Need drain 3.0 mercruiser before gets to cold out

silly132

Cadet
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Messages
8
I need to winterize but may have created a problem for myself. Earlier in the summer my block drain broke off and I couldnt fix it so I used quiksteel on it so I would be able to continue boating for the summer. Now my boat is an 1990 sea ray 160 with a 3.0 mercruiser. How do I drain the rest of the block? I checked and didn't see other drain screws and I took thermostat out and poured anti-freeze into the block via the thermostat location and before that I put an garden hose inside the hose and used a shop vac to suck out most of the water and I still dont trust it to be free of water.

*** I cant use the 5 gallon bucket with anti-freeze because my impeller went bad the last time out.

So what are my options
 

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Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
52,040
drain block (one on each side), drain exhaust manifold only one on the 3.0 (in some cases drain riser). remove large hose on water pump and drain that. I usually blow out the hoses with air pressure, however that is me.

attempting to pull AF from a bucket is a sure way to a cracked block come spring time.
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
71,379
Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... Now is a good time to get started on fixin' that block drain proper like,....

Drill a hole through the middle of it,..... 3/16" or 1/4" will drain it, 'n give ya something to work with,....

Melt the epoxy off with a torch, 'n back out the broken piece with an easy-out,....

Get a new 1/4" brass pipe plug from yer local hardware store to put back in,.....
 

thumpar

Admiral
Joined
Jun 21, 2007
Messages
6,138
Personally I would put a petcock in the bottom drain. That is what my 2.5l had and it was so easy to drain. Some may not agree but it is what I used for 7 years.
 

fishrdan

Admiral
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
6,989
Once you get the epoxy off and broken piece out, you will may need to tap the threads in the block again to get them cleaned up for the new plug or petcock.

Atleast, it made things one heck of a lot easier when I swapped a petcock last time....
 
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