The engine uses antifreeze for coolant, the long-life type. You need not remove this from the engine. When you winterize, you are removing the seawater or lakewater from the reservoir that holds the antifreeze. I wish I could explain this better, but if you saw the system, you would understand. I don`t see a problem with this, nor have I heard of any negative comments.

 

the 496 is easy to winterize. there's a small air pump on the heat transfer tube on the top front of the engine. You remove a few plastic drain plugs and then pump air into the system and that pumps water out of the exhaust manifolds. The whole process takes about 5 minutes....

I had a 496/HO on my Sunsation 288.

ps: see my gallery photos of the boat - it's now owned by forum member Splinter


- jeff

 

right....closed cooling...

Good point. I dont know what I was thinking..."closed cooling" - I am guessing would not need to have anything "added" to the engine to prevent freezing. Just get the sea/lake water out and you are good. I guess what I am really asking is if it gets all of the water out on its own when the valves open or do you still have to do anything to get any leftover water out or evaporated prior to winter storage? My experiences with friends' boats are that they drain the water, pump in antifreeze and "fog" it....keep in mind I have never done this myself so I really do not know what is involved. From what I have been told with the new 496HO all you have to do is use the little airpump to get the drain valves to open and viola! you are done. Is there anything else that you would need to do or is it really that simple? I keep telling myself that it sounds too good to be true but I could be just worrying for no reason.

Thanks for the reply DonMan!

 

Thanks Jeff!

Technology that actually works as advertised - excellent!

 

the 496/ho is a dream....

it starts right up, idles like a baby and has lots of power...

I loved mine Past tense, as it is gone-but you can still love it.

 

Yes, it absolutely is that easy. However, I took the extra step to fully winterize a couple of months ago. Fog, and pump antifreeze into the raw water cooled section. Glad I did! It has been friggin cold here this winter!!

The pump system is really nice when the weather just starts to turn in the spring or fall. In about 2 minutes I can have both engines completely drained. That way if we get an unexpected freeze I am OK.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I watched the video and it looks pretty easy.

It has been pretty cold here too.

 

Wasn`t aware of any plugs that had to be pulled..???
Just pump it up till 2 little green tabs expand..
Did I miss something..

 

Wasn`t aware of any plugs that had to be pulled..???
Just pump it up till 2 little green tabs expand..
Did I miss something..

take a look in your owners manual for the engine. There are two blue plugs that need to be removed from the lower right hand (port) side of the engine. There's a cooling tube (I forget if it's for fuel or oil) that is fresh water cooled and there's water in there that must be drained.

 

After attending my last class at Merc, three months ago, I would not trust it at all. What a bunch of hype! “This system is to merely extend the boating season into freezing weather, it is not a replacement for proper lay-up. ” Don’t think that you will see any warrantee help if anything freezes. If you are not going to run glycol through the system I would pull the hoses off the manifolds as well as pulling the blue plugs. There are check valves that keep hot water from the manifolds from back flowing to the fuel cooler causing heat soak related problems in the fuel system. Thank you high compartment temps and poor fuel. Students complained of grasses and salt build up in the check valves. That is what I learned about that. With the revised firing order and SPFI, the 496 is a smooth runner. Nice engine. Any fuel injected engine, outboards included, should be stored with a mixture of 5gal quality fuel 64oz quality 2 cycle oil, and double the amount of fuel stabilizer. It all fits into a portable 6 gallon outboard tank with a primer bulb. This will lubricate the injectors, fuel pump, and regulator. I run them for 10 minutes. Merc says 5 min for yours. Don’t fill your new filter, as you will be able to prime the system fuel of the mix with the primer bulb. You can get by not doing this but you’ll eventually get bit. The tolerances are much tighter than a carb! And a news flash for all with electric fuel pumps. When recommissioning for the season or commissioning new product Merc is recommending that the boats fuel system be primed with a bulb to prevent the pump from running dry at all. Testing has shown that 45 seconds running dry does damage. These vane type pumps don’t prime too well as it is. Good luck.

 

Winterizing Question

Just joined the site. LOVE IT! Recently purchased a Caravelle 232SC with the 496mag. I would appreciate any assistance and clarification in performing the following procedure.

"Any fuel injected engine, outboards included, should be stored with a mixture of 5gal quality fuel 64oz quality 2 cycle oil, and double the amount of fuel stabilizer. It all fits into a portable 6 gallon outboard tank with a primer bulb. This will lubricate the injectors, fuel pump, and regulator. I run them for 10 minutes. Merc says 5 min for yours. Don�t fill your new filter, as you will be able to prime the system fuel of the mix with the primer bulb".

How do I get the fuel/oil/stabilizer mixture through the engine??? Do i just put it in the tank? Hook it up to the fuel pump? Am i missing something?

Once again, any assistance would be greatly appreciated guys.

 

Re: Winterizing Question

Just joined the site. LOVE IT! Recently purchased a Caravelle 232SC with the 496mag. I would appreciate any assistance and clarification in performing the following procedure.

"Any fuel injected engine, outboards included, should be stored with a mixture of 5gal quality fuel 64oz quality 2 cycle oil, and double the amount of fuel stabilizer. It all fits into a portable 6 gallon outboard tank with a primer bulb. This will lubricate the injectors, fuel pump, and regulator. I run them for 10 minutes. Merc says 5 min for yours. Don�t fill your new filter, as you will be able to prime the system fuel of the mix with the primer bulb".

How do I get the fuel/oil/stabilizer mixture through the engine??? Do i just put it in the tank? Hook it up to the fuel pump? Am i missing something?

Once again, any assistance would be greatly appreciated guys.

1st ,,, Welcome to SW, MQ :bigsmile:

It's not very clearly written, but I would translate that it says to use a 6 gal portable tank, and bypass the fuel/water sep filter and hook direct to the fuel pump..

But I see no reason why to bypass the fuel/water... separator.. :confused1

 

This is what I do. Keep in mind that winter is much warmer and shorter where I live. My engine is only winterized for 3-4 months.

1. Add fuel stabilizer to fuel prior to my last run.
2. Warm up engine, then change the oil.
3. Drain water using pump out system.
4. Run engine on "pink" RV antifreeze. This ensures that no sea water is trapped anywhere.
5. Drain engine again with pump out.
6. Remove the blue plugs on the cool fuel system and the sea water pump.

I used to "fog" my carbed motors but I don't bother with efi/mpi.

 

I pump out water on both engines using the air pump supplied. I do not pull the blue plugs. (I know I will catch hell for this). I do run at least 5 gallons per engine of pink anti-freeze thru the drives using merc muffs/tape off low water pickups. I have had no problems since 2004.

I don't pull the plugs for the following reasons:
-pain in the *** to reach
-they are plastic and can break
-I don't want the impeller to be dry when I start to suck up the anti-freeze thru.

Bottom line is the pink comes out the exhaust forever before the five gallons are empty. I live in the NE with very cold winters.

Oh, I also gave up fogging. I do use plenty of Sta-Bil.

Let the ripping of this post begin

 

Pump and whooosh! That's all I do to the motor. If your boat is stored outdoors you may want to fog it. Mine stays in an unheated garage. I pull the boat drain plug, whooosh the motor, bring the batteries indoors, remove the gear that shouldn't freeze and throw on a loose cover. If you are near time for oil or drive lube changes now would be a good time to do that. I don't worry about how much fuel is in it either. My MerCruiser manual says to remove the blue plugs only if the "air actuated drain system fails".

 

Winterizing Question

Where i live the winter temps dip down into the mid 30's below zero Celcius. The boat will be stored outdoors, shrinkwrapped. I do like the idea of running mixed (high octane fuel/mix oil/sta-bil) through the engine. I just need to know the best way to do so!
Can anyone help?

 

Re: Winterizing Question

Where i live the winter temps dip down into the mid 30's below zero Celcius. The boat will be stored outdoors, shrinkwrapped. I do like the idea of running mixed (high octane fuel/mix oil/sta-bil) through the engine. I just need to know the best way to do so!
Can anyone help?

It's pretty much the way sterntech said. You use a remote fuel tank. I'll try to post the info from the manual later.

 

Remote Tank Hook Up

Much appreciated CC. Just need to know where to hook the tank hose up to. Look forward to your post.

 

This is for a 2005 496 ho. pg. 1 and 2 cover the fuel thing and the last two are the draining.

 

fuel thingy:

 

pump and whoosh:

 

the end

 

The fuel thing looks like a pita and I don't do it but I store indoors. good luck.

 

The fuel thing looks like a pita and I don't do it but I store indoors. good luck.

Also, you might want to reduce the amount of gas / oil you use unless you are doing a few motors. It would take a while to go through 5 gallons unless you are really cranking up the RPMs. The 496 only uses a gallon or two per hour at idle.

 

THANKS!!!

Thanks guys. Info is just wha i needed. LOVE the boat. We got her doing 73.6mph on the gps last weekend! Perfect conditions, no wind, slight ripple, me and the wife and low fuel. Specs indicate a max speed of 70mph. I assume that's with stock exhaust and prop???

Thanks again for the help

Mississippi Queen
(had the boat shipped up to us from Mississipi)