Winterization

[IndyMatt]

Its that time of year again and as dealers get busy ($$$) with stock winterizations; I have convinced myself that I would put more care into the lay up of my 2004SS. My question to anyone who cares to reply... Is there a preferred winterization technique? Mostly concerning the use of anti-freeze vs. draining? Indmar has included a pretty thourough step-by step winter lay up that shows different points to drain (block, raw water pump, tranny cooler and manifolds) not to mention heater core. Is this sufficient? My thought might be to do both... After the Oil change and Stabil... To run antifreeze through the raw water cooling system and then to drain as much out as I can. This way if I do leave any fluid behind, I wont have to worry about freezing. Maybe a little bit of over-kill, but if anyone has any thoughts or advise, it would be appreciated. Thanks~

[Salty87]

i think draining the anti-freeze is overkill. depends on how cold it gets where you are but it will give you more protection against freezing if you leave it in.

[IndyMatt]

Thats what I thought, but I have also read that antifreeze will cause some rubber components to 'swell' (impeller)~ Also a good point to anyone reading this, if you run anifreeze through your cooling system, make sure your temp is high enough to open the thermostat or the block will not fill. Thanks for the reply Salty!

[JFP]

In addition to the protection from freezing, my understanding is that having the antifreeze in the system all winter will protect against corrosion that would likely occur with an empty system.

[JFP]

In addition to the protection from freezing, my understanding is that having the antifreeze in the system all winter will protect against corrosion that would likely occur with an empty system.

[JFP]

In addition to the protection from freezing, my understanding is that having the antifreeze in the system all winter will protect against corrosion that would likely occur with an empty system.

[Ed Obermeier]

I run anti-freeze through everything by disconnecting the raw water intake, attach a line to a nipple at the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket filled with anti freeze, attach that to the raw water intake hose, then run the engine until the bucket is almost empty. This will get everything but the water jacket around the block. Then drain the block by opening the petcocks on both sides. Once done I pump some anti freeze back into the petcocks (an I/O lower unit lube pump is perfect for this) and let it drain to make certain any remaining water (unlikely but possible) is treated and I leave the petcocks open til spring. I leave the antifreeze in everything but the block water jacket and the heater lines.

I also remove the hot and cold water lines to the shower pump and stick them into antifreeze, then run the pump until antifreeze is running out the shower head. For the heater disconnect the send and return hoses, blow the water out (by mouth), then pour some antifreeze into the send hose and then blow that through and out also.

Oil and filter should have been changed before this procedure, Stabil etc put into the gas, and fogging oil sprayed into the cylinders through the spark plug holes. Been doing this procedure since buying my first boat 20+ years ago and have never had any problems whatsoever.

If the impeller swells due to being in antifreeze all winter it shouldn't be a problem if you replace the impeller every spring. Replacing every spring might seem like overkill but I'd rather spend $30 on a new impeller every spring than spend $5000 once replacing an engine.