guess what happened when I got back from az

cptron

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Apr 25, 2010
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I have a 2006 Bayliner Trophy with a 4.3 v6. Well I put a drop light in the engine compartment and the bulb burnt out when it was in my shop. I went to get ready for fishing and noticed that both exhaust manifolds were cracked beyond repair. I called the local boat shop and they told me that the block was probably cracked also. I pulled the intake off and there was a small crack but could not find any cracks in the block itself. There was still a level of water in the ports of the block. So before I put everything back together is there a test that I can do to find out if the block is cracked or is the block a gonner. Also the intake as a casting number of 12552422. I have found one on Craig's List with the same number but it's not off a boat. Does that matter and will if fit. I am new to the site so any help would be appreciated.
cptron:cool::cool::cool::cool:
 

Bondo

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

I went to get ready for fishing and noticed that both exhaust manifolds were cracked beyond repair.

Ayuh,... Whata shame,... For 10 minutes work, Draining it, you could be Fishin'....

The manifold will work, it's a GM casting #...
Any Testing shoulda been done Before you took it apart...
The cooling jackets have to be Sealed, then pressurized with air to find cracks..
At this point,.. Put it back together,+ Try it...
You might get Lucky,+ missed the bullet,... But I doubt it...
 

bomar76

Lieutenant Commander
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Messages
1,963
Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

If there was water in the intake there was water in the block.
If the water in the intake froze so did the block.


Another reason the light bulb method is a horrendously bad idea.
 

familyguy

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

Oh my friend, that is heart wrenching. A 2006 engine shot. Not sure where you live, but here in Sacramento, CA it rarely drops below freezing. Still, during the winter months of December and January I regularly monitor nighttime temps because all it takes in one nighttime deep freeze to cause a spring nightmare (same thing happened to a family friend's boat). I use a 5-gallon bucket hooked to a garden hose to dump antifreeze into my boat engine when the temp gets too low.

Let me ask you this, if your intake and exhaust manifolds are cracked how comfortable would you feel taking that compromised engine block into open water with family and friends assuming you only replace those during your future repair.

My vote is forget putting it back together for pressure testing. Change your block, and manifolds and learn from the mistake. I know I will. Sorry man.
 

JustJason

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

I use a 5-gallon bucket hooked to a garden hose to dump antifreeze into my boat engine when the temp gets too low.

Save yourself the money on antifreeze and just drain it and make sure you hole out the drains. As Bondo says, Air doesn't freeze. Adding antifreeze to a motor that way is a recipe for disaster.
 

zbnutcase

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

And considering Merc exhaust manifolds are roughly twice as thick as the block castings, engines gotta be a goner. And if that CL manifold has same casting# as yours, then I would have to say is IS off a boat. Or industrial engine. Just because a light bulb puts off heat does not make it a heater! And power does go out also! Drain, baby,drain!
 

familyguy

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

From what I believe, it's a matter of preference. Some winterize with antifreeze after draining, some don't. I like a 50/50 water/antifreeze mixture and I think engines like it too. My boat engine tells me this as I pour in the solution:). Unprotected cast iron left open to air oxidizes and turns to rust. I feel antifreeze with it's anticorrision properties helps prevent this. Yes, air doesn't freeze, but iron does rust. Running raw water through a cast iron engine causes enough rust, why contribute to it.

Again man, sorry your engine is shot.
 

Philster

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

We desperately need a 'sticky' in this forum about freezing temps, light bulbs and such.

I can't take it much more.

Aside from all the confusion and bad decisions I read here about freezing temps...

I just had a buddy tell me after we watched the news together last night over a few beers at the local pub that ( I am paraphrasing) he guesses his Fountain is safe, because the local Philly news station said the low would be 34. This was last night. He is an educated person, with a very good job and just nice and bright all around.

The Philly news forecasted that as the low for PHILLY... and the 'outlying suburbs could experience freezing temperatures, so bring those plants you just bought inside...'.

But all HE heard was a low of 34. That is the temp downtown, in urban/concrete Philadelphia. Out here, 28-30 would be INCREDIBLY NORMAL if Philly was bottoming out at 34!

And... GET THIS! NEWS FLASH: WEATHER PEOPLE ARE OFTEN WRONG!! WHAT?!?! Imagine, even if they said the burbs would be 33 degrees, YOU ARE BETTING THE WEATHERMAN CAN NAIL THE TEMP TO WITHIN ONE OR TWO DEGREES!?? SERIOUSLY???!!!!!!!!

Even if they came on to the morning news and said they recorded a low of 33 for your region... that was 33 WHERE THEIR THERMOMETER WAS PARKED! It could be colder/warmer right next to your house, marina/whatever.

And, to back up faith in the ever-so-accurate weatherman, some rely on little light bulbs! The water inside the block ain't getting warm from that light bulb. The metal can cool so rapidly a light bulb is no match. And, again, to what temps can that light bulb be effective if it has ANY effect whatsoever? HUH?

This is NOT meant to beat up the current owner with a cracked block, but hopefully will prevent another guy from having a similar problem.

Stop the madness!

.
 

zbnutcase

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

We desperately need a 'sticky' in this forum about freezing temps, light bulbs and such.

I can't take it much more.

Aside from all the confusion and bad decisions I read here about freezing temps...

I just had a buddy tell me after we watched the news together last night over a few beers at the local pub that ( I am paraphrasing) he guesses his Fountain is safe, because the local Philly news station said the low would be 34. This was last night. He is an educated person, with a very good job and just nice and bright all around.

The Philly news forecasted that as the low for PHILLY... and the 'outlying suburbs could experience freezing temperatures, so bring those plants you just bought inside...'.

But all HE heard was a low of 34. That is the temp downtown, in urban/concrete Philadelphia. Out here, 28-30 would be INCREDIBLY NORMAL if Philly was bottoming out at 34!

And... GET THIS! NEWS FLASH: WEATHER PEOPLE ARE OFTEN WRONG!! WHAT?!?! Imagine, even if they said the burbs would be 33 degrees, YOU ARE BETTING THE WEATHERMAN CAN NAIL THE TEMP TO WITHIN ONE OR TWO DEGREES!?? SERIOUSLY???!!!!!!!!

Even if they came on to the morning news and said they recorded a low of 33 for your region... that was 33 WHERE THEIR THERMOMETER WAS PARKED! It could be colder/warmer right next to your house, marina/whatever.

And, to back up faith in the ever-so-accurate weatherman, some rely on little light bulbs! The water inside the block ain't getting warm from that light bulb. The metal can cool so rapidly a light bulb is no match. And, again, to what temps can that light bulb be effective if it has ANY effect whatsoever? HUH?

This is NOT meant to beat up the current owner with a cracked block, but hopefully will prevent another guy from having a similar problem.

Stop the madness!

.

Very well said!
 

180shabah

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

I am not going to argue about the anti corrosion properties of AF - it has them. But seriously, in a raw water cooled engine, sitting dry all winter is the least of your concerns.

air doesn't contamintate anything at spring commissioning either.
 

jkust

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

From what I believe, it's a matter of preference. Some winterize with antifreeze after draining, some don't. I like a 50/50 water/antifreeze mixture and I think engines like it too. My boat engine tells me this as I pour in the solution:). Unprotected cast iron left open to air oxidizes and turns to rust. I feel antifreeze with it's anticorrision properties helps prevent this. Yes, air doesn't freeze, but iron does rust. Running raw water through a cast iron engine causes enough rust, why contribute to it.

QUOTE]

Interesting take. I am in Minnesota where it literally is the coldest in the country any given moment. You would call me a liar if I told you how low the ambient temps get in parts of the state in the winter. Adding in windchill (which of course doesn't affect engines) and you'd call me a damn liar. Winterizing is part of our lifestyle here then. I have yet to encounter a dealership or fellow boat owner who uses antifreeze in addition to draining their block on their I/O. There are lots of very old I/O's unaffected by whatever corrosion may occur. Sadly then there are a lot of cracked blocks each year from folks who let the cold creap up on them or people who are new to I/O's. I am pretty much unphased by mention of a cracked block.
 

BRG25

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Messages
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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

From what I believe, it's a matter of preference. Some winterize with antifreeze after draining, some don't.

Did you read the link posted by 83Evinrude?

Sucking antifreeze from a 5 gallon bucket through your outdrive isn't winterizing. It is very likely that the antifreeze will not circulate through the block. This is just plain bad advice and you shouldn't be posting it. What you "believe" and what actually happens are 2 different things.
 

z284u2try

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

Did you read the link posted by 83Evinrude?

Sucking antifreeze from a 5 gallon bucket through your outdrive isn't winterizing. It is very likely that the antifreeze will not circulate through the block. This is just plain bad advice and you shouldn't be posting it. What you "believe" and what actually happens are 2 different things.

I dont see how this would not work on a closed cooled engine? Fills the heat exchanger and mani's. The a/f doesn't circulate in the block this way on closed cool.
 

Bondo

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

Originally Posted by familyguy
From what I believe, it's a matter of preference. Some winterize with antifreeze after draining, some don't.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did you read the link posted by 83Evinrude?

Sucking antifreeze from a 5 gallon bucket through your outdrive isn't winterizing. It is very likely that the antifreeze will not circulate through the block. This is just plain bad advice and you shouldn't be posting it. What you "believe" and what actually happens are 2 different things.

Ayuh,.... In defense of Familyguy,.... He did state to Drain 1st,...
That is the accepted way,+ it Does work...
If you feel antifreeze is needed,+ not the waste of money it is anyways....

I dont see how this would not work on a closed cooled engine?

Different System, different parameters.... Of course it works....

Few of Us here run freshwater system though...
 

BRG25

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

The guy who posted this thread doesn't have closed cooling...

Yea Bondo...you're right he did say after draining. He still probably wouldn't get much antifreeze in the block using muffs though right? If you're going to do that (which I don't) wouldn't you want to back fill from the engine?
 

rodbolt

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

AFTER draining the block its perfectly acceptable,even preferable to use the muffs or the seawater pump intake to fill the block and oil coolers with a NON TOXIC A/F mix.
do it all the time here in the salt pond where simply draining is not good and leads to severe corrosion.
some engines will require 7 to 8 gallons of mix.
 

familyguy

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Messages
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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

Rodbolt, thank you, it's a matter of preference. Get your engine up to temp or remove the thermostat, drain it, and muff (I know I said "pour" but the garden house is attached to muffs on one end, a large stopcock fitted to the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket on the other which sits on top of the back deck) an antifreeze mix into your engine, then pull your drive.

By monitoring night time temps, I literally mean check the weather daily for trends. Is a cold front approaching? Go to the NOAA, national weather service website and type in your locale. Wonderful website. In Sacramento, people rarely winterize their boat because it rarely reaches freezing temperature here. During any given year the night time low may reach freezing only a handful of times. It's nice cause I like to use my boat fishing the delta through the winter months. However, if I lived in Oregon, I would always winterize come fall and recommision come spring.

BRG25...relax
 

Utahboatnut

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

Not saying one way is right or wrong, but I live in Utah and have filled with antifreeze AFTER draining completly for many years and never had a problem. Plenty of winter days here when the high doeasn't get above 15 - 20 deg. And the night time lows are well below that. Almost May and I'm looking out the window at a blizzard honestly. Couple inches of snow this morning in the city much more in the mtns. But it was 70 deg for a couple days last week go figure. If done correctly I feel there is no harm in filling with enviro safe antifreeze..
 

ifallsguy

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Re: guess what happened when I got back from az

Plenty of winter days here when the high doeasn't get above 15 - 20 deg.

Wish we had winters like that. Normally we see at least a week where it never gets above -20F:eek:. Oh for the warm, winter days of 15-20.:D
 
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