Re: winterizing 2004 VolvoPenta engine
The idea of the AF is to provide some corrosion protection as well as insure that any water left in there won't freeze. I have heard of problems using the tank and hose method to suck the AF into the engine, the issue is that for one the impeller must be in really good shape to suck it up (AF has a higher specific gravity than water) and if the thermostat is not open you will not get enough AF in the block. What I do is drain the block, manifolds, etc as per the manual. I then disconnect the big hose from the thermo housing to the circulating pump (big pump on the front of the motor) and the hoses from the thermo housing to the manifolds and impeller. I then fill the manifolds and block until a little AF comes out the drain, thereby displacing any water that was left. I then replace the drain plugs and fill the block thru the big hose I disconnected at the thermo, and the manifolds the same way. I also backfill the line from the impeller till it is full. That way I know all the water is out, and the motor is full of AF (non tox propylene glycol with corrosion inhibitors). I do all this after warming it up on the hose, changing the motor oil, filter and drive oil. Then I run it again to fog the motor, then drain and back fill as above. Oh and BTW, when you remove the drain plugs, run a piece of coat hanger wire up in the drain because they can get blocked by rust flakes, esp on salt water cooled motors.<br />One last caution, when running an engine on the water hose, make sure no one in the house decides to do the wash, or take a shower, it will drop the water pressure enough to overheat the motor! <br />You can run the motor at idle or a little above on the hose but that's it, not enough water volume to cool it at higher speeds.
