Did I winterize Well Enough

[Zaigrith]

2002 maxum sr1900 - Carbed Mercruiser v6 4.3L, alpha one gen 2 outdrive:

Im pretty sure i did this good enough, but I might need to do it all over. I am usually not one to rush but I was fearfull of an overnight freeze (which apparently is not terrible and i have to worry about those long freezes).

I went out to the boat, added stabil and took it out, then filled it with gas.
My impeller burned out on my way in (overheating engine & smoke coming from exaust, growth on water intake).

I tried to suck up antifreeze from the west marine winterize kit, but I never saw the pink come from the back of the boat besides the earmuffs.
Then, Because I didnt want to get any antifreeze out, and realizing i forgot to fog, I sprayed a good amount of fogging oil into the carb and cranked the engine a few times without letting it start.
Hoping this was good enough, I unscrewed all 5 blue drain plugs (2 engine block, 2 exaust, 1 on hose) and poked at them till the water stopped coming out. Then I undid the thermostat (which has no gasket, and is more of a riveted steel fitting?) and pored antifreeze in. Once purple came out of the engine block drain plugs i put them back in and fill the thermostat hole with antifreeze till it reaches the top. I left like an inch just incase.

Is this good enough or do I need to redo everything? I checked the engine lube and it looked clear blue/blackish so I figured I would do the impeller in the spring.

[mcoffey]

I think I would go back and do just a bit more but not everything you did.
First, I like to replace the thermostat and gasket when I break open the housing. There is 2 gaskets there so I think you just missed them. 1 does have some small brass rivets near the bolt holes so maybe that is what you saw. Inside the housing there is a plastic sleeve that holds the thermostat in place. Once you remove that and pop out the thermo, there is a small gasket ring up in there too (between the thermo and top of housing).
I also pop off all of the hoses from the housing and pour antifreeze in all of them. The large hose just fills the block so be careful since you already filled it up. The others fill up the p/s oil cooler and flush the outdrive. You may need to pop the manifold drains again for this though.

I also like to change the engine oil and filter as well as the fuel filter/water seperator so it is just a drop her in when sping comes around.
If you decide to do all this, you may want to fire it up afterwards for a few seconds and fog it better if you can. You will lose some of the AF you just put in but you can always put more in when you pop the hoses and do the thermostat and gasket.

Here is a quick step by step how to that is general but should get you through it safely.

http://www.mercstuff.com/winterizing.htm

[Capt Al]

Sounds pretty thorough although I do fog until the engine dies and after removing the blue engine plugs, crank the engine over (not starting) twice to remove any excess water.

[shrew]

It sounds like you fogged teh carb, but not the cylinders. You really need to have the engine running pulling in both fuel and air into each cylinder in order to draw the fogging oil into each cylinder properly. The fogging oil is essentially vaporized and drawn in with the air, where it covers the cylinder walls. It sounds like you drenched the carb in fogging oil then turned the engine over a few times. At that point the fogging oil was actual oil and no longer vaporized at the time the engine was cranked over. Another method I've seen done is to remove each spark plug and shoot a very quick spurt into each cylinder that way, though that typically causes overfogging IMHO.

As far as draining the block goes....pulling all the plugs and making sure it drains preoperly is the biggest part. i've never poured propylene glycol down the thermostat, but teh idea being to get the AF to displace any remaining water so it doesn't freeze adn expand. Provided the water is out and AF is in, you should be fine.

I like to change oil in the fall and drive lube in the spring, but that is just me. If you're going to try and do it again, you're going to have to do the whole thing again. I'm curious what some of our resident mechanics have to say.

[seapuppy]

you bout covered it shrew....

in my boats...we are down for approx. 4 mos...although it can get quite wet here...it does get to freezing for a few weeks at a time...heck..we're talkin snow this week.....!!

so...for us in the pacnorwest...we place heaters thruout the boat...on low....that keeps the cockpit and the salon nice and dry....never had mold start up in the monkey fur in all the boats we've owned...
in the fall...I change the oil out after proper warmup....drive oil and engine oil gets changed...that keeps the built up acids from eating away at the engine internals..the drive gets it too since that oil can be nasty plus it's a good way to check for leaking seals....

then with my newest merc's...all I need to do is pump the engines down..it comes with a built in bicycle pump that blows the entire system down.....once that's done...all I need to do is pull a few blue plugs and let whatever water is in the fuel pump drain out......pump the bilge out...and I'm done..then run the genny with pink stuff in the pickup and get about a gal of that into the genny......from there it's drain the water tanks....drain the water lines, water heater....etc...leave the spigots open so any left over water that might freeze can expand and not blow the line off....or split the lines....pour some pink stuff down the toilet and the shower drain till I hear the pump run....

that's about it...we generally don't have the requirement for fogging out here due to such a short and mild (comparatively speaking) winter weather......

the main thing also during winterizing is to make sure the batt's are kept up or topped off...make sure they have enough water in each cell and either remove them and store them in your garage...or keep a float charge on them....that will maintain all the batts. and prevent them from splitting in the winter......usually not a problem but it can happen in places like minne-sooota...or da. dakota's eh!!...

for fogging...the engine needs to be running and up to temp...(some may argue that point but every mech. I know tells me the same thing).....then as the engine is idling....start spraying the snot out of the carb intake to get as much oil down the throat...from there ....as it starts to stumble ...kill the engine...(have someone at the helm hit the kill sw. or key)....only stop spraying when the engine stops turning...your done...
upon recommisioning....you can replace the spark plugs and start it right up......

hope this helps...

SP

[capav8r]

I noticed Shrew changes the drive oil in the spring. I always do mine in the fall. I want to make sure I discover any water prior to the big freeze. Dealing with a leak would be bad enough, I would hate to see freeze damage in the spring on top of the leak itself.

[Zaigrith]

So to be sure I understand, I can fog my cylinders directly by taking the plug out and spraying some fogging oil in there? Does the engine need to be warm when I do this, or can i do it without starting it up again. Ideally I would like to avoid buying another round of antifreeze but if its necessary I will. I forgot to mention I did the oil and water separator, but not the impeller or gear lube(but i checked the gear lube for milkiness). Thanks for your help everyone.

[seapuppy]

well...it doesn't get the fogging oil where it needs to be..all over the intakes..valves....cylinder walls..but you could pull the plugs and spray oil into the cylnders and hand turn the crank to spread it around..the main thing is to make sure the piston seals don't rust to the cylinder walls.....and that you get the block warm enough to evaporate any moisture in the crank case .......


SP

[shrew]

Originally Posted by capav8r

I noticed Shrew changes the drive oil in the spring. I always do mine in the fall. I want to make sure I discover any water prior to the big freeze. Dealing with a leak would be bad enough, I would hate to see freeze damage in the spring on top of the leak itself.

Good point. Your logic on the drive is the same logic I use for changing motor oil in the fall. Seeing as how (in full disclosure) I'm currently at a cross roads between rebuilding my drive and replacing the drive, maybe I'm not the best person to advise on this point. LOL.

[capav8r]

Shrew, that gets me thinking: How many hours can one expect a drive to last? Assuming you do all of the usual preventative maintenance, keep on top of minor repairs, are not pushing high hp and wot all day long, just normal 3000 rpm cruising........I am still low (IMHO) hours at 170, just got me thinking....