Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

Impeller not sucking water while out of lake....


Recommended Posts

I recently completed winterizing my 2006 Response Lxi with 546 hours on it.  I purchased this boat this past spring, so this is my first go around with winterizing an inboard.  After reading several discussions on this site and watching videos on YouTube, I felt pretty comfortable doing so.  However, earlier in the year I tried the fake a lake, and it didn't seem like much water was getting into the engine...temp rose past 160 and I turned it off...later that same day in a lake, the temp stayed at 160 or below.  SO I was leery of using the fake a lake again....I decided to use a bucket and a hose to attach to the intake side of the impeller...thinking it will simply suck up water into engine...I would then drain after it was up to temp, then put in antifreeze and let the engine suck it up...but again, the engine rose up to 160, the water in the bucket never went down....and I turned it off....I then removed all plugs, hoses and let the water drain out...I pulled off the thermostat and dumped antifreeze into the engine that way.  I filled manifold hoses and heater hoses....feel as though it is all good now...

 

I just don't understand why it won't pull water from the bucket....my 11 year old daughter thought that they length of the hose maybe too long and that the impeller isn't strong enough to pull water that distance...hose is probably 7 feet..I think she is right...opinions out there?

Living in Wisconsin, so I wanted to put antifreeze in the block...

Thanks.

Link to comment

I just had this issue trying to pull coolant through a hose and through a fake a lake.  didn't work for me either.  I had the bucket up high on a ladder and filled the hose to try to start it off.  Still didn't work.  So, I won't be trying to do that again.  and I had filled the motor (and heater) with coolant through the J hose, and coolant hoses also.   So, I have just topped off the coolant after trying and probably will not try to pull coolant through with the impeller, as I don't have a pump like @Kojak suggests and as I have seen on youtube.  I have seen it work with a short hose (seems like under 5 feet) from the water intake hose on youtube too, but not sure I will try that at this point either.  A lot of others seem to just fill it after draining.  

Link to comment

Thank you to all the replies...I appreciate the support....I like the idea of it pulling itself through, but pouring it in wasn't a big deal...jsut want to make sure it gets to where it needs to go...I ended up putting about 4.5 gallons in...between block, manifolds, and heater...

Link to comment
37 minutes ago, gasyum said:

Thank you to all the replies...I appreciate the support....I like the idea of it pulling itself through, but pouring it in wasn't a big deal...jsut want to make sure it gets to where it needs to go...I ended up putting about 4.5 gallons in...between block, manifolds, and heater...

I didn't do the manifolds separately, and asked about that on my thread.  May go ahead and fill those myself as well.  

 

Link to comment
  • 2 months later...
  • 4 years later...

I put anti-freeze in every Fall, using what I got from the guy I bought my 08 VTX from 3 years ago - a 5gal camping water jug with the spigot replaced with a double-male threaded metal fitting that a cut-off length of garden hose fits onto (I put a garden hose quarter-turn shut-off in between the container and the hose for ease of turning on/off. I can put it onto my swim grid or on a ladder's shelf, with the hose attached to the Fake-A-Lake. Once I open the shut-off, within 5 seconds it begins to leak out of the fake-a-lake so it shows me gravity is enough. The only times I've had the problem with the anti-freeze NOT being sucked up has been either (a) the F-A-L is not completely seated against the hull. My water pickup barely fits within the F-A-L's suction cup, so I have to run my fingernail all around it to make sure there's not a gap - if there's a gap, it will suck in air and very little AF gets pulled in; or (b) I was trying to cheap out with a piece of garden hose that was so old that the suction from the engine (impeller) would cause the hose to collapse - it took me a while to figure out because the water flowed fine with gravity to the F-A-L.    If there's not AF coming out of your exhaust within about 10 seconds, and if the AF isn't dropping within 5 seconds (like a gallon every 20-30 seconds), something is wrong - shut-off the engine and check. Check the F-A-L -- is it tight, check if any hoses are not re-attached in the engine area. Running the engine for very long without liquid going through is a recipe to damage the impeller. (When I change the impeller after draining the engine, prior to putting in the AF, always use WD-40 to not only help get it out but also leave lubrication in there in case I have a false start or two with the AF step.)

I don't think this thread touched on it, but in regards to the debate about whether to drain the water from the engine before putting in AF and dealing with the thermostat that doesn't open until 160F, a marine mechanic reminded me that thermostats DO let water in, they just don't let water out, until it reaches temp. So by draining the water ahead of the AF step, you know it will get to the most important part first - the engine. If you do want the AF to other areas, e.g. the heater core, then you will have to get the engine to temp before hand, because it won't get anywhere near 160F during the AF step. For me, I just remove the heater hoses from the inlet/outlet of the heater core to make sure it drains. (I learned the hard way that it had no AF in it!)

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...