[m&mmariah]

We have a 1996 Shabah 180 with a 4v 4.3 MerCruiser. It's time for me to winterize, and my question is about draining water (it's a sea/lake water system, not a closed system). Anyway besides the drains on the right & left exhaust manifolds and the right & left engine block drain plugs, I need to know about the power steering heat exchanger. To drain the water around it, I think I've got to remove one of the connecting water hoses, right? That, and making sure the outdrive unit is all the way down to drain it. Anything else I might be missing as far as making sure all of the water is out?

thanks for the help/advice!

[mosky]

yes it's that time again
Sounds like you have everything covered but you should make sure that water actually comes out from the drains. Always a good idea to push a small piece of wire into the drains after you open the plugs to make sure the drains aren't blocked by rust or debris. A good reference for winterizing is the following site:
Winterizing

[m&mmariah]

Where's the "exhaust elbow" plug they talk about? I know about the left & right engine block plugs, and the left & right exhaust manifold plugs, but don't have a clue as to what an exhaust elbow is. They're saying there's a total of 5 plugs. My 4.3 is a 1996 version, if that makes any difference.

[jarwiebe]

I have a 5.7 liter in my Z210 and am curious if anyone has ever put a tee into the starboard side of the block and mounted the anti knock sensor and a drain cock into the tee to facilitate draining the block when it comes time to winterize?