Re: Mercruiser 470 witerizing
Remove the top of the very front cooling hose from the heat exchanger and just pour about 1/2 gallon of anti marine antifreeze into that hose. This will mix with the water that is in the exchanger. Do not just pull the rear most plug on the bottom and you will still have water in there to freeze. Once you pour the antifreeze in, you will see some run out on the ground. This is a good thing. Then just make sure to top off the coolant level in the reservoir and store it with the drive all the way down and the bow as high as you can get it, within reason.
I have been doing that for years in my 470 and never had a problem. Of course that is not the all I do, but I am answering your specific question.
A used heat exchanger is between $400 and $900, when you can find one.
"Now now, Bifflefan, you've been a long term, helpful, informative, iboats member to know by now that the use of antifreeze during winter storage is considered more of an personal preference versus an absolutely recommended process to do.
And i know you know that the theory goes both ways here. Under normal circumstances, our air in our part of the world does not freeze low enough to freeze air so that we can't live within a livable environment. All the while i would think (without looking it up) if the air did get to a freezing point, then it would be hard to believe that antifreeze wouldn't freeze as well at some point. So by draining more than most of the water out of the system, in theory that shouldn't allow any left over water to expand enough to damage anything really.
And of course the other side of the theory is using antifreeze helps prevent rusting at a greater rate along with preventing ice to form in a cavity during freezing and causing damage.
Now we all have our theories of which way is better or easier to do and ultimately it will have to be up to the poster to go with what way they would prefer, all we can do is give our personal suggestions of what has worked for us in the past such as you and everyone here has done to help guide the original poster to a more comfortable solution.
While providing our suggestions, it is preferred for all iboats forum members to be as courteous to one another at all times even during disagreements of one's suggestion. All the suggestions above are within reason for the original poster to make an informative decision thus there's no reason at all to be disrespectful with someone else's reasonable suggestions.
Thank you and thank you all for understanding the sympathy of the situation at hand.
Hello. I have read that all I have to do is pull the after plug and drain the raw water and i am done . Is this true ? Last year my friend helped we did 5 gal of antifreeze thru muffs thanks again.
Hi there jabfd, Welcome to iboats! As previously mentioned above, both ways work well and are safe to do. It's more of what your comfortable doing.
Good luck.
