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Why Can't I Winterize By Just Doing This?


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So I have been reading on here and watching videos about winterization. I have seen and read where all the water is drained out of the block and manifolds and that is pretty much it for winterizing (I'm not talking about oil and tranny oil change or fogging) the motor. I have also seen where the water is drained and then everything is reattached and antifreeze is run through the motor.

This got me to thinking why couldn't I, instead of draining all the water and then reassembling everything, just use the flush pro or fake a lake for those without flush pro and just run the boat on antifreeze for 4 - 5 gallons and then I'm done. I think you would probably get most of the water out and even if you didn't it would all mix with the antifreeze and wouldn't freeze.

Why is the draining of water step necessary if I am just going to fill with antifreeze. My car has a mix of antifreeze and water and I don't worry about it on a cold night?

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ugh. This is like the 19th time this question has been asked in the past month. If you do that, you have no assurance that your thermostat won't be closed and that most of the RV (not car) antifreeze doesn't go right past your block. RV antifreeze is supposed to be used full strength, not dilluted.

If you really want to fill with antifreeze, your proposed method works fine... once the block and manifolds are drained.

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If your Tstat does not open during this operation all your antifreeze will end up coming out of the exhaust, you will have no portection.

Your exhaust manifolds won't freeze!! ha ha

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Sorry to use this particular thread since there are numerous similar versions, but it absolutely amazes me the number of people that inquire about short-cutting the winterization process on a $50K+ item where the negative consequences are very costly. Considering the repair if you are not mechanically adept is in the $5k range, is skimping a 30 minute process that important? I guess it's only going to cost you $167 / minute of effort if the block cracks.

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This is not directed at anyone at all, just something funny I thought.

If I hook my boat up to a HUGE fuel tank, and use my fake a lake. Could I just leave my boat running all winter and avoid winterizing? I mean I'm sure I'll have to change the oil a few times throughout the off season but I think it'll be worth it in the long run

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This is not directed at anyone at all, just something funny I thought.

If I hook my boat up to a HUGE fuel tank, and use my fake a lake. Could I just leave my boat running all winter and avoid winterizing? I mean I'm sure I'll have to change the oil a few times throughout the off season but I think it'll be worth it in the long run

You wouldn't have to make fake motor sounds while sitting in it having a beer in the off season dreaming about next season on the lake.

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This is not directed at anyone at all, just something funny I thought.

If I hook my boat up to a HUGE fuel tank, and use my fake a lake. Could I just leave my boat running all winter and avoid winterizing? I mean I'm sure I'll have to change the oil a few times throughout the off season but I think it'll be worth it in the long run

No, bad idea. You would have to monitor it. You wouldn't go to bed with it running, right? So you are better off winning the lottery (as discussed in an earlier thread) and just leaving a standing invite for anyone to come over and use your boat. Book 24/7 free boat usage by TMC, on your private, lit course.

I got dibbs on the 7am slot!

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I guess I should have been more specific. I forgot to mention I have a half loop closed cooling system so I am not concerned about the block because it is already full of antifreeze.

But I would think that if the manifolds are the only thing that I am worried about just running it on antifreeze should get the job done?

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I guess I should have been more specific. I forgot to mention I have a half loop closed cooling system so I am not concerned about the block because it is already full of antifreeze.

But I would think that if the manifolds are the only thing that I am worried about just running it on antifreeze should get the job done?

Sounds right to me. But, if the saltwater series engines are like the freshwater, you should be able to drain your risers with by simply unscrewing the garden hose attachments. It literally takes less than a minute.

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My orignal snarky response to the OP was: Good plan, go for it, but be sure to read the thread titled "What engine would you put in your boat?"

After reading the qualifier that it is a closed loop cooling boat -- never mind.

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This is not directed at anyone at all, just something funny I thought.

If I hook my boat up to a HUGE fuel tank, and use my fake a lake. Could I just leave my boat running all winter and avoid winterizing? I mean I'm sure I'll have to change the oil a few times throughout the off season but I think it'll be worth it in the long run

An interesting idea Levi, but, with all due and necessary respect, you could possibly, maybe, perhaps be full of food that was eaten 8-14 hours ago. BICBW

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If it's the system that I'm thinking of (& it might not be), don't you still have to worry about the heat exchanger?

yeah but raw water through the heat exchanger isn't dependent on the thermostat, is it? I think it might actually work just fine to run antifreeze as the OP suggests. I wouldn't because I'm paranoid, but it'd probably work.

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If it's the system that I'm thinking of (& it might not be), don't you still have to worry about the heat exchanger?

Wouldn't the antifreeze just run through the exchanger in place of the water?

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Wouldn't the antifreeze just run through the exchanger in place of the water?

The things you need clear:

heat exchanger (one plug, right?)

exhaust manifolds (unscrew crossover hose, right?)

trans cooler (plug or pull raw water hose at vdrive)

vdrive (depends on configuration whether you need to pull a plug or if pulling the output hose will drain it)

That would take longer than 5 minutes, but not much longer. I'm pretty sure I've spent more time reading and responding to this thread than it'd take to drain the raw water side of your system.

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The things you need clear:

heat exchanger (one plug, right?)

exhaust manifolds (unscrew crossover hose, right?)

trans cooler (plug or pull raw water hose at vdrive)

vdrive (depends on configuration whether you need to pull a plug or if pulling the output hose will drain it)

That would take longer than 5 minutes, but not much longer. I'm pretty sure I've spent more time reading and responding to this thread than it'd take to drain the raw water side of your system.

Shawndoggy, what you listed above is exactly what I did. It just got me to thinking why couldn't I have just hooked up a bucket of antifreeze, turned on the boat and sat down and had a beer while my boat "winterized".

Also considering I was running the boat before drained it anyways to warm up the oil before I changed it I could have killed two birds with one stone!

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Shawndoggy, what you listed above is exactly what I did. It just got me to thinking why couldn't I have just hooked up a bucket of antifreeze, turned on the boat and sat down and had a beer while my boat "winterized".

Also considering I was running the boat before drained it anyways to warm up the oil before I changed it I could have killed two birds with one stone!

I often find flakes of rusty cast iron in various parts of my cooling system (trans oil cooler screen, hot shower engine block drain nipple). I think it is coming from the inside of my exhaust manifolds, which are cast iron. My theory is that it gets blown out the exhaust, mostly at spring start up, and when the water current is right and the boat is still, the flakes get sucked up by the raw water pump. I cant think of any other way this stuff would get in the places it does. So if you have cast iron manifolds, having antifreeze in them would prevent the wintertime corrosion, as opposed to having the manifolds full of humid air all winter. Or maybe the previous owner did a poor job of draining the manifolds each year, so they are falling apart on the inside. But either way, antifreeze in the manifolds and block is certainly better than not, but I dont do it.

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Wouldn't the antifreeze just run through the exchanger in place of the water?

yes, but you have no idea if all the water was gone. Your impeller will pull 5 gallons of antifreeze in seconds. If the -50 antifreeze mixes with water, its useless, and has a freeze point of about 30* Its way easier and quicker and safer on a closed cooled engine to just drain the exchanger, and exhaust and then pour a couple gallons of antifreeze into them.

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If your Tstat does not open during this operation all your antifreeze will end up coming out of the exhaust, you will have no portection.

This is not true. Water does bypass the t-stat. And there are dealers that winterize like this also. One in particular that I know does use the purple -100 antifreeze though with this process.

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if you had a tank big enough to catch the exhaust water, and then be pulling it back into the the intake, you could run this way with antifreeze in the tank and get enough circulation for the t-stat to open and then you would have it throughout the engine.

This would take a big tank, and you would waste a lot of anti-freeze when you got done.

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