www.iFourWinns.com

I was trying to find a checklist for winterizing my boat but have little luck. So here is what I have so far. 2007 H190 VP SX drive.

1. Wash, wax, vacuum, and polish all metal.
2. Remove all gear and equipment. Store for next year.
3. Add gas stabilizer and top off tank.
4. Replace fuel filer.
5. Replace water separator.
6. Change impeller
7. While warming up engine to change oil add antifreeze to block once engine is at optimal operation temp. Also FOG motor at this time.
8. Change engine oil and filter. (Any suggestions on what brand to use?)
9. Change out drive oil. (any tips on type to use would be great.)
10. Grease prop shaft.
11. Do I need to pull the out drive? Isn’t the gimbel sealed? Visually check bella and exhaust hoses.
12. Tighten all screws, nuts, bolts, etc. throughout the boat/engine.
13. Pull battery to charge throughout winter.
14. Store in garage with cover on it and drive in down position.
15. Put blocks on trailer to take pressure off tires.
16. Re-pack bearings on boat trailer.

Am I missing anything? I was going to do my own service and figured this would be a good starting list to build off of. I planned on doing this annually. I live in Seattle and store my boat in the garage so it stays out of the elements.

Thanks for the help.

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Dennis

2007 H190
4.3 liter
Seattle WA

Well I've got some big problems with your procedure, and if your engine isn't closed cooled, or you don't drain the block before sucking in the AF you could wind up with a cracked block. See on a raw water cooled engine, the thermostat may not open all the way running on the water hose (cold water) on a cool fall day. So then what will happen is that the AF will go in the thermo housing...in the manifolds....out the exhaust and on the driveway but with the thermostat closed, or mostly closed, the same raw water in the block/heads just keeps re-circulating. Then there's the issue of fogging, you have to time it so the AF does not run out before you finish fogging or you will overheat the engine and ruin the impeller. So my advice based on 8 seasons of doing my boat is DON'T do it that way...
here's what I do...

First READ YOUR ENGINE MANUAL


1) put in stabil before the last run of the season...
2) Warm up boat on the water hose
3) Change motor oil and filter
4) Start engine and check for leaks at the filter and top oil off to correct level
5) Run engine again and then fog it
6) This is the most important step....drain everything, poke each drain hole with a long wood screw to make sure water comes out of EVERY drain, pull off the big hose on the front of the engine that goes from the thermo housing to the water pump on the front of the engine (that one holds a lot of water). On VP engines you probably have to disconnect the hoses on the impeller housing too...There is a power steering cooler that has to be drained on some engines too.
7) After draining, I replace the big hose at the water pump end.
Then I start pouring -100 AF in till it comes out the block drains, you can see it push out the water then you see the AF. Stop pouring, then put some marine grease on the threads of the drain plugs and replace em. Fill the engine till it comes out the thermo housing. Then re-connect the upper end of the hose to the thermo housing. Next fill the manifolds the same way till the AF runs out the exhaust. Finally fill the raw water take hose till AF runs out the water intakes on the drive. This will push water out of the raw water intake hose and usually out of the PS cooler too. I then re-connect the raw water intake hose.


Now on to the drive, I drain and replace the gear oil. I look for water in the gear oil, if none fine, if I see water I take it to the shop for a re-seal

Next I remove the drive, to check the bellows, gimble and ujoints. I grease the gimble and ujoints. Also I grease up the Cobra shift linkage. The drive then gets stored in the garage.

Finally the engine gets sprayed with a coat of Boeshield or Corrosion X.

That's about it....

Oh and on the impeller, do it in spring, so it doesn't take a set sitting in one position all winter...

Keep in mind the part about adding AF is optional, you don't have to do it, draining all the drains is the MOST IMPORTANT part of the winterization process...
I like to add AF because it does reduce corrosion...

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

LouC- thanks for the extra tips and help. I was watching youtube and there was a West Marine video on adding antifreeze so this is how I came up with it on my checklist and the process. As for pulling the outdrive you mentioned you do it to grease your u jount and gimble. From my understadning these are sealed on the newer VP SX outdrives. I am wondering if this is something to worry about or not. I have the Selco Manual on order.

Thanks

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Dennis

2007 H190
4.3 liter
Seattle WA

It may be true that you can't grease the gimble bearing and the ujoints on the newer models but there are checks that should be done that still require removing the drive, like checking for water in the bellows (if you see any you need a new bellows, or else it will ruin the gimble bearing and ujoints and leak water into the boat) checking for gear oil in the bellows (if the input shaft seal leaks drive oil your drive will be low on oil and often if you have a water leak in the bellows, it will rust the sealing surface of the drive shaft and cause that seal to fail) and to check engine alignment (if it's off it will cause the coupler to fail). Plus there is no way to grease the driveshaft splines without removing the drive. Removing it is not difficult but if you are not comfortable doing it you can get a shop to do that part for you. They are heavy about 100 lbs and getting it back on can be tricky keeping the ujoints from flopping around. I built a drive stand to hold mine to save my back...

I'd get a Volvo manual, the factory manuals are lot better than the aftermarket ones.


That West Marine winterizing kit should not be used on raw water cooled engines, like I said it can cause a cracked block which will cost you thousands to repair (new engine). I actually tried that the first year and then I checked the block drains and what came out looked like rusty water, so I drained the block again and backfilled it. That's how I do it and that is also what OMC, Merc and Volvo recommend. None of them advise using that kit for good reasons. That's why you should start with a factory manual and learn the right way from the start.....

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

LouC- I will also order up the factory manual. I want to make sure I do this right the first time. I am confident in my ability to do things mechanically but am also no mechanic. I guess my biggest concern is pulling the outdrive. Seems like many people on the forum have done it.

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Dennis

2007 H190
4.3 liter
Seattle WA

You know FWIW I have always just pulled the thermostat before circulating the R/V Antifreeze then replace with a new thermostat. I do this as added insurance in addition to draining the block and manifolds. I also get the piece of mind of knowing that I have a new thermostat each season.

_________________
Add more life to your days, not more days to your life.

As far as the winterizing goes, my marina does over 400 a year for the last 15 years using the antifreeze method and never had an issue. run it up to temp and then pump -100 antifreeze through it right though the drive intakes, about 5 gallons for a small block, 4 gallons will do a 6 cylinder. Several other marinas do the same thing using -50. none of them have ever had an issue either. Pulling plugs is a thing of the past.

As far as what type of oil/gear oil to use I always recommend going with the factory lubes. On yours the gearlube is sythetic VP lube and on the engine it is synthetic 30 wt lube.

On your drive there really is no reason to pull the drive each and every year unless you use it in salt water unless you really want to. If you had water in the bellows you would hear the gimbal bearing making noise after one or 2 trips.

Changing your impeller on a yearly basis is not generally necessary unless you put lots of time on the boat. It is not uncommon for people to go up to 5 years without an impeller change, I generally recommend every 2 or 3 years.

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Brian Borchik
The Winds of Cold Springs Harbor Marina
Baldwinsville, NY

Thanks Brian for the information and the link! What kind of noise would one hear from the gimble bearings??

_________________
Dennis

2007 H190
4.3 liter
Seattle WA

it would cause a rough humming noise or growling noise.

_________________
Brian Borchik
The Winds of Cold Springs Harbor Marina
Baldwinsville, NY

Brian I find that interesting because my own experience with the kit sold by West Marine and others is that unless your thermostat opens then the raw water in the engine may just recirculate and not go out the exhaust to be replaced with antifreeze. I tried it one year and I checked the water drains on the block and what came out looked like rusty water. On http://www.iboats.com most of the professional boat mechanics that post there advise against using this method.

I know that you can tell if the thermo is open by feeling the top of the thermo housing, when it's cold the thermo is still closed because the incoming water bypasses the thermo outlet to the engine and goes out the manifolds. When the thermo opens, the water from the engine then exits straight up and goes out the manifolds, then the top of the thermo housing will be hot. But still it's hard to be sure the antifreeze concentration is enough for freezing temps. When your marina does it do they use the tank, or do they use a trough that recirculates the af as it comes out the exhaust, which keeps it at a higher temp and that may ensure that the thermo stays open long enough.

My concern is advising someone who has not done this before and does not know how to tell if the thermo is fully open, may feel that the engine is adequately winterized when it is not. You can't tell for sure by looking at the temp gauge because mine reads 160* when the thermo is closed (top of housing cold) and still reads 160* when it opens (top of housing hot).

I looked at a 2005 Volvo owners manual on line and they only advise the old fashioned drain method. Same with Merc and OMC. I wonder if someone under warrantee had a problem with a cracked block would they be denied coverage because the factory procedure was not followed.

I know for sure if you have to do a lot of boats that method is way faster. I think that removing the drains is a better method because it keeps them from getting rusted in place. Then if you really have to get them out one day it might be a hell of a struggle.

And for sure I would NOT wait to hear noise from the drive to decide to check the bellows. There you are going to wind up with about $1000 worth of repairs, to replace the rusted gimble and ujoints because you had water in the bellows.

Once again, Merc, Volvo and OMC in their maintenance schedules ALL advise removing the drive at the end of the season to check the bellows, gimble and ujoints. Also if you have a leak in your input shaft seal you will be leaking gear oil in the bellows and your drive will be low on oil and you will not know that unless you check the level.

If you never do this and don't grease the coupler splines, guess what happens one day....the drive won't come off...yes that happens...happens to outboards too if no one removes the lower unit to change the impeller every other year.

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Well first off no matter how you winterize it if you have issues due to a cracked block it wont be warranty...not for any reason. And as far as pulling block plugs I was told by a volvo service rep that its likely that gm may actually do away with plugs so antifreeze winterization will be the only way to do it. of course that is only word of mouth and im not putting too much faith in it.

no we do not run on a tank, only a hose. once the tstat opens we switch to the antifreeze. never had an issue with thousands winterized this way. of course, as you said, we know when the thermostat opens.

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Brian Borchik
The Winds of Cold Springs Harbor Marina
Baldwinsville, NY

If you winterize a lot of boats, know what you are doing, and have a system in place I'm sure it works great. For us amateurs that do 1 boat a year I think pulling the plugs and perhaps manually filling it up with antifreeze is probably the best bet....but thats just my opinion.

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2008 FW F204 - 5.0 VP "Stand On It"
Former Boat: Larson 186 LXI - 4.3 VP

when you manually back fill do you fill through each of the 4 hoses on the thermostate housing? I any specific order? Just want to make sure I do this right. I will be keeping my boat the garage and I live in Seattle so my winters are not harsh. However when I do something I want to make sure I do it correctly. Thanks for all the tips and help.

_________________
Dennis

2007 H190
4.3 liter
Seattle WA

You fill the engine by re-attaching the big hose on the front of the engine at the water pump end (leave it off at the thermostat end) until you see AF appear at the thermostat neck, it should take about 2-3 gallons. Then re-connect the hose at the thermostat end. You fill the manifolds by disconnecting the hoses to the manifolds at the thermo housing, put a funnel in the hose and fill the manifolds till the AF runs out the exhaust, you will hear it drip on the ground (why you MUST use no tox AF because the car AF with ethylene glycol is very toxic and animals are attracted to it). For the raw water intake hose, you disconnect the end that comes to the impeller, and point it down in the bilge to drain, then fill it with AF till AF runs out the drive water intakes. Re-connect that hose. Next you disconnect the hose that goes from the impeller housing to the thermo housing, make sure it drains, then reconnect it at the impeller end and fill that with AF. Now I have never done a Volvo but besides the impeller hoses they are very similar to an OMC like mine so I am going by logic here...

There is one more point that may not be obvious, if you have a late model 4.3 there is a plug in the front of the intake manifold that has to be drained too...this point is in the Volvo manual that you can download from their website....

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

I drained mine as Lou stated, but I only filled the the block and manifolds with antifreeze. I didn't put antifreeze into the raw water intake hose and the impeller to thermo hose, just drained them. Took 4 gallons for my 5.0.

_________________
2008 FW F204 - 5.0 VP "Stand On It"
Former Boat: Larson 186 LXI - 4.3 VP