Winterizing a 2004 3.0 glm-b

Mdhugg

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Oct 30, 2018
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I leave boat on a lift year round. Because of this I can’t access the drive. Could I run the boat in the water, lift it out ,drain bock and impeller hoses, and then run antifreeze through the the flush port to winterize?
 

Bondo

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I leave boat on a lift year round. Because of this I can’t access the drive. Could I run the boat in the water, lift it out ,drain bock and impeller hoses, and then run antifreeze through the the flush port to winterize?
Ayuh,...... Welcome Aboard,.....

If you lift the boat enough so that the drive is outa the water when full down, you can drain the block, manifold, 'n hoses, you don't even need the antifreeze, 'n it's winterized,...
 

BRICH1260

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Just pull all engine and manifold plugs, and water pump in line and let the water drain out. I`m assuming this is only temporary, not for an extended period of time?
 

Mdhugg

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Just pull all engine and manifold plugs, and water pump in line and let the water drain out. I`m assuming this is only temporary, not for an extended period of time?
No. The boat will sit on lift all year. Including all winter. That’s why I want to run antifreeze through it
 

Lou C

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Nov 10, 2002
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You don't have to 'RUN' antifreeze through it, you can simply drain, poke the holes in the block and exhaust manifold, disconnect the bottom end of the hose from the circulating pump to the thermostat housing, disconnect the raw water intake hose at the impeller housing, point it down in the bilge to drain. Then if you want to use NON TOX ONLY antifreeze you can:
reconnect the bottom end of the big hose that goes from the circulating pump to the thermostat housing, and disconnect the top end. Now put a funnel in the top end of that hose and fill the engine with AF till a bit comes out the thermostat neck, and reconnect the hose. Now your engine is full of AF like you wanted it to be. Next, disconnect the hose feeding the exhaust manifold and fill it with AF till a bit comes out the exhaust housing on the transom mount, reconnect the hose. Now I don't know if the Volvo SX used a
drain plug on the port side of the pivot housing like the OMC Cobra, some did if so I'd remove that, poke the hole, put the drive down, to make sure all the water left in the raw water intake system drains.
On my boat when I winterize it I do all of the above, and then fill the raw intake hose with AF till it runs out the outdrive water intakes.
Doing it this way I have never had a freeze up.

Keep in mind that adding AF is only necessary to reduce corrosion, to prevent freeze damage you drain, first last and always.
Running AF through is risky and wasteful. Either drain and leave it dry or back fill with AF as I described. I use only -100 or I mix up a 50/50 mix of Sierra no tox AF. I feel that the -50 or -60 get hard at 5 and 10 degrees above zero (but do not expand) but that is not the best thing to use in a cast iron engine.
my experience based on 20 years of winterizing raw water cooled engines.
 

CWSFreedom

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Oct 7, 2021
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After a 40 year pause in boating I’m back at it. Had only outboards before. Now I have a 1995 Four Winns Freedom 170 with OMC 3.0 GS, so winterizing an I/O is new territory. I have OMC complete service manual set. In reading other threads I noticed Bondo advocates dry engine winterizing while others like Lou C go one step further and add AF apparently for rust prevention. Still others advocate using AF to prevent block freeze damage. Being paranoid about the potential to freeze damage my engine please comment on my understanding of winterizing-if I drain the water from my engine and stern drive following the steps outlined in the OMC manual my block will not freeze in one of the Great Lakes states? Just gravity drain, no application of air pressure to blow water out? Then as an option I can add AF solely as a rust preventative, but not necessary to prevent freeze ups? Thank you in advance.
 

Lou C

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Nov 10, 2002
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That is correct, for freeze protection all you have to do is properly drain. The AF is only for added corrosion protection and probably unecessary in the fresh water Great Lakes. Here in salty LI Sound, we do it, lol! We also have to replace exhaust systems every 7 or seasons, which you probably never have to do.....
 
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