I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

[andrewgroup]

I'm considering the following idea to winterize my boat this year. I'm planning to build connect 4 2x4 boards end to end to make a square box. Lay this on the ground underneath my Outdrive, lay a piece of 10mil plastic over the boards a put about 2 gallons of 50/50 antifreeze. I have pretty powerful sump pump and I'll set this in the mixture and connect it to my earmuffs and start the engine and pump 50/50 antifreeze through the engine. Let it warm up a bit, carefully watching the watertemp....Fog the engine to a stop, drain the block, Voila,<br /><br />Any thoughts...<br /><br />oil change etc..

 

[bomar76]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

My Thought?<br />A disaster waiting to happen.<br />Next spring we will see the "cracked block" posts from you.<br />Why not just do it the correct way?

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

I would just buy the setup for 30 bucks at west marine or rig a 5gal container with a valve and hose to the earmuffs and do it the right way.A mistake most make is by not warming up the engine first.YOU MUST DO THIS FIRST.The kit allows you to switch over from water to antifreeze after it is warmed up.You will need 2 people to do the job right.Someone to switch over the valve and watch the level of antifreeze as it goes down while you are over the engine with fogging oil in hand.I keep a full cup of marvel mystery oil next to me in the engine compartment in case the fogging oil will not stall out the motor.you can dump the cup in just before you run out of antifreeze.Dont let the container run out of antifreeze or you will ruin the impeller.also expect the temp to rise after you switch over from water to antifreeze.when the water is on it is forced through by the hose pressure.When you switch,the antifreeze is being drawn in by the impeller and it usually draws much more than the earmuffs will allow it to.Winterizing correctly is much more critical than most people treat it. Charlie

 

[Northern Eclipse]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

Winterizing is not rocket science I myself would not play about with these gizmos, what I do is run the engine up to temp, shut down and change motor oil hot, and filter, change fuel/water seperator, add fuel stabilizer, run engine again for about five minutes,then fog her dead, check oil level and for leaks pull drain plugs from block, pull cooling hoses from exhaust manifold inlets and let drain. Reinstall drain plugs in block pour about 1/2 gal of rv/plumbing antifreeze down into block via water pump hose (large one),remove Drain plugs from block again until I get Pink antifreeze, you will be surprized how much water can remain in the Block even when you think its drained. Reinstall drain plugs and fill block, I then continue to fill manifolds and riser, until I see pink coming out my exhaust tips (Thru Hull exhaust) I then back fill cooling hoses at thermostat, then back thru power steering cooler until I see pink running from water pickup on outdrive, Change gear oil in lower unit spray motor down with rust check. I know it seems time consuming but it really only takes me about 1 hour and I'am sure that I'v chased all water out and have system correctly filled with antifreeze there are no doubts, but then of course this is whats good for me.

 

[Boatin Bob]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

I'm with Northern Eclipse, that's pretty much exactly what I do except I use engine antifreeze because the pink RV stuff doesn't have any rust inhibitors in it. I also have to do it in 2 steps because I'm in a covered slip so I run the engines and change the oil and winterize the block but I have to wait for it to be lifted before I can get to the drives. Done it this way for 15 years now with now problems. One last comment would be to get a manual and follow it along with the advise you get on this forum.

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

Here is another good source of info for winterizing:<br /><br /> http://www.mercstuff.com/winterizing.htm <br /><br />My engines are very hard to get to so I do it the way CC does. Bring the engines up to temp and suck in 5 gals of AF per engine. <br /><br />Starbrite does not receommend using their pink stuff for engine storage because of the lack of rust inhibitors as has been mentioned. They do make blue stuff that is also non-toxic they want you to use for storage. It is like $10/gal while their pink stuff is like $3/gal.

 

[andrewgroup]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

Seems I've struck an issue with lots of opinions. Bomar76 thinks I'm crazy. Crazy Charlie says buy a kit. (Haven't seem them)<br /><br />I have two boats, My older 1969 I'm doing it the way my uncle told me...<br /><br />My newer boat is a 1990 4.3Lt OMC Cobra, and this is my first season to winterize it.<br /><br />Any specifics about the OMC 4.3 Ltr / Cobra would be helpful.<br /><br />The local boat shops in Indiana prefer to do a dry block winterize....(do they leave the drain plugs open?)

 

[CharlesW]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

The owners manual that should have come with your boat will probably have pretty good instructions for winterizing both your engine and the outdrive.<br />The 1975 Slickcraft/OMC I had until 1993 and the 1993 Chris Craft/OMC I have had since then, both had good information with pictures to guide you. Worked awfully good for me.<br /><br />Charles

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

Andrew,<br /><br />Here is what the kits look like. They just make it easy to feed the AF into the I/Os and through the engines:<br /><br /> http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...ssNum=1&subdeptNum=&storeNum=&productId=45454

 

[andrewgroup]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

Ralph,<br /><br />Does this kit simply set on my the back of my boat and gravity feeds AF to the ear muffs? I assume you must open some air breather valve on the top of the jug in order to let air replace the AF that's flowing into the outdrive.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

This will be my first year winterizing an i/o. Would it be a good idea to remove the thermostat before going through this process to make sure the antifreeze gets into the block. I'm not sure my engine (MCM165 '67) gets warm enough in the driveway on the muffs to open the thermostat.

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

The kit is great and there is a small cap to vent on it.The water flow is force feed by the water pressure and when you switch over to the antifreeze it becomes gravity feed which will feed at a lower rate so the motor will heat up by about 20 to 40 degrees so the thermostat will open.The 5 gal container sits on the swimplatform.It make it easy. Charlie

 

[merc 140 pontoon]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

OK, all you winterizing experts, please read this:<br /><br /> http://www.sterndrives.com/supplies/mainsupplies.html <br /><br />and comment on what's wrong with it. The only problem I had was ensuring that the anitfreeze siphon started right away, but prefilling the short piece of garden hose took care of that. No, I don't enjoy risking my impeller. I'd love to hear your critique...<br /><br />Steve

 

[andrewgroup]

Re: I/O winterize Ideas and opinions

OK, after everyone has given their opinion here is my take and why.<br /><br />First I'll bring the engine up to operating temperature using muff on the garden hose.<br /><br />Then,<br /><br />with four 4' 2x4's (cost 1.79) I'm going to lay a piece of 10 mil plastic (Cost free)over the board allowing it to settle comfortably within the board onto the ground.<br /><br />I'm then going to set my small portable sump pump in the middle and fill with about 3 or 4 gallons of AutoMotive 50/50 antifreeze. I'll connect the sump pump using 3 foot garden hose. (Cost 3.00, chopping off section of hose)<br /><br />I'll plug in the pump and start the engine, and allow the antifreeze to circulate through the engine...Since only 4 gallons of Antifreeze mixture is available it will likely become hot if circulated too long, (Trips through the engine)..<br /><br />Here's why..<br /><br />1. Using the pump, I eliminate the concern about gravity feed system, and possible overheat or running dry.<br /><br />2. Environmentally, I'm recapturing the antifreeze mixture for use next year or on my other boat. When done simply pump mixture back into my 4 1 gallon containers.<br /><br />3. Low cost, I already own everything I need.<br /><br />4. All of the caveats associated with the 5 gallon kit setting on the swim platform seem to be filled with warnings, gotcha's, valves, prefills, etc, and where does the mixture fall, onto mother earth unless you capture it in a container somehow, why not just pump it from this container in the first place...And that's what I'm sticking with...<br /><br />Of course I will follow all of the other steps to winterize by draining the block, hoses, fogging, changing oil, etc. But the basic benefit of doing this is easy, affective, complete.