Winterising whilst on the hard and to fog or not?

[RobWales]

Hi All,

The motor in my recent purchase (Bayliner 2452) is a Mercruiser 4.3 MPI petrol which has less than 20hrs running on the clock (insurance claim by previous owner due to frost, brand new installation 18mnth old) I bought the boat 4 weeks ago and since then it's been sat on chocks at the yard having some exterior fettling etc done...

As it's one of the later models from Mercruiser it has an easy "single point drain" fitted for the raw water cooling, however reading up on this system I'm lead to believe you should not not trust it to drain all the water from the risers and the block and you should also crack open each drain point to make certain nothing remains (makes good sense I think).....I then intend on filling all cavities waterways with pink antifreeze via a method found online.... i.e undo main hoses and fill until pink dripping from drains then nip up drains and continue to fill, should take approx 9 ltr of the pink stuff in total.

I realise there are other methods like running engine while fixed up to antifreeze supply through the muffs but as I intend removing the leg for safe storage over winter I think I'll go with the above.

However my question is this....
As the engine is not going to be run from now until the end of March 2017 should I worry about oil fogging the bores as I have read in some of the American advice pages or is 6 months nothing to worry about?

Any thoughts on anything relating to the content of the post most welcome.

Thanks, Rob.

 

[BruceK]

When I had my Mercruiser the workshop manual on the subject of winterizing recommended fogging. As corrosion is your worst enemy I'd fog, personally. Having said that when I lay up my motorcycles etc for the winter I don't fog and haven't had any issues, but then they are stored in a dry garage and not outside in wet/humid environments catching condensation.

 

[QBhoy]

Rob
Having a 5.0mpi and having ponders the very same thing last year I can tell you the following;
I used the single point drain (with vent open) then closed drain and vent.
The filled the starboard thick hose off thermostat with 50% antifreeze solution, until it came out the thermostat housing. Put hose back on, then took both thin riser hoses off the thermostat housing and filled each until it came out the leg at back.
Then put hoses back on and left over winter.
I live in Scotland and temps reached -10. All was fine !
As it turns out, this is exactly what the local Mercruiser dealer does for liability cover purposes.
If you are unlucky enough that the single point drain doesn't empty all cavities...at least you know that it's strongly diluted with antifreeze.
Job done and sleep easy !
Allan

 

[RobWales]

Thanks Allan.