just read your other post. No ideal what could be the problem as long as you have no air leaks. Might try separating the 2 systems. It sure appears like it should be fine with the 3 valves closed. (Unless the Y- adapter is not up to par.) Good thing is it easy to eliminate the valve setup for a quick check. I'd go that route 1st.

Well when sittingin the water there's no water that gets into the lines. The Y shutoff's I tested (by mouth) and found it to be air tight when in the off position, plus the cap is screwed on tight. No drips or leaks while in the water over three days, and water pressure on the gauges reads great/normal.

The only thing that makes sense to me (it's a boat I know) is as the water is passing hard past the t-fitting opening to the flush hose, it's causing "maybe" an aeration of the water throught the pump to the pressure sensor at the mouth of the exit hose maybe causing it to sense a faulty reading. But again other 496 owners have not had this anomaly, why me and the other guy?

Yeah i need to go thru a process of elimination methadolgy while waiting on a scantool read. I think I can make a temp cap-off of the t-fitting, or even try rotating it to be situated more downward vice pointing upwards or something.

Hey Reck
Im (Bajacleveland on Speedwake)
No I don't have the same motor.
I doubt it has anything to do with the T if your valve is fully closed.
Unless the plastic T is reducing water flow.
I would guess you might have killed the impeller.Did you forget to switch the vavle over at all?
Was it fine at any point running it out on the water(Not the hose)?

No overheating, cool risers indicating good waterflow thru exhaust (496's has a separate high temp alarm at the risers if water flow is restricted, and they will get very hot. That alarm is either on or off). I've also got water pressure gauges both of which read great pressure levels and indicate no different than before. Also solid block temps of 160 (496's are closed loop cooling, hence the different temp sensors).

Good drive oil, good engine oil and pressure, all flush valves closed & double checked throughout the day.

See my "Beep-beep" post in this forum.