Looking for Winterizing Advice

[Erie-S-Cape]

I just purchased (2) complete SE106 for my 1988 Sea Ray 270 Amberjack
4.3L. There are some prevenitive maintenance items that I want to get done before I reinstall the new outdrives & I will not be able to get all comleted before winter sets in. My delima is that with the drives off I obviously can't use muffs to provide water for cooling, that's one problem. the other thing is when I removed the old outdrives I moved shifter in full forward position & I'm not sure what happens if I move them back so I can get in neutral for starting engines. I want to run the engines so I can change my oil, run antifreeze thru block & fog out. Does anyone have a process that I could follow? I just don't know if I can hook a hose from a container full water & then switch it to antifreeze. Will the engine block water pump pull in the fluids & circulate thru the block & out the stern?
Any help would be more appriciated than I can say in words at this point. I just bought the boat last year, it was a dream fullfilled & want to do everything thats best.

Sincerely,

Curt
Erie-S-Cape

[admin]

As far as getting water to the engine, you could just hook a garden hose to the main hose that runs from the transom to the power steering cooler. Just don't turn the water on until the engine is running. The engine will need water pressure, it will not just pull from a bucket.

I would just use the water drains on the engine and exhaust to get all the water out, then if you want, you can remove the thermostat and pour antifreeze into the block for storage. You really don't to hook water to the engine at all for winterizing. I always just pull the block plugs, pull the manifold hoses, pull the cooler hose. Then fire the engine up, hold the throttle at the carb to about 1500-2000 rpm and pour the oil into the carb. I am not sure of your hose routings on your engines, so the process may slightly differ for yours.

You can shift into neutral with the drives off. When you put the shifters back in forward, just make sure the shift slide that sticks out of the bellows is aligned with the shift lever.

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