winterizing mercruiser?
Do I need to drain the block and hoses if I'm using one of those coolant
kits that attaches to the muffs on the outdrive? It would appear not.
since it is sucking in the Anti Freeze and will displace any water left in
the block. Thanks in advance. David |
D&LBusch
Oct 30
2006
|
| I used that method 2 years ago. I ran the engine above idle for about 10
minutes until the engine temp gauge was a 170F. I then diverted the cooling
water to the tank storing the 50/50. I think it took about 3 1/2 gallons
of 50/50 before I was confident that it was through the engine so I fogged
and stalled it. Lastly I removed the thermostat and poured a gallon of
50/50 down the thermostat housing.....just to make sure. ;-) It was a fairly cold winter and the engine survived just fine. This year I let the marina take care of it and will do so in the
future..too much to lose if you goof up while winterizing the engine
yourself. It's not rocket science but why take the chance? |
Oct 30
|
| For my I/O & inboard customers, I drain everything, every petcock, and
then go w/ 100 percent anti-freeze at the water pump / muffs. There is
no way to get ALL the water out of all jackets/manifolds/block, so I get
some intermix, to less than 100 percent A/F, and run it until I get a
good A/F discharge at the exhaust. Never a failure. Worst case scenario in -30F storage would be a little
"slush" in the engine, causing no damage. Rob |
trainfan1
Oct 30
|
| Obviously you have never met Skipper. If he were here, he'd jump right in
and correct you on your method. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 30
|
| We run water through the muffs until the engine gets up to operating
temp. Then shut down and drain the risers and block (4 plugs). Then run
the "red pop" (you can use the purple stuff if you are way up north)
until it is flowing out the exhaust.....takes about 5-6 gallons for a
5.0 mercruiser. Then fog it. Haven't had a problem. The marina service charges about 200 and engine and another 150 to
"recommision" in the spring. (they don't run the "red pop" through
it,...just drain the lines and pull off the hoses) Total cost is about $30 compared to $700 through the marina. |
P
Oct 30
|
| what I do is after my motors are warmed I pull the plugs to drain the water
and any sediment that you have sucked up. then reinstall the plugs and suck
up 5 gal of the pink stuff and fogg then go the extra mile and pull the
plugs to drain the pink stuff. I have done this for 8 years in northern Iowa
with no problems. |
Chad
Oct 31
|
| On my 3.0 alpha1, I drain the block via the petcock on the side of the
engine, also pull the little brass plug from the bottom of the exhaust
manifold and drain it. Then pull the radiator hoses, and dump in the
pink stuff untill I see it running out of the block and the manifold.
leave them un capped and the hoses off. Then pull the water hose going down to the impeller and flush the pink
stuff to it, untill it is draining out of the water intake. I've done that for two years and no problems, even when here in the
midwest, we had some "record" sustaining cold. I also pull the battery and put it in the log splitter, where it gets
charged and ran quite regularly. |
tschnautz
Oct 30
|
| When it gets cold. I drain the hoses to the heat exchanger and drain the
manifold elbow. |
Calif
Oct 31
|
| Yeah......but cold to you is what? abotu 50? We get to walk on water around here ;-( |
P
Oct 30
|
| No we get down to the 20's sometimes in the winter. A few years ago, buddy
lost the engine on his boat to freeze and maybe 20 years ago, big cold snap,
prior to Global Warming and I had to run my pool for about 2 weeks 24 hours
a day to keep it from freezing thickly. Neighbor below me had a couple of
inches of ice. I do get some thing ice islands during the winter. I live
over the coastal hills in a small valley (Livermore Valley) and we are
colder in the winter and hotter in the summer than the bay side of the
hills. The hotter part is why I live on this side of the hills. Grew up 10
blocks from SF bay, and the only swimming pool at a house near me was at the
Chancellor of UC Berkeley's house. And the tax payers paid for heating it. |
Calif
Oct 31
|
| That's the theory but I don't subscribe to it. For one thing you need
to make sure the thermostat is open and that's hard to do idling in the
drive. The merc cooling system thermostat bypasses the block when
closed and the incoming raw water goes straight to the exhaust
manifolds. The only thing I use the pink stuff for is our jetski. The boat I
drain the block, manifolds, and the power steering cooler and leave the
plugs out till spring. D&LBusch wrote: |
jamesgangnc
Oct 30
|
| Once the anti-freeze is running out the exhaust, you're good to go. |
JohnH
Oct 30
|
| Not necessarily so. The cooling system is designed so that the majority of
the water that comes in, goes straight to the manifolds and or risers, then
out the exhaust. That is true even if the thermostat is wide open, which it
almost never is, while idling. The question is: How much of that -50 doo doo
do you have to use to displace all of the water in the engine using the
engine running, flush method with the "engine winterizing kit".
Jim |
Jim
Oct 30
|
