Another winterization question. ..y pipe

nextboat1

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Mar 17, 2013
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82
Hello all,
I have a 5.7 mercruiser with an alpha gen II drive. I replaced the thermostat today as preventative maintenace for next season and decided to winterize the boat while i was at it. I pulled all the drain plugs and let the water flow out. I poked around to ve sure of no blockages and blew through the system until no more water came out. I reinstalled the plugs and filled the block with antifreeze. I then pulled the plugs again, drained and refilled. Next i poured antifreeze down the hose going from my thermostat housing to my risers, watched for antifreeze to come out drain on bottom of manifolds, and reinstalled plugs. During this process I noticed that antifreeze came out of my water intake holes on my outdrive but nothing came out of my exhaust ports or exhaust bellow. By doing it this way is it possible that I still have water in my y pipe or would any water left in there drain out due to gravity?
 

NHGuy

Captain
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May 21, 2009
Messages
3,631
No, just lower your drive so it can't hold water, take out the plugs, pull off the J shaped water pump hose, poke in the plug holes. Now open a beer. You don't need the antifreeze. Just get the water out.
 

alldodge

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Mar 8, 2009
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40,583
Hello all,
I have a 5.7 mercruiser with an alpha gen II drive. I replaced the thermostat today as preventative maintenace for next season and decided to winterize the boat while i was at it. I pulled all the drain plugs and let the water flow out. I poked around to ve sure of no blockages and blew through the system until no more water came out. I reinstalled the plugs and filled the block with antifreeze. I then pulled the plugs again, drained and refilled. Next i poured antifreeze down the hose going from my thermostat housing to my risers, watched for antifreeze to come out drain on bottom of manifolds, and reinstalled plugs. During this process I noticed that antifreeze came out of my water intake holes on my outdrive but nothing came out of my exhaust ports or exhaust bellow. By doing it this way is it possible that I still have water in my y pipe or would any water left in there drain out due to gravity?

The way you did it the first time prior to the antifreeze is perfect, provided one of the plugs included the power steering cooler. As for the rest of what you did your still good to go for the most part. I say for the most part because air doesn't freeze, but there is always a possibility that pink antifreeze can.
 

achris

More fish than mountain goat
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
27,468
..... During this process I noticed that antifreeze came out of my water intake holes on my outdrive ....

Then you have a serious problem with the water pump impeller. You need to confirm it was actually the water intakes, and not just running down from somewhere else...

Chris...........
 

UncleWillie

Captain
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
3,995
If you want to use antifreeze to flush out the hidden low spots in the cooling system that is OK.
Some will say it is overkill. Overkill is a good thing. It any event, it won't hurt.
There is no advantage in keeping the block full all winter and then pumping it into the lake or on the driveway in the spring.

The final step is to drain the antifreeze and save it for use gain next year.
Drain out all you can. The little bit that remains will have displaced any water that would not have drained otherwise.
You should be abe to recover all that you started with except for about a quart.
 

nextboat1

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Mar 17, 2013
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The way you did it the first time prior to the antifreeze is perfect, provided one of the plugs included the power steering cooler. As for the rest of what you did your still good to go for the most part. I say for the most part because air doesn't freeze, but there is always a possibility that pink antifreeze can.

I used blue -100 antifreeze with corrosion inhibitors. Im not too worried about it freezing but do you think that I should still drain it? Also, i did not pull a plug on the power steering cooler but I did remove the hose from the water pump, blow through it, and then backfilled it through the hose with antifreeze.

Achris,
The antifreeze was definitely coming out of the water intake holes on the outdrive. I just pulled the boat out after being in for the summer. The temp consistently ran around 160 to 170 and the risers stayed warm but no where near hot to the touch. What could my problem be? Would it noticable as far as engine temp?
 

DaveG55

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Jun 17, 2012
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144
always a possibility that pink antifreeze can.

Pink antifreeze does indeed freeze. And it does not matter even a little bit. Pink antifreeze, the good stuff anyway is made from propylene glycol and it does freeze but it does NOT expand when it freezes. The problem arises from the filler (water) used. Use a pink antifreeze with a rating lower (the lower the rating, the more proplyene glycol) than the lowest expected winter temperature and you'll be fine. Since water is one of the few compounds that expands when it freezes you could pour nearly any other pure liquid into your block and it would be fine even if it froze solid, as long as it had no water in it.
 

achris

More fish than mountain goat
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
27,468
...Achris,
The antifreeze was definitely coming out of the water intake holes on the outdrive. I just pulled the boat out after being in for the summer. The temp consistently ran around 160 to 170 and the risers stayed warm but no where near hot to the touch. What could my problem be? Would it noticable as far as engine temp?

Because without the engine running, there is no direct path between the water intakes and the engine. If AF was seen coming out of the intakes holes without the engine running, then one or more of the impeller blades will be missing... And even with the engine running in the right direction, there should only be a path from the intakes to the engine, not the other way...

Chris......
 

nextboat1

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Messages
82
Thanks guys.
From what I gather from achris it sounds like I'll need to change the impeller this winter. Im still a bit puzzled how the impeller went bad but yet the boat still ran nice and cool both in the water all summer and here in the driveway on muffs. Is there any other possible cause or something else to look for? If it is just the impeller I'll be a happy camper!
 
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