winterizing omc 5.8

[jmarine225]

Hello all,

That time of year has arrived and I again am going to winterize my own four winns 1993 with the omc 5.8. If i remember correctly my block had two drain plugs in it plus two drains on the manifolds. What i can't seem to remember is what type of lube to use in the drive and how much? I thought I may have used 80w lube last year, two quarts of it but i want to be sure. Anything else I may be incorrect on let me know. Thanks.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: winterizing omc 5.8

Alot of guys, me included use the mercury high perf lube (green stuff) in our Cobra drives.
Don't forget to drain the pivot housing, there are drains on port and starboard.
Your correct on the block and manifold drains and make darn sure they are clear.

 

[DBreskin]

Re: winterizing omc 5.8

Be sure to disconnect the lower water pump hose, and to drain the water out of power steering cooler.

 

[jmarine225]

Re: winterizing omc 5.8

so it's okay to use the merc high performance lube? Interesting. Thought i saw somewhere on here in the past not to use that in an OMC. How about the amount again, is it two quarts? Also I backfill all cooling lines from the t-stat block with anti-freeze just to be safe.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: winterizing omc 5.8

Be sure to disconnect the lower water pump hose, and to drain the water out of power steering cooler.

Ditto!

I always pull all the hoses at the thermostat housing after draining and pour Rv antifreeze down the hoses until it runs out of the drive.
Just myself being the type to over do things but i feel better about it.

 

[Searay87]

Re: winterizing omc 5.8

Follow-up question:

I'm new to the winterizing game this year. I didn't disconnect the power steering cooler hoses and drain them. I removed the raw water hose from the T-stat housing and filled it with anti-freeze. I expected this hose (which is connected to my PS cooler) would eventually drain through the outdrive. Is this a wrong assumption? My PS cooler is mounted at the transmom end of the engine and is vertical such that gravity would tend to drain the water from this hose through the outdrive.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: winterizing omc 5.8

so it's okay to use the merc high performance lube? Interesting. Thought i saw somewhere on here in the past not to use that in an OMC. How about the amount again, is it two quarts? Also I backfill all cooling lines from the t-stat block with anti-freeze just to be safe.

The previous owner of my boat always had it serviced by the dealer, they had been putting the mercury hi performance lube in the outdrive, I questioned it here on the forum and got the thumbs up on it.
Two quarts will do, the exact amount depends on the gear ratio. 64oz is what mine takes.
It's been running on the mercury hi performance for the past 10 yrs.

 

[mcleaves]

Re: winterizing omc 5.8

Alot of guys, me included use the mercury high perf lube (green stuff) in our Cobra drives.
Don't forget to drain the pivot housing, there are drains on port and starboard.
Your correct on the block and manifold drains and make darn sure they are clear.

93-95 were the joint venture years between Volvo and OMC. Be sure it's a true Cobra before you treat it as such. During those years Four Winns was buying from Volvo. My 94 Four Winns says Cobra on the trim rams, but it's really an SX drive which requires GL-5 synthetic. My Engine says Cobra but all the bolt-ons are Volvo. Volvo bought OMC for their casing design with power trim so they look the same on the outside.

Not saying it's not a true Cobra, but my money is on it being an true Volvo. I just happened to notice the year and the amke of your boat. You need to find out for sure before you throw the wrongs gear lube in there.

-M