Time to start thinking of winterizing

[john from md]

Here are a few tips for those of you who leave your engine out for the winter.

1. Change the lower oil now so if you find water, 1) it can be drained and not crack the case and 2) you can work on it over the winter. When filling, fill from the drain port to eliminate bubbles.

2, Remove your battery and put it in the house on a tender. By using a tender over the winter, you will get more years out of your battery as the lead plates will breakdown slower.

3. Remove the intake and give the engine a good run on the muffs. When you are ready to shut it off, start spraying fogging oil into the intakes until the engine shuts off. Next, remove the plugs and spray some additional oil in the cylinders and turn the engine by hand a couple of cycles.

4. If you are not real handy, don't do this next step. I remove the thermostat cover and gently blow compressed air into the engine passeges so that i can get as much water out as possible. I then squirt anti freeze in where I can with a squeeze ketchup bottle and rotate the engine by had a few times.

5. I then give the engine under the cowl a good spray of WD40. It turns to varnish and gives you good protection against corrosion.

Hope this helps someone. I won't be putting mine up till late November as the big rockfish will be around through Dec.15.

John

 

[further]

Re: Time to start thinking of winterizing

Thanks for the info john from md. Do you think its worth it to get one of those flushing kits and run the antifreeze through it? Also, when spraying the fogging oil into the carbs, should I do it from top down each one until the engine gives out? Sorry - this is my first winterizing project.
Thanks

 

[john from md]

Re: Time to start thinking of winterizing

As for the anti freeze, you can just take the thermostat cap off and pour some down with a squeeze bottle of some sort. You don't need a fancy applicator.

For fogging, it takes a little techneque. I spray enough to slow the engine down and then move to the next and continue through each carb until the engine shuts off. You will see what I mean when you are actually doing the job.

John

 

[further]

Re: Time to start thinking of winterizing

John,
With regard to the anti-freeze, are you referring to the thermostat cover or the small plug on top of the powerhead?
Thanks

 

[john from md]

Re: Time to start thinking of winterizing

You can do it either way. Some people have a tell tale attached to the plug and may not want to take it off. The plug leads to the same cavity.

John

 

[moparman]

Re: Time to start thinking of winterizing

John ,you are truly blessed to be able to go that late in the year fishing,makes me jealous ,and I live in the south. Catch a few for me

 

[john from md]

Re: Time to start thinking of winterizing

I was definitely blesses two fridays ago.

Two Fridays ago I put out in supposedly 9 mph winds. I should have know something was up when I arrived at the state park (20 ramps with parking for 100 plus cars and trailers). There were only two cars and trailers in the lot and the trailers were for beeeg boats.

It turned out to be 13 gusting to 20 and I had four foot waves coming over the bow. I stayed out for three hours and only got sea sick and one 12 inch blue.

Fishermen really are crazy!

John

 

[coolbikeguy]

Re: Time to start thinking of winterizing

i also drain the carb bowls ( even if i use stabil ) i do that on everything from botas, motorcycles, lawn mowers etc. of course this only works if you have carbs that use the float/bowl set up lol