Winterizing bravo engine questions

PickleRick

First year with a bravo.  I have a thru hull pick up. 

I have already changed the oil and flushed/filled the fresh water (coolant side) of my heat exchanger with new dexcool.  

Now im onto the raw water side. I pulled the end caps and drained what little water remained.  I then pulled my raw water pick up hose and sucked 3(yes 3 gallons) of marine/rv antifreeze through while running until she spit pink out the outdrive.  Manual calls for less than 2 gallons.  My after cooler(intercooler) sees raw water to cool intake air temps and i cannot find a drain on it so I figured this was a great way to flush it.  

Does this sound like a job completed to you guys?

Dream_Inn

Sounds good to me.  I  do pull mine thru the drive, but 3 gallons is about right. I  do thru drive just so nothing between drive an pump has any standing water. 

PickleRick

My outdrive doesn't have the Y pick up going between engine and thru hull.  The only water my outdrive sees is what is expelled from the after burner as well as exhaust.  

Just for saftey I had a gallon of antifreeze left over when I got done with my holding tank and macerators so I ran another gallon through.  

My god winterizing the holding tank and macerators was smelly disgusting work.  


I'm now completely winterized minus my wash down hose but I can't finish that until my new pump arrives.  They sent me a 120v and had no fittings.  I ordered a 12v. 

boatman37

I just did mine Friday night. Ours still picks up through the outdrive but mine took about 2-3 gallons

YYZRC

Dream_Inn said:

Sounds good to me.  I  do pull mine thru the drive, but 3 gallons is about right. I  do thru drive just so nothing between drive an pump has any standing water. 

My 350 MAG Horizons with B3 have both a thru hull pick-up and in the outdrive. With boat on land can I run the engine with muffs on the outdrive (seacock for thru hull closed) and the impeller will pull sufficient antifreeze thru the raw water parts of the motor? 

Anything I’m missing? Should I pull the blue drain plugs first to try to drain any water or just let the antifreeze push the water out the exhaust?

Dream_Inn

@YYZRC I always run mine for a bit on hose water, then I pull the drain plugs to let all the water out.  Then I run the pink thru.  I do it this way so that I know the water is out first and even if there was a small pocket that still had water, after running antifreeze thru it, there would be very little compared to the antifreeze amount there.  I also inspect the blue plugs before I get started to make sure they come easy and replace any that need replacing (& they do get brittle after a while).

aero3113

You can upgrade the blue plugs to the Harden stainless ones if you wanted.

https://www.hardin-marine.com/p-81079-stainless-steel-lifetime-series-sea-pump-drain-plugs-mercruiser-22-806608a02-8m2000874.aspx

Dream_Inn

@aero3113 My mechanic warned me against those plugs and said that the blue ones are much easier to drill out when you have problems.  He said, take it from experience.  I still have thought about using stainless...

aero3113

Good to know! I’ve thought about getting them also but think I’ll stick to the blue ones.

YYZRC

Dream_Inn said:

@YYZRC I always run mine for a bit on hose water, then I pull the drain plugs to let all the water out.  Then I run the pink thru.  I do it this way so that I know the water is out first and even if there was a small pocket that still had water, after running antifreeze thru it, there would be very little compared to the antifreeze amount there.  I also inspect the blue plugs before I get started to make sure they come easy and replace any that need replacing (& they do get brittle after a while).

Awesome, thanks!  And I assume it's ok to run the engines with water only flowing through the drive (no fake lake on the thru-hull pick-up)?

skuter99

Does anybody spay any anti corrosion stuff all over the engine or not?

If so, should any places be avoided and what product do you use?

Aqua_Aura

I've never done this but I wonder if fluid film would work. Generally used as an undercoat spray oil for vehicles, comes in an aerosol can. 

It does not dry and leaves an oil residue so it may start to get messy after a few used and as stuff sticks to it like dust. 

Dream_Inn

@YYZRC I only have input thru my drives, no other water inputs.  So, I can't answer if you need the fake lake.

PickleRick

I pull my thru hull hose off and attach it to at adapter which connects to a standard garden hose. I then put a 6 ft legnth of garden hose and sucked the antifreeze from the containers. I had legnth to do this at the helm so I could easily swap gallons (3) and be reaching distance from my engine kill switch.

In your application i think id run the antifreeze directly to the outdrive via muffs and the thru hull at the same time. 

Wal-Mart pink rv marine is sub 3 bucks a gallon so over kill wont break the bank.  Maybe @Alswagg can chime in as I'm sure he does this in his sleep.

I didn't drain my system after the flush.  The pink stuff is a rust and corrosion inhibitor which is a good thing for my heat exchanger as well after cooler. I think come spring time I will flush it with white vinegar before launch to help clean out what little corrosion I saw.