4.3 mpi alpha 1's winterization ?'s

[Turtlesboat]

Ok, want to make sure I have this straight

antifreeze and fog the engine when on the hard.

buy muffs, hose, tank, pink.

run the engine on the muffs up to temp, shut it down.

Drain the engine with my blue knob single point thing. hook up the tank filled with pink to the muffs. poor 2 ounces of 2 cycle oil in the fuel filter and screw it back on. Start the engines until pink comes out of the prop.

Is that it for the engines?

 

[Turtlesboat]

yeah, i've done everything else, Pink and fog are the two things left.

 

[douglee25]

There are a ton of ways to skin a cat, I personally prefer to remove the thermostat, bolt up the housing, and run pink from a bucket/tank. I don't like to warm up the engine on the muffs because verifying the thermostat is open is a shot in the dark at best.

Doug

 

[Turtlesboat]

How can you be sure you run the pink through the pumps and outdrives by pooring? Maybe take the thermostat out and run with muffs to make sure it gets everywhere it needs to get?

 

[douglee25]

How can you be sure you run the pink through the pumps and outdrives by pooring? Maybe take the thermostat out and run with muffs to make sure it gets everywhere it needs to get?

You can't and you won't. Pouring AF into the engine block will only fill just the engine block. It doesn't address the manifolds and risers, water pump(s), nor any of the hoses. Some will pull hoses to drain and leave it at that. I prefer to take it a step further and flush with AF.

Doug

 

[Turtlesboat]

Does anyone see a problem with removing the thermostat, putting muffs on and running the engines to pink the whole kit and caboodle?

Or is there a simpler way to insure a proper pinking?

 

[Weave]

I have the same motor Turtle....I run to temp do oil all that stuff.
I then check to see if I have and leaks and make sure engine is up to temp.
Then I use the single point drain system and drain everything.
I have a jug and hook it up to the muffs AFTER draning. If you drain properly, air doesn't freeze.
That being said I get nervous about sediment in that drain system and it blocking one of the hoses/drains. So once I am done filling on the muffs, I verify a while later by opeing the drain system and checking for pink.
I have even captured some and put it in the -20F freezer here at work.
It freezes but not solid, just a soft slush.

 

[Weave]

Did you do the deed yet Mike?
Wondering how it went for you

 

[Turtlesboat]

Tomorrow i'm picking up the stuff, sunday is pink day. I've been going over the records and I don't think the thermostats have ever been changed on the engines. So I'm going to yank them and not worry about running the engines up to temp to open up the stats. Once they are full, I'll pop the new ones in and check to make sure pink is coming out of the engine drains. I'll fog at the same time.

My zincs were eaten alive this year. WOW! at least they were working. My zinc fish is half the size it was the beginning of the year. My marina was hot!

 

[Weave]

Cool let me know how it goes for you.

 

[Turtlesboat]

Ok, I removed the thermostats, drained the engines, hooked up the muffs to 5 gallons of pink. Port engine started up, pink came out the prop, bellows exhaust thingies. flow looked good. confirmed pink came out of the single point drain. sucked in about 4 1/2 gallons.

Starboard engine, a little different. Everything looked pretty good, flow out the prop wasn't as good as the other. Also took twice as long to suck the pink. Started to steam, pink stopped flowing out of the prop so I climbed up to shut it down and the temp alarm went off just as I hit the kill. opened up the single point and mostly water came out. I figured I fried the impeller. I hooked the muffs up to a hose, ran the engine and everything looked fine. Temp was good, flow was good. Drained the engine, hooked the pink back up and tried it again. Flow was much better. afterward tested the single point and pink came out too.

So 1) do you think I fried the impeller? 2) Do you think I got pink to go everywhere it needed? 3) do you think I should run another 5 gallons through both?

 

[douglee25]

Did you have the bucket up on the swim platform or on the ground? In order to get a outdrive to prime, you need to have some head pressure by putting the bucket on the swim platform. It's possible you fried the impeller. If you haven't changed them yet, it wouldn't hurt to swap them in the spring. If you sucked about 4 1/2 gallons through each engine and pink is visible at the single drain point, I would be quite certain the engines are properly winterized.

Doug

 

[Weave]

Mike I would tend to agree with Doug. I would think probably just had a poor prime.
Regarding worrying about the pink being in the system, you could always open up the drain a bit and collect the run off in a cup and freeze it.
You should see it slush but not solidify.
This is the thing I dislike about the single point drain system, hard to verify you 1. got all the water and sediment out and 2. verify that you got pink into the block and manifolds, etc.
Just curious.....How did you end up fogging, or did you not?

 

[Turtlesboat]

I did have the bucket on the platform and it was flowing the entire time, just not the kind of flow like the port engine. My GF did point out that there were some barnacles in the intake holes AFTER I pulled the muffs off, so maybe they restricted the flow. I haven't changed the impellers yet. I'll do that in the spring.

I did fog the engines with some 2 stroke in the fuel filters. I will probably have to do the one engine again as I ran it much more than the other and probably burnt off all of the oil in my attempt to pink the engine.

 

[Half Off]

Mike,
After getting my bill from the marina for pickling my engines ($291) I think I will go your route next year. Are you satisfied with the process you used or would you do something different next year?

 

[Turtlesboat]

it was pretty easy, next time will go much faster. After paying someone to do most everything half a$$ and me redoing most of it, I decided to do it myself and take that money and buy a truck, yes it was that expensive.

 

[New Bob]

Ok I winterized my 4.3 Alpha this past weekend. I would like some opinions on how I did the draining/AF into the engine though...

After running the engine for 20 minutes or so to get the gas stabilizer into the carb, I put the boat up on the lift and immediately removed the 5 drain plugs (2 block, 2 manifold, and 1 at the lower water pump hose). After the water stopped coming out, I reinserted the drain plugs and this is where it gets interesting...

I removed the large hose at the thermostat housing (the one that goes down to the waterpump. I then poured the pink stuff into the hose (about 2 gallons) until, to my surprise it started to come out of the thermostat housing where I had earlier removed the hose.

It seemed to me at the time that I successfully filled the block with A/F. What hit me later that night was how did the pink stuff make it out of the thermostat housing with the thermostat still installed? Is it possible that the thermostat was still open after 10-15 minutes or so?

 

[glocklt4]

There are a ton of ways to skin a cat, I personally prefer to remove the thermostat, bolt up the housing, and run pink from a bucket/tank. I don't like to warm up the engine on the muffs because verifying the thermostat is open is a shot in the dark at best.

Doug

If you run water through the muff's the water from exhaust starts cold, then as the engine gets up to 150-170 degrees you just check to be sure that the water coming out the exhaust is hot... that's it. If the water stays cold, then you're thermostat isn't open yet... keep the engine idling.

 

[msd58]

Ok I winterized my 4.3 Alpha this past weekend. I would like some opinions on how I did the draining/AF into the engine though...

After running the engine for 20 minutes or so to get the gas stabilizer into the carb, I put the boat up on the lift and immediately removed the 5 drain plugs (2 block, 2 manifold, and 1 at the lower water pump hose). After the water stopped coming out, I reinserted the drain plugs and this is where it gets interesting...

I removed the large hose at the thermostat housing (the one that goes down to the waterpump. I then poured the pink stuff into the hose (about 2 gallons) until, to my surprise it started to come out of the thermostat housing where I had earlier removed the hose.

It seemed to me at the time that I successfully filled the block with A/F. What hit me later that night was how did the pink stuff make it out of the thermostat housing with the thermostat still installed? Is it possible that the thermostat was still open after 10-15 minutes or so?

By pouring AF down disconected hose you filled your block up from the bottom up. When AF poured out the T-stat housing outlet it came through the t-stat by pass openings. Another words your block is full.

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

 

[New Bob]

To MSD58: Thank you for the reply. I didn't realize there was a way around the thermostat unless it was open.