Help... I want to winterize myself
 

What is the best way to do this myself? Never done it before and I want to try it. I need to do this within the next few days. I have a 502 MPI. Not the greatest mechanic, but I can do a lot of things. Any gadgets, tools, where to get them? I have a set of muffs. Anything else I need, please tell. Like, grease fittings I should hit too. I know there is the one at the transom, any others...?

I know I will need about 5 gal. antifreeze. I have read one thread where someone has a hand pump? and he will pump it by hand through the muffs. Good idea? Where can I get a pump. I will be going to a dealership tomorrow to look around too to see what I can find and what ever else I need.

Your advice is appreciated.

Mike:cool:

Where are ya located in Central OH? I may be able to give you a hand.

thrillseeker,
I am south of columbus 20 miles. i saw you at the shootout with twin o/b sonic but i never made it over to say hi. took the wife to the back end of the lake for a private moment and then went home.:D

just a little low on the cabbage and trying to save some with christmas around the corner-kids.

have you thought about heading south to the ohio river the that shootout down there? i've thought about it, but i really don't want to go by myself.

thanks for the helping hand-i know you are north of columbus

mike

Not going the the river its too far to drive and my engines are currently in a million pieces on the shop floor( Dads gettin pissed) so I think my time going to the river would be better spent on engine reassembly.

How do you typically winterize-procedure?

Start by draining the engine's water, there should be small brass plugs on each side of the block down by the oil pan/ remove them and let the water drain out, then put them back in.

There are also drain plugs on the exhaust manifolds, drain them also. If you have an oil cooler, there is a plug in the back of it, drain it too.

After this the majority of the water in your cooling system should be drained.
Now you need to pump it full of antifreeze, I think that West Marine sells a kit to do this/ or you can make a rig yourself. basically you need to hook up your earmuffs and run a small hose from the muffs to a 5 gal. jug of antifreeze which needs to be higher than the drive so it will start to gravity feed , then start your engine and run it until antifreeze comes out the exhaust.

Note. If you have sea strainers drain them and fill w/ antifreeze too. If you are not sure of the drain plug locations, go to the BAM Marine link on this site and you can view exploded diagrams of your specific engine.
I will post more later.

Luv-N-it......If you come down for the river run you can bring it to my place.....I am doing mine now, All set up for it.....Does'nt take long at all. I revover the anti-freeze and pump it thru untill temps come all the way up...Then fog.

Thanks Thrill, you have really given me some starting point, I rally appreciate your help and I look forward to doin' some boatin' with ya next year. Would love to make it to Kelly's @ the casino.

Mike

oooops.......Typo.......recover the anti-freeze.....:D

Don't know if I'll make it. Anniversary weekend with the wife. I forgot:( :eek: She said I can go down anyway on Sunday, but what she says and means is two different things:mad: It will be a last minute decision if I come down. She works at night and Sunday night is the start of her work week so I don't want to get back late and I want to make the trip worth my time too. So...if I don't want to rush anyone either to do a winterization.

Thanks for the offer. I have a good mechanic who will do it, but, I don't want to pay the 125 and change. I know I can do it myself, just gettin to late of a start to do it on my own without having everything I need:(

:D I know what you mean about the Wife !!:D

If you can cut loose....Take about an hour....Price is right !!
FREE.......:D

I am not sure on fogging when It comes to an fuel injected motor but you get some of it done by removing your plugs and spraying fogging oil in there. Also you might want to consider changing outdrive oil because if any water has leaked in it will stay in the bottom of your outdrive all winter(You can imagine the possible outcomes there).

I would also change the engine oil and filter before layup and also the fuel filter, fill your fuel tank almost to the top that way there is not hardly any room for moisture to condensate in your fuel tank/ if you fill it too full the warm air in the spring will expand the fuel and it will overflow out the vent. I am sure I will think of more stuff to do before the day is up.

BTW, how do you store your boat? covered,shrink wrapped, inside, outside, heated building< ?

FORGOT TO MENTION...THANKS FOR THE OFFER!

Inside a polebarn full of hay. Keep the mooring cover on at all times to keep the bird **** out and off the boat! That is why I push the time of winterizing. I am going to bring it home over the weekend, if I don't make down to the OHIO RIVER:mad:, start it up and run for a few minutes. Shut it down, then drain the water. Looks like the weather will get cool Sat. & Sun. night, but it will warm up some next week:) It should not freeze up anyhow, but I want to make sure.

Keep the advice coming. I'm making notes. I was going to change all fluids and filters myself this year. I am more concerned about how to get the antifreeze in the block the right way:confused:

This is from an earlier thread:

Winterization means different things to different people. That's apparent just from this thread.

Pumping antifreeze into your engine will not necessarily protect it from freezing if it's done without the thermostat open. You'll fill the raw water pump, the manifolds and risers but the motor will still have water in it. The only sure-fire way of protecting the block is to drain it, remove the thermostat housing, and pour straight antifreeze in until some runs out. Then reinstall the drains and continue filling with antifreeze until the block is full. Install a new T stat (they are cheap enough) and gasket and torque the bolts back down. Drain the manifolds and pour antifreeze into the coolant hoses from the t stat end. Remove the hose from the raw water pump to the oil cooler and drain and fill it too. Remove the hose from the transom plate to the raw water pump and drain and fill it. Remember to retighten ALL the clamps.

An unfogged motor stored in a place with wide temperature and moisture variations can develop rust on the face of any open valve. This can lead to burnt valves shortly after start up in spring.
Prior to doing the cooling system, go fill the fuel tank(s)with fresh fuel and the recommended amount of stabilizer. Hook up the old garden hose and run her up to full temperature in gear. Shift it back to neutral and shut it off. Change the engine oil and filter at this time. Remove and drain the water separator and fill with a 50/50 mix of gas and stabilizer. Replace it and refire the engine. Now is the time to fog it down. Run it at fast idle and empty half a can of storage spray into the carb(do not put your face over the carb)or throttle body, slow it to base idle and empty the rest of the can into the carb stalling the engine if possible, if it won't stall, shut it off just before the can is empty. Kill the ignition, then empty the can and crank the engine over a couple times. Remove the fuel separator and replace it with a new one(ready for spring).

Inspect the drive belts and slack off the adjustments. This prevents the belts from taking a set in their shape and extends their life.

If you are a fanatic, remove the valve covers and de adjust all the valves too.

Drain and replace the gear oil while its still warm. This insures against any water damage to the drive and its ready for spring as well. Now pull the drive and inspect and grease or replace the universal joints. Inspect the input shaft seal on the drive for leakage too. Inspect the bellows. Remount the drive, pull the batteries and bring em inside, they like it warm:D

Now follow the steps to protect the block and you are all set for the first run of the spring. After the first run, change the spark plugs and you're good for the season.

Wow!! Thanks airpacker!!:eek: :)

Here is another way that it can be done.
Most things have been hit on and should be done like changing the engine oil in the fall because of contaminates and also the lower unit because of possible water in it.
You should have Stabil or another fuel stabilizer in the fuel tank. The debate goes on as to what level to keep the fuel in the tank.
You can start by hooking up a hose to your muffs and placing the muffs on the lower unit. Start the flow of water and start your motor. This will flush the system and will help get the motor up to operating temperature where the thermostat will open. My friends 502 MPI thermostat is a 160 degree. We run in fresh water and he had recently flushed it out so we skipped the fresh water flush.
Here is where it gets different.
Place a Rubbermaid container under the lower unit and have it in the down position. We take a bilge pump like the one in your boat to remove water. The bilge pump has a clear plastic hose running from it to the muffs. There are wires from the bilge pump with a toggle switch that runs to the boat battery. Place the bilge pump in the Rubbermaid container.
The manual says the system holds 20 quarts of water so this would be 5 gallons. We place 5 gallons of antifreeze in the Rubbermaid container. So if all things add up this would be a 50/50 mixture when it cycles through. We use the automotive type antifreeze and flush it out of the system BEFORE we go to the lake in the spring. If you use this type please don’t pollute the water and if you get caught you will get fined.

All this is best done with two people.
Flip on the toggle switch and make sure that the antifreeze is flowing and start the motor.
Make sure that the exhaust is flowing through the prop and not the thru hulls if you have them. Check to see if the muffs are positioned correctly and that the hose is not collapsing. At this point the water that was in the block is now mixing with the antifreeze that was in the container. The mixture keeps cycling through the tub, bilge, motor and then back into the tub.
Even with not pre warming the motor with fresh water it still took several minutes for the temperature to get to 160 degrees. We ran the temp up a little higher and checked the mixture in the tub with a hydrometer to check the freeze protection. We had a gallon of water and a gallon of antifreeze sitting beside the tub to add to it if needed but did not have to this year. We then opened up his thru hull exhaust and let a little antifreeze expel out of them.
We then shut down the motor and then the bilge pump. At this point there would have been an antifreeze mixture that has flowed through the entire system so it will be protected.
We removed the water/fuel separating filter and dumped the gas into a clear jar.
We poured into the jar 2 ounces of quicksilver 2 cycle oil and mix it real good. We poured this mixture into a new filter and replaced it on the motor.
Start up the bilge pump in the tub and start the motor. It will take a few minutes but you will start to see the effects of the 2 cycle oil as the exhaust will be very smoky. Shut down the motor and the bilge pump and the antifreeze is through the block and the motor is fogged.
It might cost a few bucks initially for the items you will need but you and your friends will use it over and over again.
I was at the Mercury web site recently and they do not recommend using the spray type fogging oils for the EFI/MPI system because it may clog the injectors.
There are also other ways that you can fog it by shutting off the fuel supply and using a remote tank and hooking it up with a mixture of gas, oil, stabil, and injector cleaner but the filter works the same but on a smaller scale.

I noticed in the book that it said you could also remove a screw from the top of the (I believe it was the fuel vapor separator) and ad 1 ounce of oil there. I don’t have the book in front of me but I remember talking about doing it.

My friend has used the bilge pump method for years trouble free.
Just make sure that your thermostat opens. You can open the drains if you want to check it.
I have also heard that if you use the pink antifreeze it will not show a reading on a hydrometer made for automotive type antifreeze.

Cordell

Re: Help... I want to winterize myself
 

Why do you want to winterize yourself ??? The antifreeze tastes lousy !!!

Re: Re: Help... I want to winterize myself
 

Just trying to save some cabbage, that is all.

Ric232-
I hear ya- I started using Capt Morgans rum. I put a 50/50 mix with Coke in a douchebag with crushed ice, elevated to get some gravity feed. Protects down to -50 or so.

There's a little clip thingy that I guess is there to keep from accidentally releasing the mixture into the environment. Isn't there a fine for that????

Bulldog AKA Ronnie

:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

Everybody does it differently. This is what I do. Add 5 or six cans of dry gas to the fuel tank. Put muffs on & warm up motor. Change oil & filter. Change fuel filter. Fog motor with a mixture of 75% trans fluid & 25% gas. Pour it in till it starts smoking pretty good, give it one good blip and shut it down. Drain exhaust manifolds by removing hoses or opening plugs. Drain block by removing plugs on both sides. If no water comes out don't assume it's empty. It's not. Get a coat hanger wire and stick it in the hole to dislodge the dirt & rust that plugged the hole untill water runs out. Take big hose off bottom of water pump housing & drain. Take both hoses off bottom of fresh water pump & drain. Take small elbow shaped by pass hose that goes from intake to water pump housing off, turn it 180 degrees and with a long skinny funnel pour antifreese in towards the intake until it comes out the open block drains. Pour some in the exhaust manifolds & hoses off the water pump. Put it all back togeather & tighten everything up. Change the oil in the outdrives. Pray for spring to get here quickly!

Bo