More Winterization Questions...

PITBoat

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 26, 2018
Messages
286
run motor on hose (you may have the hose adapter at the pivot)
change engine oil and filter
fire up to verify no oil leaks
pull drain plugs on block (one on each side) - use a piece of wire or a deck screw or small screw driver to make sure debris isnt plugging the holes
pull drain plugs on manifolds (one on each side) - use same probe to clean the holes
pull large lower hose and drain - then replace hose
if you have a power steering cooler drain that too

motor is now winterized
if you want to put AF in the motor, now you put the plugs back in and fill the motor with a funnel thru the thermostat housing from the hose that comes from the drive.

change gear oil in drive. if you have water in there, it will come out as chocolate pudding. that is a reseal of the drive as a winter project

check for water in the tilt clutch assembly - refill as required. if you find water, you have another winter project.

drive is now winterized

depending on how/where you store it, you may be uncovered in a garage, or wrapped up in a boat-cocoon.

if you store it where critters live, take a box of bounce dryer sheets and place thru-out the boat. then take a bar of irish spring and shave it down, putting the soap on small paper plates or bowls thru-out the boat (smells better than moth balls and will keep both spiders and mice away)

pull boat plug, store bow up
cover it up if needed
store the drive down (I normally just pulled the drive)


I hate to keep beating this winterizing thing, but I found something in the manual today about removing the "water drain plug on the port side of the pivot housing", cranking the engine a time or two to expel any water from the drive pump, tilting all the way up to drain, back down to drain, then reinstalling the plug. (Clymer, under Lay-Up)

I don't even see a plug on the left side with the drive down.

Then in the Transom Assembly section, there is something about unscrewing "each of the 3 water drain/vent plugs," under Disassembly. There's a pic with a plug visible on the left with the drive up.

We've got a couple of mid-30s lows forecasted for this weekend, and I've rigged up a light in the bilge just in case (kinda risky on a couple of levels), but I want to make sure when it really starts to get below freezing here (and I've actually drained the motor, exhaust manifolds and PS cooler, and done the point about checking for water in the "tilt clutch assembly" as noted above - which I hope will be self explanatory when I actually look at that), that I'm not missing something related to the drive and the rest.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
47,296
Throw the clymer manual away. It makes a good knee pad or toilet paper, however the manuals from seloc, clymer and haynes have more wrong information than correct information.

Get a factory manual.

The trouble light in the bilge is fine
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,465
Ayuh,.... It appears you've got a Cobra drive, 'n yer manual is talkin' 'bout the older Stringer drives,.....
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,798
If your drive is charcoal colored and has a pair of trim cyls to lift the drive just like a Merc or Volvo Sx you have a Cobra, if you see no trim cyls but a big boot where the drive goes thru the transom you have a Stringer. The engine part of the winterization is the same for both, the drive part is different. Post back and if you have a Cobra I can give more detailed instructions.
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,798
OMC Cobra...
in case you're wondering about the wiring on the outside of the transom mount, its a modification that my mechanic made years ago to make changing the trim sending unit easy instead of a bear of a job bound to make you mean.
 

Attachments

  • photo297609.jpg
    photo297609.jpg
    85.1 KB · Views: 0

PITBoat

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 26, 2018
Messages
286
Yes, it's a Cobra; '86 I believe. It's got the snake head emblem on it too.

I thought I had the correct manual in pdf, in with a bunch of other info. I've been gathering, but it looks like it might be a Seloc or Haynes. It's '86-98.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
47,296
if you want the official OMC manual which is published by Ken Cook co, use this website, use your model number and order the correct manual. https://www.outboardbooks.com/

Seloc or Haynes make good knee pads, not much else.
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,798
Ok on the Cobra you should in addition to draining the engine & manifolds, disconnect the hose that feeds water from the transom mount to the thermostat housing. Point this down in the bilge to drain water out of it. Then put the outdrive all the way down and fill this hose with -100 marine AF till it runs out the water intakes. This will push any remaining water out of the P/S cooler and hose that goes through the transom mount as well as the water passages in the outdrive. The P/S cooler does have a drain on it but in my experience with the standard one piece exhaust manifolds on the V6 it is very hard to get back there to reach it.
The 3 plugs on the pivot housing: the one on the port side is for the water passage that has the plastic nipple for the transom water hose. The 2 on the other side, the upper one is if water gets into the passages around the bellows, the lower one is for the pocket where the shifter bell crank is. Tilt the drive up and remove all 3 plugs, then get a pick and rod the holes out a bit. Tilt it down, let any water drain. Then tilt up again and put OMC gasket sealer or Permatex Aviation on the threads of the plugs. These plugs should have an oring on them to seal. The gasket sealer helps with them not getting seized in place. For the lower one on the starboard side, I like to squirt some marine grease in that pocket, to keep water out of the bell crank area. Replace all 3 plugs and then put the drive down. Now its a good idea to remove the drive for the winter and inspect the bellows, u joints and gimble bearing, I usually do this once a year, at the end of the season so any problems can be fixed in the off season. This is a pic of the water nipple inside the pivot housing, you can't see it with the drive installed but this area must be flushed with AF or drained or else it will crack . that hole actually should line up with
the drain plug passage on the port side...
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
 

PITBoat

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 26, 2018
Messages
286
Excellent stuff... thanks, y'all.

I need to rig a switch for lowering and raising the drive with the cover on. One of those nice ideas that'll never happen. I'm not sure how to work the bypass feature.

I know the PO accidentally let the PS cooler freeze once and had to replace. I think he also said something about the drain being hard to get to.

I do intend to pull the drive off soon and check those things mentioned. I know my exhaust bellows is split.
 

PITBoat

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 26, 2018
Messages
286
Ok, we've got a 24F night coming up Friday, so I pulled finally pulled the trigger and had at this. I looked at these posts again (+ others) and the Crowley site.

Hoses:

Disconnected the small long one at the t-stat housing and pointed it into the bilge
Took the large one completely off of the water pump and t-stat housing

Engine Plugs:

Removed each one on the exhaust manifolds ("bat wings")
Removed each one on the sides of the block

PS Cooler:

I blew into the small long hose mentioned above and got a fair amount of resistance with gurgling. I may need to schedule a hernia check now, lol. I was able to pull the plug out of the bottom (getting it threaded back in right might be another matter...) and poured in a little antifreeze. I disconnected the hose on the upstream side of it after the blowing experiment and poured a little down that too.

Tilt/Trim Fluid Reservoir:

Opened the fill plug on that with the drive up, but couldn't really see how to tell if there was water in that or not.

STERN DRIVE:

I only have ONE water drain plug that I can find on that thing - it's on the starboard side, and I can only see it when the drive is tilted up a ways. I took it out and left it out. The drive was up when I took it out and is down now. And yeah, it was stuck pretty tight. I modified some wood chisels with a grinder to fit these long-slotted plugs everywhere on this, and that works ok.

Other:

I didn't do Stabil or fogging or any of that yet, as I'll probably put this back together at some point just to start it up, if not take it out on a warm day (though the longer I put off checking the u-joint and that, the less happy I am about it).

I think I'll get a warmer fuzzy feeling about not having to mess with the anti-freeze much if I can get away with that successfully... I see there's a couple of schools of thought about it here.

Oh, I did loosen the drain plug on the drive and had pure oil start to seep out, so I guess that's ok. I changed it a couple of months ago. Liked to never got it to thread back in though it's at such a weird angle and so short.
 
Last edited:

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,465
I think I'll get a warmer fuzzy feeling about not having to mess with the anti-freeze much if I can get away with that successfully... I see there's a couple of schools of thought about it here.

Ayuh,..... So long as ya got a good gush of water outa each of the 4 drain plugs, ya should be in Great shape,......

I always poke the holes with a deck screw, to knock any crud, rust, sand, mud outa the way,.....
 

PITBoat

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 26, 2018
Messages
286
Yes, I stuck a small flat blade screwdriver in each and wiggled it around several different times. The flow wasn't exactly the same out of all of them but it didn't feel like anything was blocking the holes. There was some junk (rust?) that came out of a couple at least.
 
Top