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First time winterizer, and I don't want to botch it up!


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Pull the large hose that goes to the recirulating pump from the Stat housing and pour it in. That will fill the block. Takes about 2 gallons.

Do the same for the exhaust. Pull the hoses where they attach to the Stat housing, and hold them up so they are above the exhaust. Pour antifreeze in until it fills the hose, and then reattach the hose to the Stat housing.

My 2011 Monsoon has cats and thus 6 hoses from the stat housing to the exhaust. Which ones are where I want to pour in the antifreeze?

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My 2011 Monsoon has cats and thus 6 hoses from the stat housing to the exhaust. Which ones are where I want to pour in the antifreeze?

Honestly, I don't know. I am not familar with any of the systems with cats in them. The last thing I want to do is tell you th ewrong line to you. If you can post a picture of the front of your motor, or link me to a diagram of the water flow, most likely it will tell the answer.

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I also drain everything and manually fill with anti freeze (monsoon 340 with cats) I dont have a pic, but there is a short hose that goes from the stat housing to the bottom of the exhaust manifold on each side. I pulled the starboard side hose off the stat housing and held it straight up, put a funnel it, and filled it until it came out the stat housing where the hose attached. That way, I knew the block and most of the manifolds were full - it took many gallons - I dont remember how many. I did this for 25 years on a mercruiser 260 inboard and never had a problem with corrosion - sold it last year with the original exhaust manifolds on it.

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I've read all I can find about winterizing and here is my plan. The oil, filter, fuel treatment, fuel filter, are already handled. I'm just nervous about the water freezing in something I failed to drain. I have drained the block, both sides, the exhaust manifolds, and pulled the hoses off the water impeller and drained more out of there so Im comfortable with that.

I have ordered the Flow-Pro valve and will install it as soon as it arrives. I plan to hook it up, put water to the engine, warm it up to operating temperature and then shut it down. Then I'm going to drain the water, hook up the Flow-Pro again and pump in the antifreeze, run the engine (now the thermostat is open right?) and after the antifreeze is spitting out the exhaust, fog the throttle body and shut down the motor.

Have I missed anything? I really want to do this right, the first time....

Thanks everyone.

One thing that makes the draining much smoother and cleaner is to use a wet vac and suck the water as it comes out of your block and hoses. I even use the wet vac to suck water out of the hoses when I disconnect them. I hope this make sense.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Which is why I always drain the system before putting antifreeze in it. And I have never run it through, always poured it in. When you only drain it, you are not getting anywhere near 100% of the water out. I have seen motors drained and blown out with air, that in the spring had every core plug popped. They were lucky it didn't crack inside also.

It takes ~ 2 gallons of antifreeze to fill the block, and an other 1-2 to do the exhaust and other lines. If you are using -100 thats $40. If you use -50, its about $25. A lot cheaper than any of the parts that could break.

Where do you pour the antifreeze in?

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  • 11 months later...

Just finished my Winterizing, changed oil/filter, transmission oil,cleaned screen, changed vdive oil. Warmed the engine up on the water hose up to just over 160degrees. Then I ended up funneling anti-freeze into the hose after in goes threw the vdrive. Fake a lake wasn't working out! So after the anti-freeze was coming out the exhaust I had a buddy fog the throttle and shut down the engine. I decided to then remove some hoses and check to make sure the engine had pink anti-freeze. I even removed the t stat to verify it was all pink. Removed the knock sensor and it was pink, Everything ended up having pink anti-freeze except the starboard side block drain. It was still water. why is this? The port side knock sensor drain was all pink while the starboard side block drain was all water. Im confused?

I have never heard of one side of the block getting antifreeze and one side not. If you did it without draining the block, and teh Stat started to close or did close its "possible" that it pushed out some of the water, then the stat closed and it couldn't push the rest out. It depends on how your Stat housing is set up. My engine is closed cooled, so I don't know how your system is set up. I have run Mercruiser for the last 15 years, and their Stat housing let water out unevenly. Thats why I always drain the block and exhaust before I put antifreeze into the engine.

I just winterized my boat this weekend and noticed the same issue wakerider had so figured I would revive this old thread.

I started out by warming up the boat so the oil could warm up before changing and once it was around 160 degrees then shut it down and drained everything (took like 10 minutes maybe). Then funneled a gallon of the red RV antifreeze in just to see where it went (and to run thru the Vdrive). Just to verify, I drained the exhause manifolds and of course the red came out. Next I drained the block, my starboard side was pouring out red and my port side was just a little water trickling out with no red. After that, I went ahead and winterized like Zone5 had mentioned earlier by pouring antifreeze in the hoses so I know without a doubt my block was filled with antifreeze.

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Update!

I see two schools of thought here. The drainers, and the anti-freezers. I actually do both just because thats me, I over-build, John Wayne most everthing. Let me explain.

I put in the Flush-Pro valve. Simple to do.

I drain the block and exhaust manifolds of all water.

Hook up a mini sump-pump and put it into a bucket of RV anti-freeze and connect that to the Flush Pro Valve. Turn on the pump.

I made some PVC elbows that slide into the exhaust and turn down into the bucket with the pump and RV anti-freeze.

Once its hooked up, start the engine and watch it draw up about 5 ish gallons of Anti-freeze.

I run the engine up to about 165 degrees, and then run for another 5 minutes. Then I shut the engine off, unhook everything, put the bucket under the drain hole in the hull, and open up the block and exhaust manifold drains, capturing the Anti-freeze for next year.

Whatever liquid is left in the system is now anti-freeze and I sleep very well knowing for sure that my engine is protected.

Now that the engine is warm, drain the oil, filter, replace and finish up with other little details

Thank you everyone who helped me along. Hope this helps someone in the future.

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Just finished my Winterizing, changed oil/filter, transmission oil,cleaned screen, changed vdive oil. Warmed the engine up on the water hose up to just over 160degrees. Then I ended up funneling anti-freeze into the hose after in goes threw the vdrive. Fake a lake wasn't working out! So after the anti-freeze was coming out the exhaust I had a buddy fog the throttle and shut down the engine. I decided to then remove some hoses and check to make sure the engine had pink anti-freeze. I even removed the t stat to verify it was all pink. Removed the knock sensor and it was pink, Everything ended up having pink anti-freeze except the starboard side block drain. It was still water. why is this? The port side knock sensor drain was all pink while the starboard side block drain was all water. Im confused?

Do you have a heater? Could it have been water left in the heater?

Edited by prion
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I see two schools of thought here. The drainers, and the anti-freezers. I actually do both just because thats me, I over-build, John Wayne most everthing. Let me explain.

I think the two schools of thought are actually the drainers and then the drainers and antifreezers. I don't know anyone who doesn't drain the water out first, then re-fill with antifreeze.

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I noticed that when I pulled the block drains the starboard side was just trickling out, so I poked an awl through expecting to hit some debris but nothing. I then pulled the exhaust manifold hose on that side and presto when the exhaust drained out came a stream of water from the block drain...you will need to make sure that there is an open port on the high side of the drains so they drain freely as it appears vacuum was holding the water in the starboard side of the block. Also, make sure to open both sides or risk water left in the block. There will most likely be some water left in the block due to the inclination and the fact of the drain ports being centralized, thus a vote for antifreeze. One extra step I have added realizing that when in shallow water (putting the boat on a trailer) the water is most likely pretty contaminated (sand / muck) I decided to basically flush the system via the house hose and the fake a lake rather than a simple uncork and drain. Combine with the fogging step.

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