2002 Utopia 205 Winterization

[jhryder]

Hey,

Have only had the boat for a couple of months so sorry for any dumb questions. The boat place near me used to sell Seadoo, but not now. They do have a guy that works on them on the side. He will winterize it for $200. If that is fair, then ok. But until i hear so, have done what i think is a little myself. Bought 3 Gallons of Marine/RV -50degree A/F, propelyne-glycol based. Opened the hose connection used when running engine out of water. Let engine idle and poured the 3 gallons through there. Stopped engine when funnel had just emptied and replaced cap on the hose intake. Also poured about 1/2 bottle in bilge area and ran bilge pump so the little bit of standing water had A/F in it and hopefully in the bilge pump also.

One thing he mentioned is if there was a cold spell before i could get it to him, or he could do the process, was to put a 60Watt lamp in the engine area. I have 2 "trouble lights" in there now with 60 watts bulbs in them i can turn on as needed.

So am i way off here?

 

[Dr Honda]

Unless the shop is a "Mercury" shop... then don't bother taking it there.

The nice thing with the Merc engines, is that they are self draining. So... you don't need any antifreeze. Just make sure the water is out of the bottom of the hull. (plugs out, and jack up the front of the trailer)

The winterizing on a Merc is really just to service the pump. (Drain and fill the oil, and coat with a protection oil) There's a PDF stickied at the top of this section. If the boat is new to you... I would make sure that's done. It can tell you a lot about the health of the drive.

 

[jhryder]

Thanks for the info, will check the PDF.

 

[jhryder]

Is this the PDF you were referring to; sjannualservicev1.1_190.pdf ?

Also, had a question about one of the "sticky's". The one about the "oil bypass experience". I read thru it, was just hoping it might have a reason that prompted him to do this. Was hoping to know why so if this applied to me i would be aware of it.

thanks
jr

 

[Dr Honda]

Is this the PDF you were referring to; sjannualservicev1.1_190.pdf ?
....................

thanks
jr

Yes.... that's the one. If the weather is getting cold/snowy where you are at (and don't want to be outside)... I would just get the main gear oil changed.

As far as the oil bypass... in the "Early" merc engines... it's a known issue, that the oil pump drive gear will give out. When that happens... the engine will eat itself. (from lack of oil) it's not a 100% failure rate... but it's high enough that if your engine is getting to the +10 year mark... you may want to consider it.

With that said... the rest of the oil system is very reliable, and there was an updated (stronger) gear made. So, if your engine has been rebuilt... then you should have the newer gear already. I personally like the simplicity of the oil injection... so when I did my rebuild, I put in the new gear, and haven't given it another thought.


The "Newer" 240 EFI got rid of the mechanical pump, and went with an electronic system. That system is great, and no one reports failures with it. Generally if there's an issue, it's from lack of maintenance. (broken hoses, or plugged filters)

 

[jhryder]

Will try to make this my last questions, is my engine considered an early one or a later one, it is a 2002?

As to the oill-bypass, i am assuming to change the gear you mention means a tear-down, a large job to replace. Is the oil-bypass a way to go around the in place pump to prevent the damage you mention from happening?

thanks
jr

 

[philipmurphey]

The newer engines have an alternator and not a stator.

 

[Dr Honda]

Yes... it's a big job to change the weak gear. Basically, the engine has to come out, and be split in half.


The post above is correct. The newer engine has a belt and alternator. There are actually A LOT of changes... but that's easy to see. SO... if you top cover is round, and just covers the flywheel... it's the early engine. If it's larger, and covers the entire top of the engine... it's the newer.

FYI: 2001-1/2 is the official changeover from Mercury. BUT... Seadoo had a bunch on the shelf. So, I've seen 2003 MY boats with the early engine. Almost all the 2002 boats still had the early engine.