winterization
 

any one have any good tricks. removing my outside two block drains is quite a job. was told some just run rv antifreze through till it comes out the exhaust pink and call it good. i always drained the block after antifrezeing but on this boat it is a lot more work. but having a boat is work:lolhit: thought of adding a couple of push lok fittings and a foot or two of hose with caps to get easier acess. or maybee just getting old and lazy.

I run rv antifreeze through the motors until the exhaust spits pink. I do not drain the blocks.

I always drain the blocks first and then run the antifreeze through until it comes out the exhaust. While the antifreeze is going in my wife sprays fogging oil in the intake.

Dave

You do not want to spray fogging oil in the intake of an EFI or any fuel injected engine. Many, many posts on this in the past that will provide valuable information.

To fog an EFI engine PROPERLY, you can either:
Mix up a 2-stroke batch of gas and run your engines on this small tank while running the AF through or...
Remove your fuel/water separator; pour out half the gas, fill it with 2-stroke oil, reinstall and run your AF through the engine.

Many people will say "I've done it for years" referring to spraying fogging oil in the throttle body, but you are NOT protecting the entire fuel system if you do this, and you run the risk of gumming up sensors. Such is why the above procedure is referred to in Mercury Service Manuals.

Again, do a search. 100s, probably 1000s of good posts/threads.

Oh, and please no more talk about this crap until November.

i dont trust the pink chit!!it get slushy at 28* and will freeze hard at zero!...if your going to run antifreeze through the engine you will need to use -100* below if your not draining the block,,each engine will take about 5-6 gallons to get it to -34* below zero..the engine and antifreeze must be at least 140* or the thermostat will slam shut and the antifreeze will just circulate through the thermostat housing and skipping the block until the engine is at 140+*....its good to pull your drain plugs when the engine is idleing on the hose so that all the lake water sediment that gets traped can be flushed out,,that will freezr and crack the block because its mixed with water...this is my set up.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzDob8um5Xc

^^^ great idea. But dam it is a LARGE plastic tub.

Think of it this way. The only way to truly guarantee you've protected your block from freezing is to drain it. If you want to refill it with antifreeze as added insurance, that's cool. When you try to fill all of the cooling passages in your system with a perfect mix / concentration of antifreeze, it's pretty difficult to guarantee you've got it right. In the words of Clint Eastwood, "So kid, are you feeling lucky?" I'd always try to drain it first - no matter how hard it is. Just my 2 cents.

My routine is

1. Drain block and manifolds
2. remove thermostat (because of the whole 140 thing)
3. Run the pink stuff through it with the fuel water separator half filled with two stoke oil.
4. drain block again and the manifolds
5. remove big hose on thermostat housing and the manifold hoses and fill up block and manifolds with the -80 anti-freeze

Then in the spring I just put the thermostat back in with new gaskets and put on a new fuel water separator and start it up.

That might be over kill but my boat sat outside in MI winters and why risk cracking a block or manifold?

Whats wrong with just draining the block, manifolds and coolers..
why is everyone adding antifreeze?

The antifreeze is also an anti-corrosive so it helps to stop any rust from forming in your coolant passages over the winter. And its just extra insurance if there is some water still hidden in your cooling system.

I start my motor on the hose and let the thermostat open up, then I switch to a bucket with a spigot filled with 50/50 mix of green antifreeze/water. I run the motor on that for the full 5gallons which ends up cycling through the motor and exhuast manifolds and all hoses. Everything is filled with antifreeze.

btw. My blocks would already be cracked if I waited till November

Your boat has a latitude problem Pete!

I drain the blocks / headers, remove a few hoses to ensure they are free of water (inc sea pump hoses). Then reassemble everything. I then remove temp sensor and fill with pink antifreeze.

1)Unhook main hose coming into strainer.

2)Hook up hose from strainer to drum of antifreeze

3)Start motor (wife yells when antifreeze comes out tailpipes) turn off motor

4)Unhook hose from strainer and hook back up pick up hose

5)Strainer, heat exchanger, and headers have antifreeze on them all winter. IMO allowing air in creates corrosion.

Run the motor and let the antifreeze pump threw everything.

"Winterization" that's like the couple months a year I gotta turn a/c off right? Lol

go south
 

Tow your boat to Florida and leave it down south until May 1, fly down and go boating while its 20 degrees up north.

X2 without draining the headers, etc before adding anti freeze all you're doing is diluting the water in there with anti freeze. I even drain the anti freeze after running in the pink stuff in case there's a pocket of weak solution. I want it to have room to expand. The thought of splitting a header or cooler keeps me awake at night.

A well respected marine mechanic from Alaska told me a long time ago "air don't freeze" and I have been doing it ever since.
I like Fixx's idea so you don't have to take apart anything but you would have to do a lot of boats to make it worth it.

But air does promote rust and corrosion. I like pink.

I don't have stats, so what I do is take a huge tub and fill it with A/F, and a harbor freight sump pump hooked up to my fresh water flush fitting. Turn on Pump, fire up engine, wait until A/F comes out the back end and then cut off boat.

My buddy across the street does the same thing. Removes stats, borrows my sump pump fires up the boat and then pumps if full of A/F. Then in the spring, he throws a new stat in it, and is ready to rock.

Closed cooling for me...CMI stainless headers and the various heat-X's better not have any ferrous metals or Merc's got some 'splain'n to do.

I have been fogging engines when i do my winterizing for years,,i also do the 2 stroke mix..I have never had any issues with any sensors being clogged..FYI...all merc efi engines route the pcv hose to the intake or the ones that i have worked on were routed to just under the flame arrestor which sucks in the oil film wrom the valve cover which turns into a oil film inside the intake and what not..

ps ai also drain all the blocks but if i cant get my fat ass in their then the tank works best for me...i also use a refractor to check what the antifreeze is good for freezing.my target number is -50 below..then i fog..

i also mix the stable into a gas can with a half a gallon of fuel..when you put stable in the fuel tank most of the stable is stuck in the hose..whenn you mix it with fuel first you know most of it is getting to the tank..

The pink you are referring to is the -50 plumbing antifreeze?

I mix fuel stabilizer/cleaner with 2cycle oil, only need about ounce of each in fuel filter, I go easy with fog oil. allow it to break up/atomize, older tech used to just dump in intake. hard to reach block drains(Baja's) put 1/4mnpt to barb fitting in block and run hose to front of engine, put 1/4 fnpt to barb fitting and blue drain plug fitting. the river has lots of sediment, makes it easy to flush out during season and to drain, sand/mud won't will freeze, antifreeze won't get in it. use rv antifreeze to stop corrosion.

I'm new and just getting rolling on this forum. Being from the Midwest this is a thread subject is on my mind right now. I found this on the web and bookmarked it to use for the past 2 seasons

(Refer to each manufacturers specific flushing procedure as indicated in the owners manual.) Drain seawater section of cooling system, as specified in the owners manual. This typically includes the exhaust manifolds and exhaust risers, both sides of the engine block , oil/power steering coolers , and circulating pump . Don’t just assume that when you pull a hose or remove a plug that everything will drain. It’s a good idea to take a piece of wire and stick it into the drain hole to make sure no scale or sediment is blocking the hole from allowing full drainage. Be careful with this as manufacturers WILL NOT cover freeze damage. Another good option is to run the engine up to temperature then switch your supplied cooling water over to a 50/50 propylene glycol mixture. Run the engine until you have 50/50 propylene glycol coming out of the exhaust passages. This not only protects the engine from freeze damage in the event that a portion of water did not get drained but this also prohibits corrosion to the internal passages of the cooling system. On models with Closed Cooling Systems follow the manufacturers directions to drain the sea water section of the cooling system as well as testing the coolant to ensure that it will withstand the lowest temperature expected during storage. Most manufacturers utilize the normal maximum glycol content 50/50 mixture which is capable of withstanding freezing down to -30F. In comparison the minimum glycol content is 10% which prevents freezing down to +26F.

Fill the fuel tank with fresh non-alcohol gasoline. Add a sufficient amount of gasoline stabilizer which is specified for marine engines and then run engine sufficiently to bring it up to normal operating temperature while allowing the treated/stabilized fuel to circulate through fuel system. Before moving ahead you must have some way of preventing the flow of fuel from the tank to the engine. This is typically done with an inline shut off valve. For EFI motors - In a small container mix a small amount of fuel and a couple of ounces of 2 cycle outboard oil. Remove and drain the water separating fuel filter, and fill with this fuel oil mixture. Re-install the water separating fuel filter. Start and run the engine at idle speed until the engine stops from due to fuel starvation from emptying the water/fuel filter. Remove and discard water separating fuel filter. Install a new filter. For Carbureted motors: Remove the flame arrestor and restart the engine. Operate the engine at approximately (1000-1500 RPM) while “Fogging” the internal surfaces of induction system and combustion chambers. This can be done by squirting a small amount (about 8 ounces) of SAE 20W engine oil into the carburetor bores. Run the engine while squirting this into the carburetor until you have used about 75% of the oil. At this point rapidly squirt the remaining 25% of the oil into the carburetor to stall the engine. Turn the ignition to the OFF position. Lubrication Clean flame arrestor and vent hoses. Change oil and oil filter. Lubricate all items as listed in the owners manual. Throttle and Shift Cables, Steering, Coupler, U-Joints, Transom, Gimbal, Propeller Shaft, etc.

Do like we did, move to Florida and you never have to winterize again, solved that problem.

Ha. That's the best answer so far!!

good answer but you have to flush unless you have a fresh water river to go through before you put your boat on a lift..

I LOVE that idea! ...I've got about 6 more years, then (hopefully) retirement (at age 50)!

We've got fresh water at the lift and I had flush-outs installed on the boat before we shipped it down, all set now.