Winterizing

[LEP]

All this talk about cracked blocks has me worried.
Bought a 2008 / 180 Four Winns - 4.3 litre mercruiser and would like to winterize it on my own.
With manual in hand, right tools and some common sense.
Fogging and making certain no water remains in the block.

Any other concern's to be aware of ?
Please advise.

Thanks,
LEP

[michael pierzga]

Mighty cold in Canada....perhaps they have preferred winterizing techniques.

I have always winterized engines "wet" by draining raw cooling water then replacing it with coolant..antifreeze...and have had no problem down to minus 10. Ive been led to believe that pumps as well as the engine block prefer to be stored " wet"

Fogging an engine has always been standard end of season practice.

[CatBuilder]

I may have been doing it wrong my whole life, but don't you just take the raw water intake off and put it in a large bucket of antifreeze until you see pure antifreeze come out the exhaust?

That's all I've ever done with my diesels and it's worked through Maine winters since the early 1990's.

[Steve W]

What CatBuilder said, same way ive always done it, this way you get the antifreeze through all the components of the exhaust system. A few years ago a friend bought a sailboat with a one lung yanmar and the PO was completly oblivious to the fact that he had to winterize and never had in the 7 yrs he had owned the boat with no damage.
Steve.

[FMS]

It is not difficult.

A couple points for a raw water cooled engine:

When you open the drain on the bottom of the engine block poke a wire in the hole. Otherwise rust scale and crap can clog it so not all the raw water drains out.

Remove all the freeze plugs in the exhaust manifolds and make sure none of them are clogged up before you put the plugs back in.

Make sure you get the block full of antifreeze - thermostat will be closed diverting it out the exhaust so pick the right hose. Put a little through the manifolds until it comes out colored to displace any water that didn't get drained.

Do you have ethanol in your gas up there now?

[erik818]

Where I live we winterize by exchanging the raw water with antifreeze, 50% water 50% glycol, which will be adequate for any temperature you will encounter also in Canada. As has been pointed out, first empty the engine of all raw water before you circulate the antifreeze to fill the engine or your mixture will get diluted.

Any closed cooling circuit should already be filled with antifreeze, but as with a car you should check the freezing point to ensure that it is lower than any temperature you anticiate.

If I remember correctly, the optimum mixture of glycol and water is 40/60, but because no one remembers if it is 40% glycol or 60% glycol it's safer to mix 50/50. At least that was the approach I was taught in the military.

Erik

[CatBuilder]

Also, it's best to use propylene glycol, not ethylene glycol. Pink stuff in the States.

The ethylene glycol is toxic and terrible for the wildlife when it comes out of the system in the spring.

[FMS]

Yes, we can only use the pink environmental RV antifreeze here now for years and it's weaker not to be diluted.

Also check your gear lube in the lower unit now. You don't want any water in it over the winter. Now is the time to see if any seals need to be redone before next spring while you or your mechanic have time.

Are you storing inside or outside?