Backfilling hoses with antifreee

So this is my second year with my boat. 1995 Mercruiser 5.0 with Alpha 1 out drive. This year i figured i would winterize myself and save some money. So I followed what my mechanic told me. He says he drains the water from the engine by pulling the drain plugs, then he pulls the hoses off the engine, and back fills them with anti freeze. It made sense to me, so thats what i did.

But how many gallons should it take? Ive put about 5 gallons in the engine. Is it possible to fill the actual cylinders with antifreeze? I hope not.

Here is what i did:

- Started up engine on flushing ears
-Let engine warm up
- Fogged engine with fogging oil
- Turned engine off, unhooked flushing ears
- Pulled the drain plug at the bottom of each exhaust manifold
- Pulled plug on each side of block
- Removed raw water intake hose from thermostat housing.
- Filled hose with anti freeze
- Blew in hose to force all water out
- Got pink ant freeze to come out of drive
- pulled large hose from water pump off of thermostat housing
- Filled hose till pink antifreeze came out of block drain plug holes
- Put block plugs back in
- Then i pulled the highes hose on the engine (which was the one that went from the thermostat housing to the exhast riser. Starboard side only)
- I filled that hose until i got pink antifreeze coming out of the starboard exhaust drain plug
- Put the starboard exhaust manifold plug back in
- Kept filling the hose till antifreeze came out of the port side exhaust manifold drain plug.
- Put the port side manifold plug back in
- Then i filled that hose until it was filled

Im just worried i did it wrong. I dont think i did. But im worried i may be filling the cylinders with anti freeze which would be a nightmare. I guess the question I am asking is: Is it possible to fill the cylinders through the exhaust valves by filling the hoses?

I mean, I am correct in saying that both exhaust gasses and water come out of the engine together? So how does the water not actually drain into the exhaust valves when you shut the engine off?

Thanks,

Matt

Re: Backfilling hoses with antifreee

You are ok. You cant get water into the cylinders from the hoses. 5 gallons sure sounds like a lot. You could save the cash and skip the step where you dump in all the antifreeze. Empty cavities will not freeze... but whatever helps you sleep better at night. People do it both ways.

Re: Backfilling hoses with antifreee

OK. Yeah i thought i might be doing something wrong. I mean i did get alot to come out of the outdrive. Maybe thats where it went, and i flushed the engine untill antifreeze came out. So I probably wasted alot.

Another method someone told me that I think I will do next time is to warm up the engine on the flushing ears so that the thermostat opens. Then take the hose that you are running to the flushing ears, disconnect it from the water tap, and put it in the gallon of antifreeze and let the engine suck it up. Then when antifreeze comes out of the engine, you know you are all good. No draining required.

Re: Backfilling hoses with antifreee

briggs09hp said:

OK. Yeah i thought i might be doing something wrong. I mean i did get alot to come out of the outdrive. Maybe thats where it went, and i flushed the engine untill antifreeze came out. So I probably wasted alot.

Another method someone told me that I think I will do next time is to warm up the engine on the flushing ears so that the thermostat opens. Then take the hose that you are running to the flushing ears, disconnect it from the water tap, and put it in the gallon of antifreeze and let the engine suck it up. Then when antifreeze comes out of the engine, you know you are all good. No draining required.

Click to expand...

Ayuh,.... If you skip the Drain' part, yer lookin' at a 50/ 50 shot at crackin' the block...

The Drainin', can NOT be skipped....

Re: Backfilling hoses with antifreee

briggs09hp said:

Is it possible to fill the actual cylinders with antifreeze? I hope not.

I mean, I am correct in saying that both exhaust gasses and water come out of the engine together? So how does the water not actually drain into the exhaust valves when you shut the engine off?

Thanks,

Matt

Click to expand...

If you are able to fill the cylinders with antifreeze, then there is no point in winterizing . . . 'cuz it is really broken.

The exhaust and cooling water mix on the 'downhill' part of the exhaust system, so gravity takes care of the proper draining.

Don S. posted a cut-away diagram of an exhaust manifold a while back. So, maybe if you can search/find that posting, it will help understand how it all works

Re: Backfilling hoses with antifreee

Sounds like a whole lotta work all for the INCREASED chance of a cracked block/manifold/elbow etc...over JUST draining everything empty.