good day all.............so I have a little update since completing season 2 with the 4.5L.
Season 1, As noted above, I drained the engine of water and introduced Anti freeze via the blue vent plug on the upper left front of engine.
Season 2....I called several dealerships in Alberta, and confirmed with the Merc tech support. They all follow this procedure. Warm engine up to do oil changes, drain raw water using the single point system, then run on muffs to introduce the AF. Since the engine is dry, it will fill with the AF. Most important part is to drain the water before doing the AF.
I actually did that a couple times. Drain water, run on muffs with AF, drain AF, run on muffs with AF. Then drained the AF from the system, since the old rule is that "air does not freeze". I pulled every hose I could get at and they were all dry.
In all fairness, my last boat was a 2008. I did AF for the first few years, but the last 4 just drained via the single point system and left it empty. After 8 years, the inside of the manifold looked like new, so corrosion was not a factor.
Some might say, why not bring to dealer? Well every dealer in our area is a 2 hour drive away. That's a 4-5 hour trip and then back at a later date to retrieve the boat. Just not practical. The one dealer that is near here, has no idea what a 4.5L engine is, so figure I can figure this out myself.
And (no offense intended here), for all you people that comment, oh it's just like my XXX, or pull the hose and pour AF, single point can be removed, etc., if you haven't seen or worked on one of these 4.5L, then it's not fair for you to comment. The single point drain is an octopus of large hoses, not just a single fitting in the block or manifold. Things like the thermostat housing, large cooling hoses are on the back of the engine, not in simple view like the old 4.3 block.
As these engines get more popular, I'm sure we'll here more info on how to make service easier. But till then I hope this will help some of the DIY guys.
