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Full Winterization

chiefalen

chiefalen

Banned
"Just trying to help. I can&#3

"Just trying to help. I can't speak for Bondo, how i read his post is water freezes at 32 you can winterize if you want to.

And now due to the good people here you know how,

didn't cost you a cent.

Maybe a simple thank you, will do.

And i will reply with more help if you post and ask for it.

I am sure others will also."
 
If it gets below freezing only

If it gets below freezing only a couple of nights out of the year you might just get away with putting a safe electric space heater in your boat under the cover and leave it plugged in all night. Take the doghouse out of the boat and make damn sure you don't smell any gasoline. You only need to keep the block above 32 degrees to keep from freeze cracking.

Chiefalen: It's funny but I think of leaving the plug out and bow up as common knowledge but as I drive around I see soo many boats stored with the bow down and some with the plugs installed. Those boats will have rotten floors and stringers in no time!
 
"Takes 10 minutes if you know

"Takes 10 minutes if you know what your doing.

Very least drain, the block and mani's, leave the drive down.

Like Bondo posts " Air don't freeze "

If the light goes out, or the bulb breaks, or cord gets pulled all it takes is one time.

You could leave a glass of water on the transom of the boat and see if it freezes you might be surprised.

Here in jersey i have the block dry and mani's dry.

When i go out sunday i will come home about 15 minutes from the dock, and flush, and drain the block and mani's."
 
Always wondered why there are

Always wondered why there are no stickies on this board. There are about ten items at least that get asked over and over and over again!
 
I agree very nice list and sho

I agree very nice list and should be made a sticky! very simple to make it part of your computer though
1.right click anywhere on your screen and select new then select folder
2.then when you see the new folder on your screen left click it once and this highlights the name hit backspace and type it a name
3. Go back to ghost's well written post and cut copy and paste it to that folder and walla there is your copy for future reference. i made one myself even though i have a 470 ccs but one never know's what new toys come in the spring so if in need i wont have to go hunting for his post again hope this helps fella's
 
"Ed,

This is my opinion onl

"Ed,

This is my opinion only.......

I do not change any engine or outdrive fluids in the fall.

I do it all in the spring.

I have removed enough outdrives to service the ujoints in the spring and found all the gear lube in the bellows due to upper carrier seal leak.

Something that would not show up just draing and refilling in the fall.

As far as acid build up in the engine oil...................well My boat is at 22 years old and the "acid" has not eaten away anything yet. It may be the "full synthetic"...LOL

Again just my opinion."
 
"Last year i changed mine in t

"Last year i changed mine in the spring, this year i changed it in the fall because I was already in the engine bay doing a tune-up.I do not think its makes a difference as long as you change your engine oil and filter every 50 hours"
 
"Kghost: "I have removed e

"Kghost: "I have removed enough outdrives to service the ujoints in the spring and found all the gear lube in the bellows due to upper carrier seal leak."

Just a question about this, did you find the oil seal bad or just the o-ring? I have my upper gear drive out and the O-ring is bad which makes sense since it was leaking just sitting on the bench. Easy enough to replace but the oil seal is another story. Just curious.

Also a headsup about waiting until spring, and maybe this is a rarity, I was told that if you had water infiltration in your motor or outdrive it could freeze crack depending on how cold it gets. That's the theory from my father-in-law from Saskatchewan CA where it gets to 40 below (both F and C). Here in Seattle I just like to get everything done in the fall so when spring time comes I just put the battery back in and crank it up."
 
">>>>Just a qu

">>>>Just a question about this, did you find the oil seal bad or just the o-ring? I have my upper gear drive out and the O-ring is bad which makes sense since it was leaking just sitting on the bench. Easy enough to replace but the oil seal is another story. Just curious. <<<<

This is a multi answer question.

1. the carrier seal is the most common seal to leak in the ujoint area.
2. This was the most common cause..~85% of the time. This seal wears out quite often. Maybe not so much a s a one boat owner would you see this but over a large group you tend to see it.

3. When they went to nonservicable ujoints it took away the need to remove the outdrive to grease them. I feel this will cause a great deal of upper bearing and gear failures.

I cant say if it has or has not as I do not work in the business anymore.

I actually started to just replace the seal and not the aluminum carrier and due to wear on the yoke surface that wears from the seal I would change the seal location within the carrier to get a fresh seal suface on the yoke. A bit cheaper buying the seal than buying the whole assembly.

Also today with the remote gear oil resevoir you get a heads up when there may be a leak.

The cold of a long winter can reak havik on seals and orings so in my opinion why take it for granted that they made it thru the winter???


Part of a succesful spring tune up is the KNOWING that all systems are sound, especially the outdrive!!!

So if you change gear oil in the fall, come spring you may not know where your gear oil is going???"
 
Thanks Kghost any advice on ho

Thanks Kghost any advice on how to break the drive gear nut? That thing is on there and I found sticking a rod through the u-joints was futile. The book says to use the handle of the retainer wrench locked in a vice but I started bending the wrench so I stopped. Once I get the nut off I think everything esle will go smoothly. For the sake of ease I'll look at buying the seal assembly ring.
 
"When you use the "special

"When you use the "special" wrench, yes you engage the tabs from the nut upside down ( yoke nut facing up) just to hold the assembly level. The you stick a very large screwdriver thru the ujoints and engage it into the vise so as to keep it from spinning and twist until pressure is on the screwdriver. then put your wrench/socket on the nut. Reverse it to tighten.

I know the merc service manual shows it quite good as I do it just like the pic......"
 
"Here is a pic and a correctio

"Here is a pic and a correction on when and how to use the wrench.




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"I have a question. What do th

"I have a question. What do these drains on the bottm of the exhaust manifolds look like? I just installed manifolds on my engine but there was no drain on either manifold. I only have a 90 degree plug where the hose attaches that goes to the thermostat housing. Thank you, Bob"
 
They are located on the bottom

They are located on the bottom of the elbow for Merc. mans. If there is a plug on the bottom you need to remove it and install your old brass cocks. Or replace the elbows w/ones that have a drain.
 
Newer style manifolds have the

Newer style manifolds have the drain plug in the elbow (plasic and blue in color). You may have that type. But not the correct elbows.......

If that is the case then just remove the hose at the elbow at the bottom and it will do the same as removing a manifold plug.

Objective is to drain all the water!!!!
 
"I still don't understand

"I still don't understand the drain setup. Mine have no brass cocks nor blue plastic plugs on the exhaust manifolds. There are blue plastic plugs, one on each side of the block just above the oil pan, but these should be for draining the block. You men are saying "elbows", do you mean the risers atop the exhaust manifolds? They probably have some allen wrench headed bolts that could drain them (the risers) but I thought if you pull the hose off the bottom of the exhaust manifolds the water would drain down from the risers through the exhaust manifolds and out the hose into the bilge. Please explain if I am wrong on this. Thank you for the help, Bob"
 
"I still don't understand

"I still don't understand the drain setup. Mine have no brass cocks nor blue plastic plugs on the exhaust manifolds. There are blue plastic plugs, one on each side of the block just above the oil pan, but these should be for draining the block. You men are saying "elbows", do you mean the risers atop the exhaust manifolds? They probably have some allen wrench headed bolts that could drain them (the risers) but I thought if you pull the hose off the bottom of the exhaust manifolds the water would drain down from the risers through the exhaust manifolds and out the hose into the bilge. Please explain if I am wrong on this. Thank you for the help, Bob"
 
"Bob

What I suspect you hav

"Bob

What I suspect you have there and I will repeat,

You have newer manifolds with no drain holes/plugs. You have the OLD style large threaded elbows that go into the bottom center of the exhaust manifolds...........

If you had newer elbows (threaded for the hoses) they would have a threaded hole in them and BLUE plugs would thread into them just as they do in the block...

It is just a miss matched set of hardware.

In your case you only need to remove the hoses from those elbows and it will accomplish the same thing as the blue plastic plugs the DONT exist with your set up. Or you could order the Plastic elbows and blue plastic plugs with orings.



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"My engine is a 1987. I now u

"My engine is a 1987. I now understand. That is a picture of my setup but I do not have the brass pit cocks attached under the 90 degree elbow. #2 is what I was thinking you were talking about but located on the bottom side of the manifolds. Sorry for the confusion. Thank you all, Bob"
 
"Here is what you are missing

"Here is what you are missing and where................................................................



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"That's what makes this fo

"That's what makes this forum great,I learn something every time I come here, not bad for me having only about 2 working brain cells left."
 
"[b]Quote: "According to m

"Quote: "According to my mercruiser manual it states that the leg is to be left in the down position for winter storage because ..............."

Rubber takes what is called a "set" as it ages and is left in a position unlike when it was originally formed. When a drive bellows is originally formed, it most resemble a connection to a drive that is DOWN and Straight ahead.
(windshield wiper blades are a good example of this! Summer kills them.... not winter)

Store your drive fully DOWN and straight FWD if you wish to extend the life of them.

."
 
"Kghost, ok, I'm on the sa

"Kghost, ok, I'm on the same page now. You are exactly right as that petcock is what I'm missing. Thanks to all of you, Bob"
 
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