www.iFourWinns.com

I have a Mercruiser 5.0 MPI in my 205 Sundowner. I just had a guy winterize for me so that I could watch and learn from him. He added the Stabil to the fuel, changed the engine oil, drained the engine, and said that he fogged the engine. My question is, did he do this correct. I am worried because although i was not standing over him the whole time, I do not remember seeing the engine put out much smoke at all. He only sprayed the carb with some lubricant for a few seconds and said it was good to go. He then took off the hoses and filled them up with Anti Freeze until it came out of the exaust and drive. He checked the outdrive fluids and said that they did not need to be changed. Please let me know if there is something missing here, I am really concerned about storing the boat away and this not being done correctly.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

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2006 Vista 278
First Boat:
2005 Sundowner 205
Columbus, OH

I would've insisted on a drive fluid change, unless it's only been run a few hours since the last change. Other than that, it sounds like a complete job. I've come to the conclusion that fogging is overrated unless the boat isn't going to be used for a few years.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Is the method he used to "fog" normal? All the can said was Oil Lubricant. He also did not take the air filter off over the carb. He just sprayed it all around the baffles. It is good to hear that it is not really that necessary to do the fogging anyway. I just expected him to do that and thought because he said he was doing it that i would have seen a lot more smoke. As for the outdrive fluid, do you see any problem with doing that in the spring or is there a good reason why it has to be done now? I have seen that done in the past, so I am not too worried about doing that.

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2006 Vista 278
First Boat:
2005 Sundowner 205
Columbus, OH

You should be fine with everything he's done.

Check your PM's

John

_________________
07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada

I don't see how he could have really fogged it, if he didn't take off the backfire flame arrestor (that's the thing that looks like an air filter but is really to prevent a backfire from causing an engine compartment fire). I use 2 cans at the same time and spray on each side of the carb.
I always change the motor oil, filter, drive oil and fuel filter w hen I winterize. I drain the water out of the engine and back fill with -100 AF with corrosion inhibitors. The fluids should be changed so the contaminates in the motor oil do not sit in the engine all winter, and for the drive, you will see if there is water in the drive oil. Water in the drive oil can freeze and crack the case, or rust gears and bearings.
I also remove the drive unit to check the bellows, gimble bearing and u joints. This is what you have to do when winterizing for I/Os to live a long life. Small problems get caught before they become big ones.

_________________
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

Does a 5.0 MPI have a carburetor ?

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2002 Horizon 190 5.0gl

No, a MPI is fuel injected. Lou brings up good points!! Everyone does things a little different. My self, I drain the oil and refill it in the spring. YES, I would change the drive oil!! Simple to do, 2 pints, cheap ins. for what that drive will cost, do it.

The proper way to fog a MPI is to use a 6 gal outboard fuel tank mixed with 2 cycle oil. My feelings are, use fogging oil and spray it down throttle body for 10sec or so. You will hear the the engine run ruff. Some boaters will say it will clog the injectors, but you don't do it for more than that. And/or, pull the spark plugs out and squirt in a little Marvel Mystery oil or plain motor oil. This will coat the walls which is what fogging is all about.

Remenber too, the engine is only sitting for 6 months. Some will say you need it, some will say you don't. Longer than that, you must do a proper fogging!! I have done it this way for the past 12 years, with no problems. Other things come into play to, is it stored out side, how cold will it get, will I start it back up in March or Apirl??

With fogging, the main issues are humidity and temperature change, if you have a lot of both, you will have a lot of condensation and that can cause rust. In a dry climate, or one without temp extremes, its not such a big issue. Here we have fall temps as high as 70, winter as low as zero but its humid often. So I do fog, but only the boat, the yard equipment engines (stored in the garage) don't get fogged and no issues.
And yes fogging a MPI engine is different, I'd follow what ever the manufacturer's procedure is for that.

Don't neglect the drive service, that's one area where having an I/O can really hurt you financially, if you never remove the drive. Then the first thing you notice is a noisy gimble bearing and ujoints, rusted by water in the bellows, and a drive oil leak because the imput shaft seal leaked because the rust on the input shaft itself damaged the seal. You let it go long enough, you can destroy the drive because of low oil level, the transom mount if the ujoints fail at speed, or the drive will get rusted on (driveshaft can rust into the coupler) and it will take hours of work by a highly paid mechanic to get it off.

_________________
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

It is going to be stored indoors, but it is possible to freeze. I will be restarting in late March. We get some decent weather mid to late March in Ohio. The guy did inspect the drive fluid, there was no water in it. I will change the fluid, seems not to be too difficult.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice!

_________________

2006 Vista 278
First Boat:
2005 Sundowner 205
Columbus, OH

The drive oil change is to prevent freezing of any water that may be in there. If he checked it by pulling the prop (if a VP drive) and removing the lower fill screw then that would show if water had accumalated. (on a merc there is a screw at bottom of drive that doesn't require prop removal). If he merely looked at the top "vent" screw then that may not show water if there was some present.

As far as fogging - i think your fine personally....i called a VP cert mechanic who advised me to merely remove the hose leading from the PCV valve to the flame arrestor and spray into that as boat is running. It did suck it right in and the engine started running rough as spraying...i did this for about 5 to 10 secs and shut her down. Not so much smoke, but it at least got a misting if not a complete fogging:)

removing the plugs and spraying in each cylinder is simply not something that is feasible with my boat......i would imagine an engine pull would be needed to remove the damn plugs.

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http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o71 ... wqm355.jpg


08' H210SS
VP 5.7Gi

If I was serious about fogging my fuel injected engine, I would remove the fuel filter, dump out half the gas, fill to the top with fogging oil, reinstall, and run the engine for a bit, or until it died, whichever occurred first. Then replace the filter with the new one, along with the rest of the winterization work.

But I still maintain that it's mostly a wasted effort unless the boat is going to sit for more than one off-season.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

The need for fogging, depends on your climate. I think if you live in an area that has a lot of humidity, and temperature change, you will get a lot of condensation on cast iron because I see it on my engine when I open up the engine compartment in the winter to charge the batteries once or twice.
I changed my exhaust manifolds last June and left the old ones in the garage, they have rust on the riser outlets and one was starting to get clogged, but OK otherwise. I noticed that just sitting in the garage, more rust was forming just from the moisture in the air. So here I would fog, if you are in a dryer part of the country, it may not be so critical, esp with inside storage.

BTW, I winterized mine on Sunday, with my 16 year old son helping, he pumped out the motor oil (Dad still wedged himself down next to the engine to change the filter) and filled it with 4 qts of Chevron Delo 400 40 wt, and he did the fogging. I showed him draining procedure and he watched me remove the outdrive. I think he's starting to understand why people like outboards

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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

You can't "fog" a fuel injected motor the way that you can a carb motor. If you read your manual the correct way is to run a "fuel mix" through the fuel system. 5 gallons of gas, 2-stroke oil, and fuel satbilizer. Connect it to the fuel pump and let the motor run on that for 20 mins. The motor doesn't really smoke like a carb motor does. We have to "fog" out a motor here in RI since our season is short and we want to make sure that the systems stay lubricated.

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Bryan Mutter

http://www.twincitymarine.com
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Sure you can. Take the flame arrester off and shoot the fogging oil into the throttle body. The ECM will detect the RPM drop and try to compensate but once you're happy with enough blue smoke, have an assistant shut it off.

I fog my engines through the spark plug holes with synthetic and a couple seconds of cranking afterwards and pop the plugs back in. It's my belief that fogging while running only adds a lot of carbon behind and does very little to protect against condensation and rust.

John

_________________
07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada