Winterization of an LT1 - Checklist

[Ski-me]

Pic 1, 2 & 3: The upper hoses:

Pics 4, 5, 6, & 7: And then the impellar area:

[Ski-me]

I didn't really know about these but I pulled them to be safe. Nothing really came out of them
.

[Ski-me]

Pic 1: Once things were drained, I hooked up the hoses again and pulled the kill switch....and then cranked the engine over for about 5 seconds to flush anything else out the system.

Pics 2 & 3: I hooked up some of the hoses and put the cover back on the impellar and then blew out the lines with an air compressor and also a shop vac for the raw water intake.

Pic 4: Shop Vac:

Pic 5: And then hosed everything down with some fresh water....the RV stuff was sticky and wanted to get that off of things.


I have not fogged in the spark plug areas yet but will do that in the next few days.

[Ski-me]

My only questions.....did I miss anything? Do I remove this "thing" to drain the block further?

[Legolamb]

That "thing" is your knock sensor, and yes you need to remove if you want to drain that side of the block. Once removed, you may want to poke around a bit with a small screw driver or piece of wire to make sure there isn't any sediment or rust blocking any more liquid from draining.

Nice pictures and details, thanks for taking the time to document your procedures.

[frankster66]

Thanks SKI-ME, awesome job!!

[mikeg205]

The only thing I would add is the Platinum oil filter from napa part 41060 - not needed but good for my MCOCD... http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Ca...060_0362575149

The only difference in the platinum has a lower flow rate - but catches smaller particles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRbDfhgOOgo

[Ski-me]

That "thing" is your knock sensor, and yes you need to remove if you want to drain that side of the block. Once removed, you may want to poke around a bit with a small screw driver or piece of wire to make sure there isn't any sediment or rust blocking any more liquid from draining.

Nice pictures and details, thanks for taking the time to document your procedures.

Cool, thanks! I kinda thought so but wanted to double check.

Also, anyone do the pitot tubes as well? I looked at my gauges and don't really want to take that apart to get to the end. Maybe just blow it out from the "gold tube" in the back on out to the pitot assembly?

Added to Thread:

Glad you noted the knock sensor.....definitely a LOT of water still in there! Appreciate it!

[JimN]

Cool, thanks! I kinda thought so but wanted to double check.

Also, anyone do the pitot tubes as well? I looked at my gauges and don't really want to take that apart to get to the end. Maybe just blow it out from the "gold tube" in the back on out to the pitot assembly?

You can do it that way, but you risk having the gauges blow out if the water freezes. Don't use vacuum to remove the water from the gauges, either- that can damage the diaphragm, too.

It's a pain, but it's just part of "doing it right".

[tideengineer]

I really want to change the tranny oil in my 96 LT-1....why don't someone give me a play by play on how to do that...

I just changed oil and removed all the water, plus removed the impeller. Last thing on my mind is the tranny....

[JimN]

I really want to change the tranny oil in my 96 LT-1....why don't someone give me a play by play on how to do that...

I just changed oil and removed all the water, plus removed the impeller. Last thing on my mind is the tranny....

Call the closest dealer and ask what they do when they winterize. If they don't do much, call other dealers. When I was working on boats, it took close to 3 hours and that was only because I had worked on so many boats that I could streamline it by running one to temperature while I was doing something on another boat. If you paid someone to do it in the past, look at the invoice to see what was done and copy it. If you're in a cold climate, it requires more than in a more moderate climate. Plan and work accordingly.

[Ski-me]

It definitely took me several hours to do everything...and I took my time. I'd say about 4-5 hrs on the boat - (had a volleyball meeting to attend to in the middle of the whole thing!) I used that break to drive the boat around and get all the water sloshed out of the hull. A lot of stop/go and hills.

Edit: Added pics of speedo blowout before the thread subject deviates....keep in mind that the speedo hose is secured by a nut on the back of the gauge so you may have to twist it to remove the tube.

Because of the dry climate, I decided to NOT fog the cylinders. From the two shops I spoke with, they just didn't think it was necessary here in Colorado.

[JimN]

It definitely took me several hours to do everything...and I took my time. I'd say about 4-5 hrs on the boat - (had a volleyball meeting to attend to in the middle of the whole thing!) I used that break to drive the boat around and get all the water sloshed out of the hull. A lot of stop/go and hills.

When I went to training, the instructor, who had previously owned shop, said they used to haul boats out before winterization. They would get to the boat, put the StaBil in the tank, run it over to the launch and pull it out before getting out of the way of other boaters who were removing their boats, where they would remove the hull plug(s), remove the engine plugs and lower end of the hoses, crank it over to clear the water pumps and drive it back to the shop to do the cleaning, corrosion guard, oil changes and anything else on the list. By the time they got back, the engine and hull had drained. No anti-freeze at all. This is a fairly deep lake, so weeds, mud and silt weren't a problem, but they never had a block freeze, either.

[Jorski]

Ski-me...

Great job!

Two things:

1) Make sure that you remove that knock sensor. It's at the low point in the cooling system. When you do, use an awl or something and make sure that there isn't any scale or other debris blocking the hole.

2) You asked me about the method that I use. No anti-freeze at all, just very careful about draining. never a problem in 9 years of cold Canadian winters.

Finally, I remove the pitot tubes at the bottom of the little brass ballast tubes located in the space behind the back seat on either side. Then I blow the water out with my mouth...if you cant do this the pick-up is clogged, and you should clear it with a large safety pin.

Nice job!

[Sierra Tango II]

Ok, so i downloaded my checklist and was going to do everything by the book. I brought my boat to the lake, added stabil, let it come to temp and pushed the throttle down for a few minutes. within a minute or two after doing so the "check engine" light comes on. Gauges were normal, operating temp where it should be. Oil pressure good, voltage good, so I shut it down and started it back up, light goes off, I idle for a minute (heading back towards the dock) and again pushe the throttle down. It does the same thing. By now Im back at the dock so I shut it down, pull it out and drain the block right there at the ramp, like was mentioned earlier in this thread, and when I drained the exhaust manifolds pieces of the impeller came out. I pulled the cover off and three of the rubber fins were missing. I had it kchecked out before I bought it and it checked out fine with the exception of the energy absorbers and the trailer brakes. I put ten hours on it only. My question is, is there any damage that could have happened, and should I worry about the impeller pieces clogging any of the passages? Also, I took off all the hoses and the port drainplug to drain the block, however on the starboard side there was not a plug, but the knock sensor. Am I to assume that the knock sensor is the plug? I looked all around and didnt see a block drain. Any advice would be appreciated.