storage oil

[fitzee]

is it nessasary to spray storage oil in the cylinders before putting away for winter

[DanielC]

RE: storage oil

I believe it is. Here is why. A typical V-8 engine has four cylinders that have an open exhaust or intake valve anywhere it stops rotating. Motor oil slowly drains off the cylinder walls when the engine sits for a long period of time. With weather, temperature and humidity changes, air does go in and out of your cylinders. Under some temperature changes, it is possible your engine will be colder than the air it is in. Water will condense out of the warmer air onto the cooler cylinder walls, and if they have been sitting for a while, there is no oil on them, and they might get surface rust on them.
Storage oil has oil or wax in it that does not run off the cylinder walls when the engine sits for a long period of time.

[fitzee]

thanks danielc another question for ya the guy that did my winter service did not pull the vdrive drain plug out should i or will the antifreeze get down to that and i want to put some more in where is the best place to put more antifreeze in so i don't have to start it

thanks for the help

[Sinkoumn]

You could just loosen the Vdrive water line and see what comes out of it - if it's pink you're good, if it's clear you might to just drain it out of the elbow.

If he sucked up antifreeze by way of the engine running, any water left in the system should have been removed out the exhaust or ended up becoming mixed with the antifreeze (which if it was a lot could really dilute the antifreeze and make it much more susceptible to freezing). How much did you pay the guy to do this? Seems like standard practice to drain EVERY thing out of the engine first and then run antifreeze through the guts.

[DanielC]

fitzee, where do you live? Not getting personal, but it will give me an idea of what conditions you have to prepare for.
What Sinkoumn said sounds good to me.
How do you know the person who winterized your boat did not drain the V-Drive? Is it possible they just put the plugs back in after winterizing your boat?
Another option is for you to pull the plugs on the V-drive, and see what color of water comes out.
I do not refill boats I winterize with antifreeze, I just leave them empty, with the plugs out.
The idea of putting an antifreeze and water solution back in is to reduce the amount of rusting that happens in the water jackets with air instead of water in them. Not eliminate, reduce. Iron rusts when it is exposed to water, and oxygen in the air. There is also some oxygen dissolved in water, so when you are running your boat during the summer, there is some rusting of the water jackets going on.
Another benefit of using anti freeze is if you live in an extremely cold area, and you do not get all the water out of the cooling passages of the engine, the remaining water will not do any damage.
PCM recommends refilling with antifreeze and water. That is the best thing to do. Do not run the boat in the lakes or rivers again next spring until you have removed the antifreeze. Be nice to the fishies.

[fitzee]

the way he did was he took the 2 big plugs out on i think it the exhaust(part that says pcm) then he took the lower ones out and knock sensor out letting water out
then he put anti freeze down the one side of the water strainer hose with this antifreeze pump till it came out out the plug holes and then he put the plugs back in now can i put more anti freeze down the same tube or is there a better place. any thing else that you think i might want to know??( Ontario Canada) i think he did it right but i would rather be safe than sorry the only thing he didn't do was put the storage oil down cylinder and take a part the raw water pump i just want to add more anti freeze (non-toxic that is) i was helping him is how i know he didn't. i think i'm just going to do it next year but i just want to get the right procedure and the proper place to run the antifreeze into the motor

[Sinkoumn]

If he drained it first you should be fine, but it wouldn't hurt to just take off the Vdrive line to check what type of liquid is in there. I store my boat in northern MN, so cold storage is close to what you're dealing with. But if you have the time I would definitely recommend doing it yourself next year - that way you know it was done correctly the first time, as opposed to guessing, on your $7k engine.

[fitzee]

wheres the right place to put the antifreeze in can i dump it in the same spot or is there a better spot

[DanielC]

I own a Ski Nautique, not a V-drive. It has been a while since I winterized a V-drive. Follow the hose you saw your friend dump antifreeze into. If I remember right, water comes from the through hull fitting, goes up to the strainer, down through the V-drive transmission, back to an transmission oil cooler, and then to the inlet side of the raw water pump. If the V-drive is somewhere between the hose your friend dumped antifreeze into, and where you saw it running out of the engine manifolds, the v-drive has to have antifreeze in it.