End of the season:(

[cgpuddles]

Well, yesterday marked the sad end of the season for me. I got last minute change of station orders in October moving me (and my boat) from northern MI to WV. I simply drained the block and hoped to take it out when I got to WV. Well we got one more weekend out of the boat taking it to the parent's house in TN. We were forecasted to get cold here so I decided to call it a season and run the pink through her yesterday. Good call as my truck has a rough start this am in the cold. Well I normally winterize a lot sooner (being from MI and all) but yesterday was new winterizing in the dark with my hands nearly freezing to the block. Well the whole process was a comedy of errors. I got home from work and pulled the boat around front forgetting the outdrive was down and scraped that all the way down the driveway. The guy before me had a skeg guard put on so I just rouged that up a little and the outdrive itself is fine. Now I have a nice silver metallic scrape down the center of my driveway to remind me all winter of my boat. Next, I was having a bad vapor lock problem at the end of the season so I was just going to drain the tank this winter and start the season with all new gas, filter and everything. I guess my gas was so bad/so low I couldn't get the thing started with the muffs on it. So I get to thinking that I should have just left the block drained.... now I have cold hose water in my cold block. So anyways I switch over to the pink stuff and probably ruin my starter using that to pull the pink through the bellows till it shot out the prop and simply poured the rest down the thermostat until the block was filled. Winterized the potable water and forgot to close off the water heater.... no biggie I am just out some pink stuff and have a really well protected heater! I had a little 'sludge' left in my poopy tank and couldn’t find anywhere local still open to pump me so I just water it down a ton with some extra pink. All said and done I am closing the boat up realized I didn't save any pink to pour down the toilet bowl.... Anyone else had any other really bad winterizing tales beyond the normal split block from lack of pink?

Mike
1998 Maxum 2400 SCR
'Victors Valiant'

[seapuppy]

Mike...first off ..I feel our pain...hahaha...
sorry for your comedy of errors but next yr it will get better...

mine was about 2 yrs ago...i'm hoping this yr isn't as bad as then....I did the drain thing according to my mechanic..I had a central point drain...then pulled both plugs out of the b3 raw water pump to drain that....then drained all the other stuff..water heater..water tank......bilge....since I'm on blocks...it was simple to pull the drain plugs and let it drain out on to the ground...
.well..that all worked out ok in fall when the temps were dropping like crazy......we had a really cold snap that lasted until march...which at that time the temps started coming up...i had the day off and decided to spend it on the boat....tossed it in the water and tied it up to the dock....started the engine which the belts squeeled like crazy but stopped a few seconds......I went below to start the genny and when I came back up to the helm ..there ...every alarm on the planet was screaming and I checked the temps.....200 degs...turns out..that the raw water pump still had water that froze solid...freezing the blades in the pump to the housing...the hub of the impeller split and the shaft just spun...well..2600 bucks and 2 pizza's later......my boat was repaired and running better than ever....we mod'd the shift linkage to a new geometry version and cable....alignment check.....new flappers (burnt from no water in the exhaust)...new boot on the exhaust....new pump assy.....very embarrassed owner....empty check book...... :wink:

that's my story and I'm sticking too it...


SP irate:

[cgpuddles]

Yeah, that first start of the season is the tell tale sign of how winterization went

[ed & inge]

[attachment=0:jf7fpa0w]onderkant boten hellingen 070.jpg[/attachment:jf7fpa0w]

my first and for sure not the last mistake i made by sevicing my motor of my bayliner 2855 '97 wich i owned a few years ago was the next......i was laying upside down on the block of the 5.7 liter motor and i wanted to take the petrol filter off and install a new one.......i think my brains became 20 times too less oxigine laying upside down....so instead of turning the petrol filter i turned the oil filter loose....i think you all can guess what happens at that moment....... :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

but for all off us......making mistakes is a learning moment......and believe me......i still learn every day

greatz, ed

[shrew]

Originally Posted by seapuppy

turns out..that the raw water pump still had water that froze solid...freezing the blades in the pump to the housing...the hub of the impeller split and the shaft just spun

This is my first winter with the new 496 MPI (replaced old 454). I did the exact same winterization process, however the manual update said to turn the engine over a few times without actually allowing the motor to start. I did that, but I have been very skeptical how many times you would need to 'blurp' the starter to turn the fuel pump enough to pump out the remaining raw water from the fuel pump cooler. I have been contemplating removing the cooing hose to the fuel pump/coller but it would require removing the entire pump and possibly the Stbd exhaust manifold because I have limited space to work. I'm a bit concerned about this. I'm also concerned after reading your post about the Mercruiser recommended winterization process which instructed you to use a winteriazation kit (Flush tank) and muffs to run Polypro. Antifreeze through muffs to winterize the raw water portion of the cooling system. When I did this I had barely (almost) no water purging from the raw water exhaust. When running a garden hose, water pours out. I ran the engine like this for about long enough to run to the back and realize there wasn't much coming out. (yes the tank was vented, but more ran on the ground out of the muffs than out of the exhaust). I shut the engine down immediately after noticing this. I planned on replacing the impellor, but now I have to wonder if there is anything else I should consider having done?

Now SP, in your defence, this was a fairly new update as a result of folks like you reminding Merc that the pump is located below the lowest manual drain point and despite Mercruisers best efforts they can't suspend the laws of gravity.