5.7 L 260 winterization

[anderso8623]

I'm an outboard guy. First time winterizing a Mercruiser. It's an unknown year but I assume in the 90s, 5.7L 260 with an alpha 1, Gen 1 outdrive.

What needs to be done to winterize? I know there is probably another post about this so a link to that post would he sufficient.

Thanks!

 

[Watermann]

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...w-to-winterize-your-engine-and-drive?t=178695

 

[tpenfield]

Lots of reference material and threads about winterization. So, the link that watermann provided above is a good one.

Is the engine an 'open' raw water cooling system or a 'closed' cooling system? The procedures are a bit different, but essentially you are trying to protect the engine from freeze damage, since they retain their cooling water, unlike outboards that readily drain most of their cooling water.

 

[Bondo]

It's an unknown year but I assume in the 90s, 5.7L 260 with an alpha 1, Gen 1 outdrive.

Ayuh,.... Probably earlier,... The Gen.IIs came out in '91,....

Winterization,.... Found in Don'S Adults Only section, at the top of the I/O forums,...

 

[anderso8623]

So I did the deed but I want to be sure that I got all the water out. My question is coming from the fact that everyone continually references drain plugs. I only found two actual plugs. They are the block plugs...I think. I knew there were a total of five drain locations so I kept looking. I followed the hoses down from what I assume is the water pump on the forward end of the engine. First hose was attached to a connecter tube that led to another hose that ran to the stern of the engine. I detached the hose and about a gallon or two drained. Note, I did not remove a "plug", I removed the hose. The other two hoses came from the water pump as well and led the the exhaust, again I did not see a plug and simply removed the hoses. About a gallon came out of each. There were two brass bolts on the square portion of the exhaust but when removed nothing came out. Those are the five areas I drained water from, have I missed anything? Lack of "plugs" worried me.

 

[thumpar]

You should have 2 plugs on each side of the block down low. There are 2 on the underside of the exhaust manifolds. There is another on the power steering cooler.

 

[boatman37]

thats where my 1986 had them. 2 lower on each side of block and 1 under each manifold. these were the only ones refernced in my factory manual. there were also a few hoses to disconnect and drain too but only those 4 plugs

 

[tango13]

Not sure what others think, but this year i noticed brass plug/petcock on the right side of each exhaust riser. I opened them both up a a little bit of water came out. I have never read about them on any manuals but I imagine they would be a bad idea to drain. Note this was on my 77' merc 350 "250" hp