DE-WINTERIZING?

[LSV04]

HELP!!!
I had my 04 winterized last November-anti-freeze,oil-change.And it was a mild winter here in NY./ 225.00 for winterizing.-now this local marina wants to de-winterize it for another 175.00. I am stuck because my Moomba dealer is too far so I have to use the local marina that has a reputation of overcharging. How do I do this? Is it just a matter of checking the fluids again and running the anti-freeze out? I dont think any plugs other than the drain were removed. My buddy swears I can just check the fluids and put her in - just keep an eye on your gauges like you normally would.Please help so I have some gas money. Next season I will have to take the 3 hour trip to the moomba dealer.

[freyse]

I too have a long haul to nearest dealer for warranty work and winterizing and summerizing , want to do my own winter and summer izing ,what all is involve have a new 05 outback

[Smrtz]

I was actually expecting that same story from the marina where i wineterize and store my outback. To my surprise, they told me the winterizing was done in the fall they were just gonna charge the battery start it up quick and it would be ready to go...

Its your money ask for a detailed list of what was done in the fall as well as what they are doing this spring. Post the list Im sure some people on this forum will be able to tell you if its required or simply a cash grab!

Cheers

[LSV04]

thanks for responding.

I will call the Marina TODAY AND ASK HIM EXACTLY WHAT WAS DONE. but this is what it said on his invoice last Nov.2005.

1 WINTERIZE INDMAR V8 INB.
5 GALLONS ANTIFREEZE
4 QTS OIL
1 FUEL STABILIZER
1 FOGGING OIL
1 ENVIROMENTAL CHARGE $230.00

NOT VERY SPECIFIC!!!. I HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO DO THIS MYSELF NEXT SEASON SO I DONT FALL PREY TO THESE GUYS.


ANYONE KNOW OF AN AUTHORIZED INDMAR SERVICE IN NY OR CONNECTICUT ?

[lowdrag]

Everyone here is more than capable of doing this themselves. For about $50 in materials and a couple of hours of labor you'll save yourself a lot in the long run. In addition, you get to be a lot more familiar with the mechanical aspects of your boat should you ever have a problem on the lake.

Here is my typical winterizing routine:

Add fuel stabilizer to a full tank of gas. Hook up the fake-a-lake, heat the motor up, drain the oil. I'll usually leave it sit and do some other winter prep things while the oil is draining so it gets as much of the old oil out as possible.

Once the oil is done draining, replace with new oil.

Pull the freeze plugs out of the bottom of the engine block and drain the water. Disconnect the hoses on the exhaust manifolds and drian them. From there you can go one of 2 ways. Either make sure to pull the hoses and drain the water from those areas or fill the motor with antifreeze. Either one works, but adding antifreeze keeps the internal areas from corroding over the winter. You can put antifreeze in a bucket and run a line to the water intake and let it pull the antifreeze through the motor until it starts spitting it out the exhuast. If you decide to leave it dry for the winter, make sure you drain the transmission and/or v-drive cooling lines as well.

Fog the carb per instructions on the can. If it's an injected motor, skip that step obviously. Pull the spark plugs out and fog the cylinders. I make sure to pull them and replace them one at a time so as not to get the wires crossed and mix up the firing order on the cylinders.

Pull the battery out and hook it up to a trickle charger/maintainer for the winter.

If you've got a ballast system, it's a good idea to go through and disconnect the hoses and make sure you've got all of the water out of those and the pump as well. Some of the systems also have a filter near the solenoids for the ballast. Unscrew this and drain it too. I also pull the ballast bags out and completely empty them and let them hang in the garage over the winter.

If you go disconnecting hoses and leave them that way over the winter like I do so any left over moisture can evaporate, it's a good idea just to make a check list as you go and leave it in the glovebox so you remember everything you need to reconnect next season.

You may also need to change v-drive and/or transmission fluids per factory maintenance schedules. Buy a pump to remove the fluids and replace them if needed.

At the start of the season, I put the battery back in, reconnect hoses, and give everything a good looking over. Hook the fake-a-lake back up and run the engine up to operating temps.

[Rugburn]

Excellent post low drag. Ive been paying about $150 for my winterization that included an oil change and a free summerization check in the spring. Seemed a reasonable price for the peace of mind. Now that I see your list, how simple it really sounds, Im gonna bank the $150 and give it a try myself this fall.

[pjtatro]

I agree, excellent post. My only concern is if you are going to run anti-freeze thru the engine I believe you should have your freeze plugs closed antifreeze can get thru the whole system. I am sure you meant to say that but just in case.

Dewinterizing for me is hooking up water, starting the boat, looking for leaks and making sure temp and oil pressure are within limits.

I did have a company that wanted to charge for dewinterization, they said they needed to dewinterize the boat themselves to guarantee the winterization.......

Pete

[freyse]

Thanks also will be putting the money I save from winterizing towards a new bimini top any sites with cheaper than dealer prices 05 outback with radacage tower

[lowdrag]

Yep, my bad. That was an oversight. Obviously if you don't put the freeze plugs back in, all of the coolant will run into the bilge of your boat. Thanks for adding that.

One other minor thing. If you pull your batteries out for the winter, do not let them sit on the concrete floor of your garage. Put them on a piece of wood or something. Maybe someone else knows the reason for this, because I'm not sure. I just know that I've been told that this is very bad for the batteries.

[zabooda]

Myth -- busted.

http://www.thebatteryterminal.com/TechTalk_Batteries_on_Concrete.htm

[JoeTechie]

The concrete floor thing is a complete MYTH.

In the past batteries were made of wood, and the water and ice that can accumulate on a floor (of any type) could seep into the battery and cause harm. So they put them up on a block of wood. This somehow got translated when they figured that the cold is causing the battery to drain more quickly - so the wood insulated it. This has a very tiny little bit of physics reality - but not enough to make it matter one bit for a single winter. Batteries are sealed, and encased in heavy plastic - no amount of water on the floor will change this or leak in. The temperature delta between the concrete floor and sitting on a 2x4 is so small that the battery drain is exactly the same.

Myths are silly - don't continue them unless you have knowledge as to WHY something does what it does.

just my $0.02,

Joe

[JoeTechie]

Damn! beat me by 5 min !!! I type too slowly!

-Joe

[Smrtz]

thats great info Joe, I was told that same thing with the first boat that I purchased and have told coutless friends never to store batteries on the concrete. i had always wondered how that was possible... Now I know!!

Thanks again for the info

Cheers

[zabooda]

Joe, That's good information. I was always told not to put batteries on concrete and I wanted to know why so I went to a website. That is one value of the internet is you can instantly know if something is BS. Not that is was meant to be. My mother-in-law hates me for it as she has all the answers that are opionionated and not supported by fact.

The article did say concrete will damage a battery...when you drop it.

I've got to go now. I need to go put butter on a small burn on my arm.

This is a great post. One question I have, what about lubricating the impeller. I have heard that is something that should be done either during the winterizing or summerizing process

[carsondoc]

I, also, pretty much follow lowdrag's routine for winterization. The only other things I add are to drain and replace my tranny fluid, change the oil filter, check my tranny/drive shaft alignment, and pull the impeller at the end. In the spring I change the fuel filter and put in new spark plugs after I burn out all the fogging oil with a couple starts.

[macentyre]

Hey guys....I was trying to de-winterize my 99' outback ls and am not able to find out where this little screw go's in at....it's about 3/4" in diameter and about 1/2" long with a black painted head. I also don't know where or what the drain plugs look like. This is what I need to know:

1. Where are the drain plugs so I can check if they popped out this winter
2. I need to find out where to screw that bolt/plug back in (it was in a baggie with my hull drain plug after they winterized my beast last year)
3. Also, does anyone know what amount of oil the boat takes so I can get the right amount in when I change it?
4. Where's the fake-a-lake line located?...I found the piping that they undid last season when I had it winterized...it looks like a garden hose or something...but there are two ends....which one do I connect my hose to?....will it come out the other end when i turn on the water if it's not pointed to the billage?
5. Any other suggestions for a newbie trying to save on $$ this summer? I am very good mechanically but just new to boating. SOrry if these questions are lame.

Thank you VERY much for any advise!

FireMac
[email protected]

[lowdrag]

Is the threaded end of the bolt brass? It sounds like it's a freeze plug, but there should be 2 of them. I couldn't tell you for sure without seeing it. Check the sides of the bottom of the engine block. If they left your block dry this could be it. If they filled it with antifreeze, I'm not sure what it would be.

The fake-a-lake is actully just a cup that looks like a toilet bowl plunger on an alminum extendable pole. It fits over the fresh water intake on the bottom of the boat and you thread your garden hose into the fitting on the side of it.

The way you're talking about the garden hose connectors sounds like the drains for the exhaust heads. If one has a male end and the other a female and they run back to the exhuast head then that's what I'm talking about. All you do is connect those two back together when you de-winterize. Do not hook the garden hose to it and run the motor! If you do that, all of the cooling water will just run into the exhaust head and get blown out the exhaust of the boat leaving the motor to starve and overheat very quickly.

For the 94-02 5.7L motors, Indmar shows the oil capacity as 5.5 quarts with a filter change. It's never bad to have an extra quart on hand though in case of and emergency.

[macentyre]

Thanks....I can't find it still....looked all over...I guess I'll have to have them dewinterize it properly so I don't miss anything this time...maybe they'll be cool enough to show me what I'm missing without paying too much.

Putting a tower on my boat in a few weeks...maybe I'll just wait until then and have Moomba do it.

Thanks again!,
Joey

[lowdrag]

Maybe I could have phrased that a little better. If you're still referring to finding the fake-a-lake, you won't. It's an aftermarket gadget that allows you to hook your garden hose up to the fresh water intake on the bottom of your boat. You can buy them through almost any boat or ski supply outlet.

If you're talking about finding where the mystery screw goes....if it's not a freeze plug and you can't find the hole in the engine block, I have no idea what it would be.

[dtlaine]

Do the freeze plugs thread all the way in? They only want to go in a few turns on both sides, & I don't want to force them. Thanks!

[Hoopskier]

Mine only thread in a few turns on my 03 Outback. Just snug with a wrench works for me. They are pipe thread, which is tapered vs a standard nut or bolt which is straight.

[dtlaine]

Mine only thread in a few turns on my 03 Outback. Just snug with a wrench works for me. They are pipe thread, which is tapered vs a standard nut or bolt which is straight.

Thanks. I'll be sure to check for leaks the first time I start it up.

[Mikey]

To those that have never dewinterized it really is not that hard but IS much easier to do if youv'e seen what is actually involved in the winterizing. It really just a matter of putting hoses and plugs and drain connections back together.... Then hooking up to water via Fake alake or Hose /flush connctions if you have them and then firing boat up and running.

I must add charging the battery up and installing the impeller also must be done. The impeller does not need to be lubed as it should either be a NEW one or and used one in good shape that was packed in a bag with vaseline etc to keep it from drying out.
After all this fire the boat up and Check for leaks etc. Also some people feel All the antifreeze should be drained / retreaved if possible especially if it is not envirofriendly type.Run the boat up to temp and all should be good. Check fluids as Oil should have been changed at Winterize. Good luck..