Winterization Question

[JR6424]

Hi All,

I live in the PNW where we have relatively mild winters but it does freeze from time to time, with a few weeks a year where we’ll have a cold snap with 3-4 days of sub-freezing temp days in a row. My engine is freshly rebuilt (16 hours now) and I’m hoping to squeeze a few more fishing/crabbing trips out of it before I have to put her away for the season. The engine has a “half” closed cooling system so the engine is safe but the exhaust manifolds and heat exchanger have raw water in them. Would there be any downside to not draining the manifolds and instead just winterizing them with the pink coolant via muffs in between trips when the temps are expected to dip below freezing?

Assuming we never have a prolonged deep freeze I might be able to make it through the winter using the boat every 2-3 weeks or so and then segue into the spring season. The outdrive and bellows were serviced while the engine was being rebuilt so I don’t see any reason to pull them again and if I’m lucky I may make it through to next season with only needing to change the oil and fuel water separator mid-season before doing a full winterize/service at the end of next season.

Is this a reasonable plan or am I asking for a disaster? Thanks for the advice!

 

[alldodge]

Get a 40 to 60 watt incandescent bulb (the old style, not LED) and install in a 120V drop light. Lay the light down in the bilge. This will keep the motor toasty warm down to at least zero degrees

 

[Lou C]

If it’s just the manifolds & the heat exchanger & raw water intake hose it’s not that hard to manually drain; to run in AF with a Volvo I’d add an electric pump to the winterizing tank to make sure the impeller doesn’t run dry, gravity feed doesn’t always work with engine mounted impellers

 

[Scott Danforth]

I would just take the 2 minutes to drain or toss a trouble light in the bilge like AD stated

 

[JR6424]

Thanks fellas, I’ve been meaning to run power out to the “boat house” (carport) for a while now, guess this gives me an excuse to get it done asap.

 

[Donald0039]

There is some concern whether an engine mounted sea water pump will draw in pink antifreeze from the muffs. Typically they use the muffs only when the sea water pump is in the outdrive. Otherwise you need to attach your bucket of my pink antifree to the sea water pump intake.

Some boats have an oil cooler on the sea water intake and a fuel cooler that uses sea water.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Nowhere in the factory manual does it say it's OK to try to draw AF up thru the muffs

 

[ejnichol]

I rigged a 5 gallon bucket with bottom port to feed short garden hose to muffs. Drained block via petcocks. Closed petcocks and filled 5 gallon with 2-3 gallons of 50/50 auto antifreeze. Position bucket up high on stern platform. Ran engine till green tinted water was blowing out with exhaust. Block didn't crack so for me that works.

Neighbor has mercruiser package that he says has one valve to open and it drains it all. Mine is Volvo Penta and its not that simple.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I rigged a 5 gallon bucket with bottom port to feed short garden hose to muffs. Drained block via petcocks. Closed petcocks and filled 5 gallon with 2-3 gallons of 50/50 auto antifreeze. Position bucket up high on stern platform. Ran engine till green tinted water was blowing out with exhaust. Block didn't crack so for me that works.

Neighbor has mercruiser package that he says has one valve to open and it drains it all. Mine is Volvo Penta and its not that simple.

Your neighbor will soon have a cracked block as the single point drains in the Mercruiser tend to plug up and leave water in the block

 

[alldodge]

Not counting all the Green AF going in the water or down the sewer can kill things

 

[Donald0039]

I rigged a 5 gallon bucket with bottom port to feed short garden hose to muffs. Drained block via petcocks. Closed petcocks and filled 5 gallon with 2-3 gallons of 50/50 auto antifreeze. Position bucket up high on stern platform. Ran engine till green tinted water was blowing out with exhaust. Block didn't crack so for me that works.

Neighbor has mercruiser package that he says has one valve to open and it drains it all. Mine is Volvo Penta and its not that simple.

If you have a engine driven raw water pump you should only use the muffs with a pressurized water source like a garden hose. Not a bucket on the swim platform.

 

[ejnichol]

If you have a engine driven raw water pump you should only use the muffs with a pressurized water source like a garden hose. Not a bucket on the swim platform.

The lower unit cooling water intake relays on the static water pressure of its depth below surface which is probably less than garden hose pressure.

Whether that submerged static pressure is more than 2.5ft feet head pressure seen by impellers thru a 5 gallon with a 5/8" hose thru muffs is the question.

 

[airshot]

Even ifvyou need a couple light bulbs to generate enough heat, sure would be easier !! For years I did that to my 3.0 to lengthen the boating season into late fall. Had two ofbthose aluminum housings that looked like a big aluminum bell....a couple 75 watt incadesent bulbs and it was good to go!!! One night it got real cold, close to O, so I went out and checked my thermometer under the doghouse over my engine....almost 60 degrees in there!! I also had a small light mounted so I could see it from the house, plugged into the same cord, just in case the power went out....my warning light!!

 

[Blorton]

Hey guys. Thanks so much for the shop light tip. Saved me from my own poor planning

 

[dingbat]

Whether that submerged static pressure is more than 2.5ft feet head pressure seen by impellers thru a 5 gallon with a 5/8" hose thru muffs is the question.

Typical "city" home water pressure is 60 PSI.
Typically "well water" pressure is more like 40-50 psi.

The pressure resulting from 2.5 ft. of static head pressure is 1.09 PSI

 

[Donald0039]

If you intend to use a bucket of antifreeze with a hose to winterize an engine with the raw water pump mounted on the engine then Camco sells an adapter so you can attach the hose from the bucket to the input on the raw water pump.

 

[BRICH1260]

With the coming artic blast there may be several boaters down south that had wished they put a little more consideration into winterization.

 

[Lou C]

The general rule is always get all the water out first, adding antifreeze is really just for corrosion protection. If you don't take shortcuts, you probably won't have trouble!