OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

[chriscraft254]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

Unless you are planning on leaving your boat winterized for years, there is no need to use antifreeze if the engine and outdrive have been drained properly.

 

[Lou C]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

View attachment 215510The raw water intake hose from the transom, when you fill it, you are filling that hose, the P/S Cooler, the little hose from the cooler to the transom, then it fills the water pump area on the outdrive and eventually some comes out the water intakes in the drive. There are also 3 plugs in the pivot housing that should be removed to drain water from there.

 

[Lou C]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

Yes you don't need it for freeze protection but it helps for corrosion protection if you are in salt water like I am. We have much more serious corrosion issues to deal with than you would ever see in freshwater. Its normal to have to replace manifolds and risers every 5-7 years because of corrosion, in freshwater they last much longer. Adding AF keeps O2 out. Salt crystals+O2=lots of corrosion.
Take a look at these one piece manifolds, new vs used in salt 5.5 seasons. And these are not bad, they could be cleaned out and re-used, why, because they were filled with AF so they don't have that much internal rust. In freshwater you can probably be fine with no AF as long as you drain.

 

[watson524]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

Thanks for those pictures. I'll be doing the OD draining tomorrow and was wondering should I do it before (with the procedure of trim up/down described in the manual) or after I fill the hoses with the AF?

As for not putting in AF one way or another, it's not even a thought in my mind. The boat has never been in salt but every year for 26 years it's had AF put in it. I don't want to **** it off LOL! And I know they say air doesn't freeze but I'm just paranoid. Classic type A female I suppose, check, double check and recheck things.

 

[diveman05]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

Glad to see the post took off! I got it pretty much done yesterday, supposed to freeze tonight so good timing i guess!! Only thing i can't get are those pivot housing drains, i physically broke 2 screwdrivers trying to turn those out, like snapped the tip of the screw drivers. I'm going to Lowes today to find a super jumbo one, everything else went quite smooth though. Assuming it starts and is fine in the winter the $400 the marina wanted to charge me should be criminal!

Any advice on these pivot housing drains to get those off?

To sum up everyones post, i did use the 4 drain plugs, and not the hose on the manifolds, unscrewed them all and drained lots of water, I did go the antifreeze route as this was my first time so i just felt it was added sec. used -100, filled from top of water circ. pump till it came out the plugs after it pushed any water out, closed them and topped off till it came out of the top of the thermostat housing. Then filled the 2 manifold hoses. Took the raw water hose held it high filled that till it drained out the water intake on the stern drive. Put it all back together. Took close to 4 gallons of antifreeze actually.

Thanks for everyones post, insight, and views, i did take lots of photos i'm just going through them all organizing and working on a useful well written post for everyone to use who may have questions about the matter.

 

[Lou C]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

For the pivot drain screws try an impact screwdriver. Funny mine came right out the first time I did it back in '02 even though mine is a salt barge. I have put either OMC gasket sealer or OMC triple guard grease on the threads each year and they come right out.

 

[watson524]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

Well it's done and winterized (sans some cleaning and polishing and the battery out). I was a moron and forgot to fog when it was running after the oil change to work things through so we set up the tub to suck the AF up because we had already drained everything and I figured there was no point in running on the muffs with water to fog and then have to drain again. It fought me hard on starting and I have no idea why. It was almost like it was flooded but then finally started and ran fine. I ran it a bit higher than idle because of wanting to fog it out and it actually went up to around 173 - 176 on the temp gauge which is more than I normally see on a run on the muffs (tho I suspect that's because of the higher than idle throttle with water) and there was steam coming from the OD exhaust but that happened last year when I watched the mechanic run the AF through on the muffs so I wasn't alarmed. I put the infrared temp gun on the manifolds and t stat and those all read ok. Took a reading of the AF coming out the exhaust with the refractometer and it read as expected for the blue stuff (I tested it from the bottle before I put it in the tub too). So anyway, fogged (then saw actual smoke, not steam, as expected) and killed it.

Shut off the bilge pump pushing through the muffs and then took off the 4 hoses to see if they were filled. The 2 hoses at the t stat were filled with AF to the brim. The intake hose took about 1/2 cup to fill up. The big hose from the t stat to the water pump also took about 1/2 cup but a question on that. When we poured in there, it actually came out at the same spot we just took the hose off at the t stat. Is that just because the system was filled bottom to top and that was the highest open spot since we had the hose off? I'm assuming that's all ok.

Sprayed it down with some rust inhibitor and that's that in the engine. OD has been drained of water and oil checked there. Looked fine and I didn't bother changing it since it was changed in the spring and I don't even know if we put 10 hours on the boat this year (it's always been a very low hours boat but this year was particularly bad).

So all that being said, I think we did ok. I do think I might need to start thinking about manifolds (they're the original, but like I said, low low hours on the boat ~240 total for a 1987. We didn't use it much when my parents were managing it because we'd go out, drop anchor, float, eat, come home so not constant running tho used if you know what I mean). But in the AF tub, there were some flecks that came out, not excessive but I know it's got to be the manifolds doing what they do over time. I'll post a separate thread on that.

I want to thank Lou C in particular for being so helpful and patient with this process. It's a great forum and I'm thankful to have found it especially given the age of our systems and the limited knowledge that exists as we move further out from production.

 

[diveman05]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

For the pivot drain screws try an impact screwdriver. Funny mine came right out the first time I did it back in '02 even though mine is a salt barge. I have put either OMC gasket sealer or OMC triple guard grease on the threads each year and they come right out.

Got 2 out of 3, took some penetrating oil and got the biggest screwdriver i could find at lowes and attached some channel locks to it. Nothing really came out though just a little drizzle of the antifreeze i used in the engine so i guess that's a good thing. I'm going to try the 3rd one today, sprayed it good again this morning, thankfully the one that won't come out is the highest one so gravity should be in my favor for water.

Anyway as Watson has said, i wanted to thank everyone and esp. Lou for all their insight.

Thanks again!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

2,3,4 and 5 not needed.

You always change the oil before winterization. That way the acids in the oil don't stay in your engine all year.

 

[Lou C]

Re: OMC 5.0 Winterize How to, if i got it correct!

Sounds like you did well. What I do is warm it up on the water hose, shut it off and change the motor oil and filter. Then run it again, check the oil filter for leaks. If all is good I then fog it. Then I drain everything, poke the holes and back fill with -100 AF. I go around to the back and remove the 3 pivot housing plugs, sometimes very little water comes out, sometimes more. I put OMC gasket sealer on the 4 drains (engine block+manifolds) this prevents corrosion and they come right out. I do the same with the pivot housing plugs. I usually change the drive oil after that and remove the drive (sometimes the next weekend if I had enough back stretching for one day LOL). If you don't change the drive oil, just loosen the bottom most drain plug, and see if pure gear oil comes out. If so, fine but if its milky, then you should drain it because water can crack housings. I'd then remove the drive and take it to a shop to get pressure tested. I like to replace the 3 fiber washers when I change the gear oil.

If you are getting worried about your manifolds, keep in mind that the one piece units are not available from BRP any longer. You'd have to go to a 2 piece system if you change them. Take a look at this pic, if they look like the one on the left no worries, but if the are getting like the one on the right, its probably time. To remove them, you have to drain them first, then disconnect the hoses on the front end. Next, (this is the pain in the butt part) you should spray some silicone spray on the Y pipe just below where the rubber exhaust hoses fit. You have to loosen the clamps and slide those hoses down on the Y pipe to get the manifolds off. The good part is that OMC used plated studs and nuts, that part is very easy. No fits with bolts that won't come out of the head. I've changed mine 2x. Check the exhaust flappers while you're at it....