This will slowly start the melting process and allow some of the water to drain out of the stop cocks. If you are able, suspend a 100 watt light bulb in the engine compartment.There are also stop cocks in the lower part of the block.These motors have frost plugs and if there is water in your motor and you are lucky they may already have popped out to relieve the pressure.If there are no obvious cracks, I would proceed as if there were none and do the following to salvage your motor: You probably won’t be able to tell if the block is cracked until the spring, because they can crack in many different places, including internally. This is a good time to inspect the propeller and schedule repairs if you see any dings or other damage.Īs far as the motor is concerned, most of the Mercury motors used with the Alpha drives were open cooling types, so I will assume that yours is as well.This a good way to prevent theft if your boat is stored outside. You can then reinstall the propeller or store it indoors until the spring.Remove the propeller, if you have not already done so and grease the shaft and hub.If either of these conditions appear, you would be wise to consult a good marine mechanic.Inspect this for the presence of undue amounts of metal. There is a small magnet attached to the lower plug. If you can, change the oil and inspect it for the presence of water.First make sure that the drive is lowered.This is not good as it will cause overheating of the drive line and eventual wear or seizing, again requiring very expensive repairs.Īs to what you can do at this time to mitigate any further damage: Plus this is a good time to check if the oil is milky, indicating that you have a leak which is allowing water into your gear case. It’s also important to change the oil in you drive unit for the same reasons as above. This is why the manufacturer tells you to use fogging oil in the carburetor and to run the motor until the reservoirs in the carburetor are dry, if possible. Old gasoline in your carburetor turns to a varnish type sludge which can impede the performance of your engine. Old engine oil contains contaminants, which when mixed with water from condensation, turns to acids, which attack the metal in your motor. It’s also important to change the engine oil in the fall to remove contaminants and properly lubricate the lower end of your motor. In addition to fogging the cylinder walls with fogging oil. Rust will form on the walls above the cylinders and when you start up your motor, if it will even turn over, you could crack the rings and or score the cylinder walls. Other problems that you may encounter are seized pistons from not fogging the cylinders. If it was left down as the manufacturer recommends, there is a good chance that most of the water will have drained out and you may be lucky and no damage will result. If your drive was left in the trailered position, there is a good chance that there will be water trapped in the lower gear case, and this could cause cracking in this area. You will know very quickly in the spring when you start up your motor. On the other hand, if your motor is an open cooling system, which means that it pumps sea or lake water through the motor, there is a good chance that you will have a cracked block, which will unfortunately be expensive to repair. If your motor is a closed cooling unit, which means that it has a heat exchanger and antifreeze, there is a good chance that the damage will be minimal if at all. The amount of damage to your motor and drive from freezing will be more dependent on the amount of water in your motor and lower unit than on how much grease you used. Do you think I may have a problem this spring since the temps have been 0-30 over the past two months? Anything I can do now to eliminate a future problem? I had not used the boat in 4-5 months before I moved from FL and had greased the lower unit pretty well the year before. I moved to Colorado with my 20′ Wellcraft Alpha one and did not have time to winterize.
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