First Tme Draining Engine

[brian thomas]

Picture this, '06 SeaRay Sundeck, 6.2 Bravo III. I found four blue plugs to drain the engine, one on thermostat housing, one on bottom water distribution housing and two on the belt driven water pump. Is there anything on the fuel cooler or any others I'm missing?

That bottom of the engine water distribution housing is an odd looking item, rubber cap on top and black spoon shaped item on the side of the housing. Is this thing sacrificial in case of not having drained the block properly?

Thanks for helping, let's hope for a short winter.

 

[bbwhitejr]

That is like my 350 mag-2006. The only other thing is to remove the two smaller hoses on the back of the cool fuel unit and drain. Back off on the bolt between the two just enough to drain. That is it.

Bennett

 

[brian thomas]

Ugg, I was wondering about that fuel cooler. Getting to it is next to impossible. I'll give it a go.

 

[Lazy Daze]

It's not that bad in your boat. Once you get down in there and find the right position, you'll be good. That being said, there are times when I'm working on a boat that I'm doing everything by feel and other times when all a bystander can see are my feet sticking straight up in the air. Sure would be easy if there wasn't a hull in the way!

Edit: Oh, and the water distribution housing is not sacrificial, but it will likely freeze and crack before your engine does. Not exactly the definition of 'sacrificial', but...

 

[brian thomas]

Well they put it in the storage unit before I could get in there to the fuel cooler. Is it mandatory to get this bolt loose? It appeaed to have the two hoses from the fuel cooler hooked to everything else that drains to the distribution thingy.

 

[brian thomas]

Well I got the raw water fitting loose from the fuel cooler. It also draines to the central drain housing so there was nothing in it but it's nice to be sure.

 

[Blueone]

That is like my 350 mag-2006. The only other thing is to remove the two smaller hoses on the back of the cool fuel unit and drain. Back off on the bolt between the two just enough to drain. That is it.

Bennett

There is nothing in the Mercury 350 MAG manual that refers to removal of the cool fuel unit hoses. Is this just an extra precaution?... As far as I know the manual 3 point drain is sufficient

 

[bbwhitejr]

Just an extra precaution from advice given to me by a person considered an expert. I will take no chances and only takes 5 mins.

Bennett

 

[Lazy Daze]

There is nothing in the Mercury 350 MAG manual that refers to removal of the cool fuel unit hoses. Is this just an extra precaution?... As far as I know the manual 3 point drain is sufficient

We thought the same thing, according to the literature we got from Merc, when this design first came out. That's exactly how we did winterizations that year - without removing those two hoses. Come Spring, we had to replace a few Cool Fuel units on our dime. After that we always drained the hoses and it's never happened since. We do about 400 winterizations a year. Most times when I pull those hoses, there is a significant amount of water that comes out. In my book, I would call this mandatory.

 

[Blueone]

We thought the same thing, according to the literature we got from Merc, when this design first came out. That's exactly how we did winterizations that year - without removing those two hoses. Come Spring, we had to replace a few Cool Fuel units on our dime. After that we always drained the hoses and it's never happened since. We do about 400 winterizations a year. Most times when I pull those hoses, there is a significant amount of water that comes out. In my book, I would call this mandatory.

Dennis ... You got this one..very good call ....I went out and pulled the two hoses and got a few ounces of water out of the lower hose...

This is my first year with this boat and it was obvious these hoses were never removed. So they must have been getting lucky.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Good to hear, Dan. It's possible that if left alone for a long enough period of time, and depending on the angle that the boat is setting on the trailer/ground, it might drain by itself. But we learned our lesson and will not chance this again. The same thing for the boats I winterize through a small side business - If I'm signing my name to something, I'm not taking any chances.