Hey Guys!

I have a question regards engine oil changes during winterization. I have heard people say they change the oil and filter on there boats before they winterize them and then change the oil and filter again in the Spring? To me this seems like a waste of money, I understand not leaving the "Dirty" oil in the motor all winter, but, is it really necessary to change in in the Spring? I realize that maybe on a 200, 300K boat that a $100 for oil is pocket change, but, for me it seems a little excessive, if you DO need to change the oil in the Spring, could I not use just a "regular" 10w30 to sit in the motor over the winter [I usually use Amsoil Synthetic]

Same with Drive Oil? Just after Labour Day I changed to the Amsoil synthetic marine lube in my B1, I have used the boat twice since and have MAYBE 1 hour on the oil, should I drain it and change it as well? Does it also need to be changed in the Spring?

Lastly, this is how I winterized my boat last year, this spring it fired right up and ran great, but, I thought I would post here just in case I forgot something and just "got lucky" last winter.

Its a closed loop cooled 454/efi

I pulled the water seperator/filter off and filled it up about 1/2 way with 2 stroke oil, I reinstalled it and started the boat and let it run until I got good smoke out the pipes. I shut the boat off and let it cool. A few hours later I pulled the hoses off the raw water pump, the cooler, the risers for the exhaut and the 2 small upper "rad" hoses. I positioned these hoses so they where facing "down" and let gravity do its thing. I left the boat like that for about a week, then went out and dumped RV antifreeze down ALL the hoses, and checked the antifreeze in the heat exchanger with a tester and made sure it was good for -25. I pulled out the batteries and the face plate for the stereo and parked it for the winter, any thoughts?


All input appreciated!
Thanks!

Michael

I don't see the point of changing fresh oil in the spring, if you changed it in the fall.

As long as what you have been doing has worked in the past...stick with it.

When it comes to anti-freeze, personally I run the boat a bit on the hose, let it build some heat. Shut it down, then drain everything, block, manifolds, etc. Pull the inlet hose off the gimble (Bravo), stick it in a 5 gallon bucket full of Anti-freeze, then fire it back up. Let it suck that first bucket in, and use two other buckets under the pipes to catch the stuff that gets through. Shut the motor down, fill the bucket inside back up with anti-freeze, fire it back up and fog the hell out of it until I just about empty the second bucket. That's it.

I rigged up a bucket with a bilge pump last year for a boat I did with fresh-water flush, worked pretty good. Had problems the year before where it wouldn't draw the a/f on it's own due to air pockets.

If you change the fluids in the fall, there is not much point to doing it again in the spring if you properly winterized, unless for some reason you got a lot of condensation in there. The drive fluid ought to be done in the fall even if you had only 1 or 2 short runs on it to make sure you dont have any water that got into the lower.. Jamie / Lakeside

Waste of $$$ to do it in the Fall and again in the Spring.

I would not worry about changing the drive lube. Put some more hours on it and change it mid season next year.

You don't need to change the oil in the spring. The reason you need to change at the end of the season is because of by-products of combustion creating acid build up in the oil and varnishing the components of the engine. By using the AMSOIL, you should really never have a problem with that, due to the high quality additive package built into it, to help neutralize the acid buildup.

Also when you change it in the fall cut open the oil filter (should do this at every oil change) and check to see if there is anything that might warrant special attention over the winter months. Might also want to do an oil analysis. Better to find out bad things before the spring thaw.

Thanks for the help guys! I had the gimbal ring/bellows/steering pin changed this summer, so, I had them go through the drive and check everything, I will change the engine oil and filter this week, and will ponder the drive oil for a bit yet, some say change, others say dont? I "think" I would be ok, since I sat and thought about and realized it was probably closer to 30 mins than an hour, but, I am no expert, thats why I am here!
Michael

what i normally do is heat the engine up. change the oil. winterize the engine. then we change the drive fluid just in case. that way in the spring everything is fresh. good insurance and peace of mind...

I agree with you..

The only reason I would change the drive lube is if I feared there was water in it.