Winterization

[KazooTom]

I am a first time boat owner and as summer comes to a close I am thinking forward to storage (rats I want summer to last longer). I am going to add the sea foam to my last full tank of fuel and run the boat. I will be changing the oil and filter. Removing to out drive checking u joints and gimble bearing changing fluid on lower unit. But here is a question?
What is the best way to winterize the cooling system? Drain all water leave dry? Drain water add antifreeze? I have freinds who have boats and every one tells me something differant. I would think drain water and anti freeze would be the beast way. Is there videos of some one doing it? drawing of what hoses to remove?

I need your advise!
I own a 18' sea ray 4.3 mercury alpha 1

Thanks in advance for your help.
Tom

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Winterization

I winterize plenty of boats in my workplace, The best cheap insurance is to drain all water from the block,hoses ect..then get yourself 4-5 gallons of -100 rev antifreeze. Rig up a jug or valve to a container large enough to hold your antifreeze,put it all in,rig a hose to the earmuffs, hook it up and run all of it through,be shure to warm up the motor first on regular water before draining. The antifreeze will come out the exhaust,that way you know you got it all through the motor. Some say to re-drain and you will be goodTo go, but I leave it in there. If you have a water heater that's hooked to the motor for heating that up be shure to blow that line out before running the anti freeze through,never happened to me but I've seen a couple that blew out as the owners did not think about that part of the system. You can check the percentage of the coolant at the output when done with a refractometer,it just takes a few drops to check it with one of them.
Grub

 

[Oshkosh1]

Re: Winterization

Drain the water...skip the anti-freeze.
Ensure ALL water is out of the block, manifold, risers etc...

You'll hear this line repeated many times in the near future relating to this subject..."Air don't freeze"!

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Winterization

Drain the water...skip the anti-freeze.
Ensure ALL water is out of the block, manifold, risers etc...

You'll hear this line repeated many times in the near future relating to this subject..."Air don't freeze"!

I still believe in anti freeze, it makes shure there are NO residual water laying someplace,be shure to drain manifolds also before running it through. My 2 cents".........

 

[ricohman]

Re: Winterization

We get -45 here and all I am doing is draining the block. I never heard of adding antifreeze until I read it here but all the i/o owners I know just drain the water out.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Winterization

x2 We don't get to quite -45F, but close enough in Jan. All we do here is drain the block/lower unit - which on my boat means unclipping the single point drain system, shoving the hoses into the bilge and calling it done.

 

[Don S]

Re: Winterization

Be VERY careful with the single point drain system, if one of the hoses is plugged up, you won't know it, and that section will freeze. If you look in the Merc owners manuals, even on the single point drains system it says to verify the hose is not clogged. To me, that means you take it off and check. Kind of defeats the purpose of a single point drive if you ask me.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Winterization

I would assume that means to make sure that water comes out

 

[Don S]

Re: Winterization

I would assume that means to make sure that water comes out

That single point drain system drains 7 places. Sure the water comes out of the single point, but was that water from 6 places or 7 ? That is what you have to ask yourself.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Winterization

That single point drain system drains 7 places. Sure the water comes out of the single point, but was that water from 6 places or 7 ? That is what you have to ask yourself.

6 or 7 places on a 3.0L? There are 2 hoses and there were only 2 plugs to remove in my old 80's 3.0L. One in the block and one in the exhaust manifold - which is where the 2 hoses attach in my single point drain.

 

[Don S]

Re: Winterization

I was referring to V6 and V8 engines like the OP has in case he had the single point drain. Without a year, who knows.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Winterization

fwiw. i only got three or 4 places that drain water out of my L6. i always have to ream my manifold out to get water to start flowing. it's always plugged with rust scale.
if i had a single point drain, i would be concerned about all points draining also.
heck, i got that stupid petcock that is the drain point for my block. it always concerns me as to weather or not i'm getting all of the water out of that since ya can't (best i know) ream past the petcock. only reason i am convinced i get all the water out is i've drained it enough times to know how much water i should get out of the block. if i don't get that amount, i'd need to go find out why.

i also forgo the anti freeze. bondo and many others i respect here have convinced me. air don't freeze. i've been going w/o the last three years or so w/o ramifications.

 

[KazooTom]

Re: Winterization

Guys this all good information. I am really thinking of going dry storage. Is there a video of this draining? How many plugs do you pull on a 4.3? I assume there are 4 plugs (2-in the exhaust manifolds) (2-in block). Then do you remove all the hoses? Assume every thing drains in to the bildge and then you drain and mop up this area? Are the plugs easy to see? Brass or Steel?
Tom

 

[Don S]

Re: Winterization

We can't answer your questions without any kind of certainty without know what year your engine is, and if it's raw or close cooled. A serial number would be best, since year of the boat may not be the year of the engine.

 

[KazooTom]

Re: Winterization

The boat I am working on is:
1989 Sea ray 180 open bow
4.3 Mercury with Alpha 1 out drive.
Two barrel carb Serial# 0c736729
total hours 247.5

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Winterization

I guess I'm wrong.......I use the anti freeze as added insurance from ANY freezing! I've seen a few that did not drain completely froze in different ares. Heck I've seen an outboard freeze once, supposed to drain itself. Parts cost to much to take the chance.......My 2 cents......
Grub

 

[KazooTom]

Re: Winterization

Sorry I forgot about the most important question. Its lake feed (raw) system!

 

[Don S]

Re: Winterization

See if these three pages from the service manual helps.

View attachment #7 GM V6 83-93 32.pdf http://forums.iboats.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=165998&stc=1&d=1346358215

View attachment #7 GM V6 83-93 33.pdf http://forums.iboats.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=165999&stc=1&d=1346358250

View attachment #7 GM V6 83-93 34.pdf http://forums.iboats.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=166000&stc=1&d=1346358264

 

[Bondo]

Re: Winterization

Sorry I forgot about the most important question. Its lake feed (raw) system!

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,.... Power steerin', or not,..??

I've got a 4.3LX a couple years newer than yer's,....

You've got a drain plug on each side of the block, just above the pan rail, 'bout mid-way fore, 'n aft,....
Just above those, should be the manifold drains, pointin' down....
Yer risers, may, or may not also have drain plugs, aft corner on either, or both sides...
If ya got P/S,... Pull either of the Big hoses off the cooler, down under the portside motor mount...
'n,... pull the Big hose of the circulatin' water pump,... it hides 'bout a qt.,... enough to do damage....

I leave a ssteel deckscrew on my intake manifold year 'round, so's it's right where I need it when Drainin'....

Don't use valves, or extensions, or none of that junk, just plain ole brass drain plugs,...

Ya Gotta poke the crud outa the drain holes, or yer riskin' a Freeze damaged block,....
'n come Spring, you'll be here, Blamin' Me... It's Happened....
Some clown from Ohio if I remember right, with a Sbf,... pulled the drain plugs, 'n walked away...

Anybody who uses those single point, or any other crap on the drain ports, had better use the Mercruiser antifreeze method,...

Or,... Pull that stuff, 'n use plain ole brass drain plugs....

Up here in the North Country, sub-0? is pretty common in Jan/ Feb....
Many years ago, a Mentor, Big T, Fred Theiser told me, he figured that you could get by for 6 hours, at 28?, without crackin' a dozer block fulla water....

He also told me Many a time,... But Air, just Don't Freeze.....

 

[KazooTom]

Re: Winterization

Don I want to thank you for the pages from the service manual. This helps a lot.