First time winterizing a new engine questions

paulswagelock said:
Check Lowe’s, our local sells PG antifreeze.
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So is everyone using a RV antifreeze or are they just using a regular antifreeze because all the RV antifreeze is in Western Kentucky that I’m finding from tractor supply all the way up through the auto parts store have alcohol in them. I can get the peak engine antifreeze that’s supposed to be environmentally safe And alcohol free
 
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Hi everyone,
I didn't t get the winterizing done last week. I'm doing it now. I pulled the blue plugs and used a wire in each one to loosen up the debris. They all flow freely and the water is drained. I also cleared the line for the raw water pump. I poured 2 gallons of AF through the thermostat hose until it came out green. I pulled all the plugs again looking for green uniform AF color. Should I put the plugs back in, fill the engine with AF and leave it full for the winter or leave the plugs out?
Thank you for your time
 
Green. Should I leave it in or pull the plugs?
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They didn't have the pink in stock.
 
Leave it in - it has anticorrosion properties in it (or at least it should). Fill through the block hose till comes out the t-stat housing. Then pour enough into each manifold (you cleared those, as well, right?) hose till it come out the outdrive onto the pavement. You also pulled the plug on the fuel cooler? Pour the AF into the intake hose - I forget if you have a Bravo or Alpha - with an Alpha it will again pour out onto the concrete... with a Bravo, it may just backfill up the hose depending on where the impeller vanes set at.
 
@Lazy Daze

“Mix 2oz 2-stroke oil and an ounce of stabilizer into the fuel filter. Run for 5 minutes at about 1,200RPM.”

My retired mechanic used to fog my MPI by fogging through the fuel filter. I’ve taken over this year and did the same. I figured the filter area held almost a pint of fuel mix. Obviously the goal is for the engine to start drinking the pint of mix but not drink all of it and start running off straight gas again. Even understanding that the fuel lines have some ounces of fuel in them, wouldn’t 5 minutes be too long? An engine consuming a pint in 5 minutes is using 1.5 gph. I’m not sure what my 1300 rpm no load consumption is but you don’t want the motor to finish the pint or get near the end where it’s majorly diluted with incoming fuel. I ran mine for 1 minute or a tiny bit more. I could tell it was running on the juice since it didn’t idle normally.

I guess my question is are you sure 5 minutes isn’t too long and isn’t a minute or so better?
 
Rich - you noticed a difference at idle? I can't say I've ever really paid THAT much attention to it, but I've probably done a hundred of these and I don't recall ever noticing a difference. Sometimes, if the conditions are right (wind, etc), I may notice a slight fog/smoke, but that's about it.

Regardless, yes, I am positive about the timing. That comes direct from Merc and I figure they know more about how much fuel goes through the system in a certain time at a certain RPM than me! I'm not about to second guess when I don't have the knowledge to back it up.

The other thing you could do is mix up a batch in portable and connect it to the FWS instead of the regular gas line. Then you can run it for as long as you want - although I would still run it for at least 5 minutes, just to be sure.
 
Thanks.

I was under the impression that Merc wanted you to use a 6 gallon portable tank and that filling the filter cavity was a practical shortcut. Since we weren’t using Merc’s 6 gallon tank, I figured their timing wasn’t really relevant and would be on the high side since we only had ounces to play with and not gallons.

Now you got me worried that mine didn’t idle great on the juice after filter change (ran fine at 1300rpm).
 
How much 2-stroke and stabilizer did you put into the filter cavity? If it was roughly the amount I mentioned above, you're good. I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I followed the percentages for Mercs mix which came out to 91% gas, 9% 2-stroke oil, & 0.1% stabilizer. I mixed up a quart and used about half to fill the filter cavity.

So a pint would have contained about 1.6 oz oil and less than a quarter ounce stabilizer.
 
scoflaw said:
Don't fog a fuel injected engine with a spray can, you'll foul your sensors.
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I’ve heard this about MPI motors but don’t understand what sensors could be damaged. Obviously this would be true for a motor with catalytic converters and oxygen sensors.

But there are nearly 10 years worth of these MPI motors that don’t have converters.

The only sensor that I can see on my 2007 350 MAG MPI is the MAP sensor and I don’t see how that could be affected by fogging through the throttle body.

Can anyone better explain this?
 
I've never tried it. What I can say is with my 2 piece intake manifold that fogging fluid would end up puddling in the plenum and not make it to the cylinders. Your manifold looks more like a carb design and would probably work.
 
Lazy Daze said:
How much 2-stroke and stabilizer did you put into the filter cavity? If it was roughly the amount I mentioned above, you're good. I wouldn't worry about it.
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Lazy Daze,

I've been reading your posts and appreciate your willingness to to share your knowledge with the community. I was planning on winterizing my 260 Sundeck on my own this year and saving the cash for cooler upgrades.

My question after reading through the other posts is using the 2oz of 2 cycle oil with stabilizer in the fuel filter acceptable on an engine with cats? My boat has a 350 MAG MPI EC engine and I don't want to do something stupid. I read in the manual to have a separate tank but that seems like a huge hassle. What you describe by opening up the fuel filter (my engine has the cool fuel module type) by loosening the three bolts. Do I just dump in the oil and stabilized right where the canister was then replace the canister? I'd need to make the mixture tank, fuel hose, and connector and that just seems ridiculous if it's OK to fog in the manner you described.

Thanks for any help!
 
Anyone with recommendations on fogging a 350 MAG MPI EC engine? I'm worried about fowling the catalytic converters if I use 2 cycle engine oil in the fuel system. I probably need to just buy the #51 Manual.
 
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