How hard is it to winterize Volvo Penta 5.7 I/O
- Thread starter levinemr
- Start date
I can't tell you how to specifically do yours or how much winterizing you want to do. I can say that anything with water in it should be drained and replaced with pink antifreeze.
Probably the first thing you may want to do is stabilize the fuel. Add enough stabilizer to some gas (in a container) and pour into the fuel tank. Adding more is better than not enough. Run the engine long enough to get the stabilized fuel through the system. Fog the engine with fogging oil. I like to to this when the boat is on the trailer but still in the water. If the boat is out of the water, then run it on a muff. Having two people makes it easy to fog the engine. One sprays the fogging oil while the engine is running and the other then shuts off the engine after 5-10 seconds of spraying. If you're by yourself (like me), then you have to kill the engine while spraying. Luckily for me I have 3 arms! Not true. What I do is to pull the the power plug to the ignition while it is running. The harness on my Merc 7.4L is on the port elbow. I unclip the latch so I can easily pull it off. I idle the engine and start spraying. The stream is not enough to 'choke' the engine. After the 5-10 seconds I reach with a free hand and pull the ignition plug whie continuing to spray. The engine stalls and I stop spraying. If you're changing the outdrive gear lube now is the time. It will be thinner and flow a little easier. Same goes for the engine oil. You should alway change the oil when its warm and has picked up the contaiminents. After the engine has cooled drain the block, mainfolds, and oil cooler (if there is one). I have 5 brass plug that I remove. Start at the higher plugs and work your way down. After removing a plug water should come out. If no water comes out, stick something in there as sand may have collected blocking it. After doing that I unhook the hoses at the thermostat and fill them with antifreeze.
Your engine is going to be different but will be somewhat similiar. Just keep in mind that all water is to be replaced with antifreeze.
Probably the first thing you may want to do is stabilize the fuel. Add enough stabilizer to some gas (in a container) and pour into the fuel tank. Adding more is better than not enough. Run the engine long enough to get the stabilized fuel through the system. Fog the engine with fogging oil. I like to to this when the boat is on the trailer but still in the water. If the boat is out of the water, then run it on a muff. Having two people makes it easy to fog the engine. One sprays the fogging oil while the engine is running and the other then shuts off the engine after 5-10 seconds of spraying. If you're by yourself (like me), then you have to kill the engine while spraying. Luckily for me I have 3 arms! Not true. What I do is to pull the the power plug to the ignition while it is running. The harness on my Merc 7.4L is on the port elbow. I unclip the latch so I can easily pull it off. I idle the engine and start spraying. The stream is not enough to 'choke' the engine. After the 5-10 seconds I reach with a free hand and pull the ignition plug whie continuing to spray. The engine stalls and I stop spraying. If you're changing the outdrive gear lube now is the time. It will be thinner and flow a little easier. Same goes for the engine oil. You should alway change the oil when its warm and has picked up the contaiminents. After the engine has cooled drain the block, mainfolds, and oil cooler (if there is one). I have 5 brass plug that I remove. Start at the higher plugs and work your way down. After removing a plug water should come out. If no water comes out, stick something in there as sand may have collected blocking it. After doing that I unhook the hoses at the thermostat and fill them with antifreeze.
Your engine is going to be different but will be somewhat similiar. Just keep in mind that all water is to be replaced with antifreeze.
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levinmr,
If you look at the various posts in this forum you'll get a great listing of everything you need to do. I agree that the safest way is to pay a mechanic and watch him, however, this really isn't a complicated process. Just make sure you follow all of the steps. I also have a Wellcraft Martinique 2600 and do my own.
Engine - You will see 2 different methods listed. Taking the drain plugs our and filling the hose with antifreeze or get a kit from your local marine store that is basically a large tank that you fill with antifreeze and then hook this to a muffler which goes on the outdrive, water intake. Start the engine with the muffler connected to fresh water. Once the engine is warmed up (this is critical because you need to make sure the thermostat is fully open to circulate all through the motor), connect the muffler to your antifreeze tank and run the engine until you see antifreeze coming out the exhaust. I alway run it for a while after I see the antifreeze just to be sure. Even though it doesn't get that cold here in Maryland, I buy the 100 degree rated stuff assuming that there may still be some water that will get mixed with it. The first method uses less antifreeze and is probably the more thorough, however, I think the second method is fine for our climate and easier.
Air conditioning - you will see a couple of methods for this as well. I find it easier to follow the method of hooking a hose to the discharge port and use a bilge pump to pump antifreeze backwards through the system until you see it come out the intake port.
Fresh water and head are pretty straight forward if you follow the other posts.
And then I also always change the oil, oil filter, outdrive fluid, water separator & filter, gas stabilizer etc.. when winterizing
Don't know where your marina is but if you happen to be around the middle river area, I would be glad to stop by sometime and walk you through it. My marina is Bowleys in Middle River.
If you look at the various posts in this forum you'll get a great listing of everything you need to do. I agree that the safest way is to pay a mechanic and watch him, however, this really isn't a complicated process. Just make sure you follow all of the steps. I also have a Wellcraft Martinique 2600 and do my own.
Engine - You will see 2 different methods listed. Taking the drain plugs our and filling the hose with antifreeze or get a kit from your local marine store that is basically a large tank that you fill with antifreeze and then hook this to a muffler which goes on the outdrive, water intake. Start the engine with the muffler connected to fresh water. Once the engine is warmed up (this is critical because you need to make sure the thermostat is fully open to circulate all through the motor), connect the muffler to your antifreeze tank and run the engine until you see antifreeze coming out the exhaust. I alway run it for a while after I see the antifreeze just to be sure. Even though it doesn't get that cold here in Maryland, I buy the 100 degree rated stuff assuming that there may still be some water that will get mixed with it. The first method uses less antifreeze and is probably the more thorough, however, I think the second method is fine for our climate and easier.
Air conditioning - you will see a couple of methods for this as well. I find it easier to follow the method of hooking a hose to the discharge port and use a bilge pump to pump antifreeze backwards through the system until you see it come out the intake port.
Fresh water and head are pretty straight forward if you follow the other posts.
And then I also always change the oil, oil filter, outdrive fluid, water separator & filter, gas stabilizer etc.. when winterizing
Don't know where your marina is but if you happen to be around the middle river area, I would be glad to stop by sometime and walk you through it. My marina is Bowleys in Middle River.
I think filling block with AF via a hose is easier, safter and takes less time than running AF through engine via muffs.
I prefer to stall my engine with fogging oil and trying to time that with the cutover from water to AF is almost impossible.
When pulling AF from a bucket you need to be positive your thermostat is all the way open to get the most AF into the engine, its a mixing process at best, not a straight replacement. Once you switch over to AF into the muffs, you will see it come out the exhaust, but you still do not know if its being pushed through the engine.
If I did use the AF through the muffs process, I would drain a little fluid from each side via drain plug into Dixie cup and pop in freezer overnight to be positive there was a good amount of AF in the block.
I prefer to stall my engine with fogging oil and trying to time that with the cutover from water to AF is almost impossible.
When pulling AF from a bucket you need to be positive your thermostat is all the way open to get the most AF into the engine, its a mixing process at best, not a straight replacement. Once you switch over to AF into the muffs, you will see it come out the exhaust, but you still do not know if its being pushed through the engine.
If I did use the AF through the muffs process, I would drain a little fluid from each side via drain plug into Dixie cup and pop in freezer overnight to be positive there was a good amount of AF in the block.
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I'd go with watching the mechanic this year, then get a Volvo manual and study it, for the next year. I was able to winterize my OMC Cobra with the manual the first year I had it, but still I had to double check things to make sure everything was really drained. And I am not a fan of those suck the AF up the drive kits. I tried that the first year, the temp that day was about 40 degrees out and the thermo was not open, no matter how long I ran it. I checked the block drains and what came out was just dirty water. So I wound up draining and backfilling with -100 AF and that's what I do every year. At my last gas fill up of the year I put in the necessary amount of Stabil, and make sure the engine gets run enough for it get through the fuel system.
I warm up the motor, change the oil and filter, run the motor and fog it, change the drive oil, then drain everything, and back fill with -100 through the hoses. I also change the water separating fuel filter. I spray the engine with Boeshield or Corrosion X. I also remove the drive to make sure there was no water or gear oil in the bellow and to check the condition of the gimble bearing. The whole job takes about 3 hrs or so, depending on how long it takes to change the motor and drive oil. I like to do it on a nice 65 degree day in Oct, not a finger freezing 40 degree day in Nov.....
I warm up the motor, change the oil and filter, run the motor and fog it, change the drive oil, then drain everything, and back fill with -100 through the hoses. I also change the water separating fuel filter. I spray the engine with Boeshield or Corrosion X. I also remove the drive to make sure there was no water or gear oil in the bellow and to check the condition of the gimble bearing. The whole job takes about 3 hrs or so, depending on how long it takes to change the motor and drive oil. I like to do it on a nice 65 degree day in Oct, not a finger freezing 40 degree day in Nov.....
You might be able to find a mechanic who would go over the major points with you. You can handle the oil change and fogging without a problem I assume. Its the freeze protection you need the mechanic to explain.
You should have block drains, manifold drains. The unknowns are the raw water pump and any coolers (oil, etc).
You do not need to pull the drive in the fall nor change the gear oil unless you suspect a leak. If there was a leak in the gear oil, you do not want water and gear oil together sitting in the housing for the winter.
You should have block drains, manifold drains. The unknowns are the raw water pump and any coolers (oil, etc).
You do not need to pull the drive in the fall nor change the gear oil unless you suspect a leak. If there was a leak in the gear oil, you do not want water and gear oil together sitting in the housing for the winter.
You do not NEED to pull the drive, but it's definitely good insurance for the 30 extra minutes it takes to pull. Remember the memeber who didn't remove their drive and it cracked because water was contained within the air pocket on the side of the drive? Again, that should make you think twice about keeping the drive on. You can pull the drive now or you're going to end up doing it in the spring anyway for the greasing service on the U-joints and gimball bearing.
Anyone near south river wana give me a hand I am more the computer geek type then the engine type but I am willing / trying to learn, got to save the money or the wife will make me sell the boat and thats no good.
also do you fill the out drive oil with antifreeze?
thanks
matt
also do you fill the out drive oil with antifreeze?
thanks
matt
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Is pulling the drive specific to volvo? Can you elaborate, pull the drive and keep it off over the winter? sorry for the stupid questions, I just not clear on what this is accomplishing because I don't know the process. I assume that the comment to pull the drive takes 30 minutes, that this is a very straight forward procedure. Can anyone describe this process or is this another, hire a mechanic and watch?
If it was me, I would pull the drive, grease the u-joints and shaft, change the gear oil and then reinstall it. There is a Volvo specific issue due to the design of the drain for the input shaft and bellows. The opening is on the starboard side and "looks" like a place to pry the drive apart. The opening is very small and easily clogged from debris and corrosion. Also, it will ONLY drain if the drive is all the way down. Like mentioned above, water trapped in the drive WILL cause the drive to crack if it freezes. I will post a picture later today of the drain slot.
Ken
Ken
Pull 3 bolts on the rear drive cover, pull cotter pin off the shift linkage barrel, count number of turns until the barrel is at the end of it's travel for future reference on install, remove barrel completely, remove trim cylinder bolt, remove 6 drive nuts, pull off drive.
It's pretty intuitive to figure out once you pull the drive cover and study the situation at hand.
Doug
See this thread for reference on why pulling the drive is a good idea. You can also notice the drain hole that muddkatt is speaking of.
http://www.boatered.com/FORUM/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=114428
Doug
http://www.boatered.com/FORUM/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=114428
Doug
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Doug and Ken, Thanks for the input and you've convinced me.
I assume the drive is very heavy. Is it light enough that 2 guys can pull it off and handle it or do I need to build some sort of load bearing support?
Will the locations to be greased be visually straight forward? I have no idea what a gimble bearing or anything on the inside of the outdrive looks like. Maybe I should just buy a service manual.
Thanks for your help.
I assume the drive is very heavy. Is it light enough that 2 guys can pull it off and handle it or do I need to build some sort of load bearing support?
Will the locations to be greased be visually straight forward? I have no idea what a gimble bearing or anything on the inside of the outdrive looks like. Maybe I should just buy a service manual.
Thanks for your help.
Two guys can lift a DP drive no problem. On the starboard side of the gimball housing(the portion that the drive attaches to) you will see a grease fitting. This is the spot to grease the gimball bearing (the bearing that the drive shaft goes through inside the bellows/gimball housing). When you grease this, you want to make sure you pump enough grease through it to push out the old grease. The Ujoints are located on the driveshaft. There are two fittings on the Ujoints. Check for looseness in the U-joints while you have the driveshaft in your hand.
Doug