Quick winterizing question

[Brandon5778]

Hi, today I was helping my dad's friend winterize his new to him boat. He was going to take it to a shop that quoted him $250, I said I can take a look at it. I went over to find a 4 cylinder Volvo Penta engine with a 270 outdrive. Early 80s vintage with closed cooling. Anyone familiar with these units? Sorry I couldn't find his serial no. I wasn't familiar with closed cooling but knew from reading here that it's fairly simple. So I found 2 drains, one on the manifold and one on the bottom of the heat exchanger. Not a whole lot of water came out but it was a good stream for maybe 30 seconds. That should be it right? Just want to be certain before the cold sets in. Thanks!

 

[Scott Danforth]

there may also be the power steering cooler. drain the hose running from the back of the boat that feeds the raw water pump on the crank (and remove the raw water pump cover to drain that).

you did change oil prior to draining, correct?

now pull the drive, inspect the u-joints and bellows, do a gear change, etc.

 

[Brandon5778]

there may also be the power steering cooler. drain the hose running from the back of the boat that feeds the raw water pump on the crank (and remove the raw water pump cover to drain that).

you did change oil prior to draining, correct?

now pull the drive, inspect the u-joints and bellows, do a gear change, etc.

The person hasn't even seen the boat run, he just wanted freeze protection before tearing into it next year. I guess he knew the person he got it from and took his word that it was on the water this season. So he isn't planning on pulling the drive or any other maintenance till spring. (It did however seem like PO did maintain it well like he was told, the bellows appeared brand new) He is NOT changing engine oil either. I did check the dipstick and there is no sign of water, and the oil looked good. I instructed him to open the gear lube drain screw and drain out some of the oil into a glass container and make sure there isn't any water in it. That should cover that, right?

I don't think there is power steering, but I'm confused on the hose you mentioned. There is a short 12 inch rubber hose coming off the transom that goes into copper tubing running to the engine water pump. This is what needs to be removed? I thought closed cooling systems had only coolant in the engine, so there is water in there? Sorry I'm new to boats with this setup.

 

[Scott Danforth]

if the motor was run at all, change the oil as the acid buildup in the oil takes out bearings over the winter.

water would never show up on a dipstick. you can halve half a gallon of oil sitting on top of 50 gallons of water. put a dipstick in in and it will only show oil unless you use a water indicating paste like the gas stations use.

if the drive was in the water at all, at a minimum check the gear lube for water intrusion

closed cooling does have coolant in the motor and half the heat exchanger. however the raw water comes from the drive pickup thru a fitting that needs to be replaced every 2 years on AQ drives thru a hose to the transom shield. from there, the power steering cooler is bolted to the transom shield. the raw water then goes from the power steering cooler to the inlet of the raw water pump. from the raw water pump, the seawater is pumped to the heat exchanger and depending on which motor, the oil cooler.

 

[Brandon5778]

closed cooling does have coolant in the motor and half the heat exchanger. however the raw water comes from the drive pickup thru a fitting that needs to be replaced every 2 years on AQ drives thru a hose to the transom shield. from there, the power steering cooler is bolted to the transom shield. the raw water then goes from the power steering cooler to the inlet of the raw water pump. from the raw water pump, the seawater is pumped to the heat exchanger and depending on which motor, the oil cooler.

Thanks Scott, this helped me make much better sense of it.

Assuming I can find a serial no. for him, where can I get his service manual to pass along to him? I remember reading the site I use to access mine is down.

 

[Scott Danforth]

download PDF from Volvo http://www.volvopenta.com/marineleisure/en-en/for-owners.html

or view online at http://boatinfo.no/lib/library.html (note, the site seams to be up and down)