Winterizing ???

[gtfireftr]

I have a twin 4.3. alpha 1 gen 2 Sea Ray ....4 barrell carbs...(1998)

I have a few questions regarding safe winterizing....
I have the outdrives off..... can I run the engines for 30 seconds to fog them???
Once fogged, I intend on removing the blue plugs (4) on each motor.... be sure they are free of debris and drain the blocks....
Then I will remove the thermostat housings.... Question here... should I run a bit of compressed air through the intake where the thermostat mounts
to be sure the block is clear of debris or water?
Then my plan is to reinstall the blue plugs and fill the blocks with antifreeze...
Does this seem safe and appropriate???

TIA

 

[Scott Danforth]

I would skip the fogging, however that is me.

change oil prior to fogging. you do not want old oil sitting all winter with the acid buildup in it (combustion byproduct)
shove a garden hose in the water inlet hole in the gimble housing. secure with duct tape to run motor without drive. running the motor for 30 seconds without water will burn up your flappers and exhaust hose
fog motor
remove plugs and poke a wire in each of the holes to make sure they drain
remove and drain the large hose from the water pump
remove and drain the supply hose from the outdrive to the thermostat housing
drain your power steering coolers

use a funnel on the T-stat housing to add AF if AF makes you happy.

 

[gtfireftr]

Already changed oil.... forgot to mention that..... "add AF if Af makes you happy" ??? Not sure what that means??

 

[tpenfield]

Once you drain the water in all the places that can be drained, you should be OK. AF is optional if you have drained.

 

[stonyloam]

It means once the engine is properly drained antifreeze is not necessary. Neither is fogging IMHO. Yeah run it for 30 seconds without water with the outdrive and you will find your shutter on the ground behind the boat. If you MUST fog, then you will need to feed water, under pressure into the inlet hole in the bellhousing while you run the engine.

 

[gtfireftr]

Ok... thanks for the info.....

 

[Lou C]

Or if you want to fog (if your storage conditions are very humid over the winter) you can just remove each spark plug and spray some fogging oil in each cyl. I like to tape the plastic wand onto the push button on the can of fogging oil so it can't fly off.

 

[gtfireftr]

I have the engines drained.... I know someone mentioned to just leave it empty.... I am thinking of doing that, so should I leave the blue drain plugs out??
Not sure how any water or anything could get in there... I do have the thermostat housings off, and I will tape over them....

 

[crazy charlie]

SOUNDS LIKE you have a handle on the way you want to do it.I recommend filling with AF everywhere you can.Will help prevent corrosion and if there is a pocket of water still somewhere ,the AF will make it safer.My method is to run the motor w/o stat on a cameo 5gal set up and when you get down to 1 gal left start spraying fogging oil in the carb and when you are just about out of AF pour a dose of MMO in while spraying fogging oil which will stall you out and Voila...you are done.

 

[JASinIL2006]

I have the engines drained.... I know someone mentioned to just leave it empty.... I am thinking of doing that, so should I leave the blue drain plugs out??
Not sure how any water or anything could get in there... I do have the thermostat housings off, and I will tape over them....

I leave mine empty too. I put the drain plugs in after the engine has had plenty of chance to drain (sometimes I'll even wait until the next day). I always put the plugs back in, partly because I don't want to lose them or forget to do it in the Spring, but mostly because I don't want the threads in those holes to rust or corrode at all. Even a tiny bit of rust would start chewing up the blue plastic plugs.

 

[brsox88]

I'm in the same position as the OP, but I took my thermostat off expecting to be empty after pulling all 5 blue plugs from my 4.3 but it has like an inch of water in it. I read the sticky on how to winterize but no one mentions what to do about the water in the intake.

 

[gtfireftr]

What I did was leave the blue plugs out.... I blew some compressed air into the thermostat opening in the intake and I got a bit of water out the drain holes...
I will put the blue plugs back in and probably put some pink in and tape the housing opening...

 

[stonyloam]

Yeah, putting RV antifreeze in AFTER you drain the water out will not hurt anything, if it makes you feel better, go for it. Where folks get into trouble is if they try to DISPLACE the water by running in antifreeze through the outdrive.

 

[gtfireftr]

Yeah, putting RV antifreeze in AFTER you drain the water out will not hurt anything, if it makes you feel better, go for it. Where folks get into trouble is if they try to DISPLACE the water by running in antifreeze through the outdrive.

I have the outdrives off.... empty blocks and manifolds......I reinstalled the blue plugs..... put a couple of gallons of pink through the thermostat inlet in the intake manifold....

 

[gtfireftr]

Yeah, putting RV antifreeze in AFTER you drain the water out will not hurt anything, if it makes you feel better, go for it. Where folks get into trouble is if they try to DISPLACE the water by running in antifreeze through the outdrive.

I have the outdrives off.... empty blocks and manifolds......I reinstalled the blue plugs..... put a couple of gallons of pink through the thermostat inlet in the intake manifold....

 

[gtfireftr]

Do I need to be concerned about the y-pipe having water in it??

 

[Lou C]

I'm in the same position as the OP, but I took my thermostat off expecting to be empty after pulling all 5 blue plugs from my 4.3 but it has like an inch of water in it. I read the sticky on how to winterize but no one mentions what to do about the water in the intake.

​On the later model 4.3s there is a drain plug on the forward edge of the intake that should be removed, I think this started with the Vortec engines because for sure the older ones like mine did not have it.

​And I am a believer in filling with the proper AF manually after draining everything. Even Merc says this in their manuals.

 

[tpenfield]

Do I need to be concerned about the y-pipe having water in it??

No . . . it drains.

 

[brsox88]

I am just wondering why the official winterization guide on this forum doesn't explain or detail on getting the water removed from the intake?

 

[QBhoy]

I am just wondering why the official winterization guide on this forum doesn't explain or detail on getting the water removed from the intake?

Where do you mean ? On the actual intake pipe from the drive ? If so, there will be no water here.