Winterizing tige, where are the plugs?

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

Hey all! I am working on winterizing my 2000 Tige 23v. Does anyone have a page hey can scan in that shows where the 5 drain plugs for the engine are?

Thanks!

djiali · Outlaw Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 176 City: Alexandria

which engine is that?

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

I can't believe I forgot that.

It's a Mecruiser 350 Mag MPI Fuel Injected engine. I was told there would be 5 blue plugs and I can easily see 2 of them.

snowboardcorey · Posted: Nov 21, 2005 8:35 am Post subject:

Should be two in the block, two in the manifolds and possibly one on a J shaped bracket below the water pump.

Hate to ask, but are you sure you should be doing this yourself?

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

Sure I should be doing it myself. If a dealer charged about $20 then I might let them do it.

I got done with the oil change yesterday and cleaned the boat out. All that is left are the plugs and its good to go.

ballywho · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 1725

Neognosis · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 17617 City: Webster

Just follow the manual EXACTLY, with the possible addition of anti-freeze, as some manuals, (indmar, for instance) don't tell you to put any in. Nobody knows why not.

YOu should also fog the engine.

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

It freezes in Nashville, but I don't know what it takes to crack a block. It is doubtfull that it will stay below freezing for mroe than a day or two.

Last winter I drained the water out of my Vip (I/O) and changed the oil and the lower grease on the sterndrive. I also added some fuel stabilizer to the gas. It started up just fine the next spring.

I have read all that stuff about filling it up with antifreeze and fogging where the spark plugs are. Those type of things must be for people with boats farther north.

I'll post back tonight and let everyone know if its easy to locate the 5 drain plugs.

ballywho · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 1725

djiali · Outlaw Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 176 City: Alexandria

the fogging of the carb/air intake and the cylinders has nothing to do with the danger of the water in the engine freezing...it's to protect them from rusting while your boat sits for the winter. Think about it...there's giong to be no oil running down those cylinder walls for 2-3 (or more) months...I don't care how tight the fit between the cylinder walls and the piston rings...it's going to rust.
Each inboard is just different enough that there isn't a general guideline for winterizing. If you don't have the manual for your engine, I would suggest you go order one from Mercruiser https://appcenter.mercurymarine.com/litreq/orderForm.jsp?type=mc.

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

I was able to easily find and remove the 5 drain plugs from the boat once I found out where they were all located. No tools were required.

I also called a local boat shop and asked about their fogging procedures. They said that they run the boat and fire a good amount of Marvels Mystery Oil into the air intake. So I got a bottle of it and sprayed it in for a bout 10 minutes and then shut the boat off.

You can get the mavels oil at walmart or autozone.

djiali · Outlaw Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 176 City: Alexandria

pcm2a, very rarely do I read marine engine manufacturers suggest fogging the cylinders...however, every car manufacturer recommends you shoot some fogging oil in through the spark plug holes if you're going to store the car without running for a long period of time.
My take is that you're NEVER going to get an air tight seal on your piston rings, so chances that you're going to get moisture in there are high...and moisture = rust and rust in the cylinders = complete bottom end rebuild. There's little chance you're going to get that fogging oil to the cylinders through the intake. I would take the extra hour and remove the spark plugs, spray some oil up in there, then turn over the engine without starting it to make sure the oil gets to the top of the cylinders.
1 hour of time for more assurance that your engine is going to survive the winter seems like a small price to pay IMO.

RWB42C · Newbie Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 38 City: St. Charles

My dad is one of those cheap asses, but he did always drain the block. I am much more mechanically inclined and not at all cheap, and he now fills the block on our I/O with antifreeze by simply connecting the antifreeze container to the "earmuffs" with a hose and running the engine until a little antifreeze comes out.

As far as fogging the engine, it makes sense to do it for your boat in the long run. However, my dad bought his first boat brand new in 77. Never fogged it. Still has good compression and power. Now if it were my boat I would definately fog it because I know that very few cylinders are sealed when the engine is off. Most of them are open at the valves leading directly out the exhaust/intake, thus letting moisture into the combustion chamber. Rust develops very quickly in engine blocks but unless it sits for a very very long time, it will stay rather light and be removed after the first crank in the spring.

Better be safe than sorry. I say my dad is lucky that his 77 still runs great without any rebuilds. Drain your block or use the engine to pump it full of antifreeze. The antifreeze will also protect your waterlines from rusting and corroding. Also, fog your engine!

- Rick -

ps, interesting about the marvel mystery oil. I know the stuff can be used in a lot of different ways, but never thought about that!