Mercruiser 3.0 L - All drained?

Okay, folks. I know this question has probably been asked before, but I just wanted a confirmation from the more experienced people here.

I have a 1988 Mercruiser 3.0l motor, and I was wrapping up the winterizing on it by draining all the water out of the block. The diagram in the manual shows two places that water drains; a petcock type drain that hangs down from part of the engine, and one that comes straight out the side, both on the port side of the motor towards the back (aft). Apart from those two drains the manual also instructs to disconnect the hose that goes into the water pump (I think its the water pump. Its a metal 90-degree elbow right before the temp sender) at the top of the engine, right up in front, and tilt it down to drain any water there. I opened up both of these petcocks, left them open until they stopped draining water, then disconnected the aforementioned hose and tilted it down, and no water came out. I didn't see any other drains anywhere, and the manual doesn't mention any more. I did try to run a wire up into the petcock, and make sure there was no crud blocking it, but I am not sure how far the wire got it since I didn't remove the entire brass nipple (don't know if I should have). I'm not going to do the antifreeze thing, as the boat will live in my attached garage for the winter, and the temperature in there should not get to freezing unless we have some kind of once-in-a-hundred year even here in North Georgia (like we did a couple of years ago!!) My question, is the "Drain the water out of the engine" portion of my winterizing done?


Thanks in advance

Rgds

Re: Mercruiser 3.0 L - All drained?

eavega said:

Apart from those two drains the manual also instructs to disconnect the hose that goes into the water pump (I think its the water pump. Its a metal 90-degree elbow right before the temp sender) at the top of the engine, right up in front, and tilt it down to drain any water there. I opened up both of these petcocks, left them open until they stopped draining water, then disconnected the aforementioned hose and tilted it down, and no water came out. I didn't see any other drains anywhere, and the manual doesn't mention any more. I did try to run a wire up into the petcock, and make sure there was no crud blocking it, but I am not sure how far the wire got it since I didn't remove the entire brass nipple (don't know if I should have)..................




My question, is the "Drain the water out of the engine" portion of my winterizing done?


Thanks in advance

Rgds

Click to expand...

For the most part, YES. You should go ahead and carefully remove those petcocks because they may be blocking the "crud" from getting out.

If you didn't get any water out of the hoses you disconnected you could take your wet/dry shopvac and "suck" on the big hose to see if any water comes out.

Removing the brass petcocks allows you to poke around with a wire/screwdriver etc and clear any debris collecting at the opening.

I have even placed the end of my shop vac up against those holes and pulled on them for a bit too!

Re: Mercruiser 3.0 L - All drained?

eavega said:

Okay, folks. I know this question has probably been asked before, but I just wanted a confirmation from the more experienced people here.

I have a 1988 Mercruiser 3.0l motor, and I was wrapping up the winterizing on it by draining all the water out of the block. The diagram in the manual shows two places that water drains; a petcock type drain that hangs down from part of the engine, and one that comes straight out the side, both on the port side of the motor towards the back (aft). Apart from those two drains the manual also instructs to disconnect the hose that goes into the water pump (I think its the water pump. Its a metal 90-degree elbow right before the temp sender) at the top of the engine, right up in front, and tilt it down to drain any water there. I opened up both of these petcocks, left them open until they stopped draining water, then disconnected the aforementioned hose and tilted it down, and no water came out. I didn't see any other drains anywhere, and the manual doesn't mention any more. I did try to run a wire up into the petcock, and make sure there was no crud blocking it, but I am not sure how far the wire got it since I didn't remove the entire brass nipple (don't know if I should have). I'm not going to do the antifreeze thing, as the boat will live in my attached garage for the winter, and the temperature in there should not get to freezing unless we have some kind of once-in-a-hundred year even here in North Georgia (like we did a couple of years ago!!) My question, is the "Drain the water out of the engine" portion of my winterizing done?


Thanks in advance

Rgds

Click to expand...

Ayuh,.... Ya gotta pull the Other end of the Big hose, the Bottom end,... water flows Downhill, not Up...

Re: Mercruiser 3.0 L - All drained?

Good point, although the picture in the manual shows the hose at the front end. I guess its just to identify the hose... In any case, it must've drained completely, because there was no water in it...