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Idea some may not have thought of for winterizing


triscadek

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I'm that guy always looking to save a dollar if I can, so this year I decided to winterize the boat myself, which is pretty easy. I was thinking I was going to have to funnel the antifreeze in the intake gallon by gallon since I'm not gonna buy a pump to do it once a year. Well, I get looking at the water intake and think to myself, that size looks familiar... Enjoy the video haha. #tsunamipump

http://s302.photobucket.com/user/SS3157/media/Boat/95357E74-E719-4C23-A43A-BD036AA684A5.mp4.html

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Put that bucket under the exhaust and you will recycle the anti freeze in a continuous loop. Check the concentration with an anti freeze tester when you are done and it's fool proof.

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Everything was pretty much dry when I started. I pumped 5 gallons through and it was spitting out straight red. After it started spitting out red it ran for another 15-20 seconds until the bucket was near empty, never let it suck air.

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That's why you drain and pull the thermostat before winterizing. I just let mine suck the antifreeze from a 5 gallon bucket. I put a quick coupling in the 1 1/4" line to the scupper on the hull. It makes hooking to a hose a breeze and allows just putting the open end into the bucket when it's time to winterize.

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?/garage/vehicle/3-malibu-sunsetter/?tab=mods&mod_id=27

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Jeebus, how hard is it to drain the block and pour 2 gallons of antifreeze into the heater and block. Don't get the appeal of having to pull the boat out of the garage and run it or removing the stat, which would be a huge pain in the rear.

Edited by oldjeep
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I never pulled the thermostat, I just drained the block and a few hoses then hooked this up with the engine cold. Less than a minute run time. Do I need to worry about the thermostat not being open, surely yes since it wasn't up to temp. What bad am I looking at with he thermostat not being open?

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I never pulled the thermostat, I just drained the block and a few hoses then hooked this up with the engine cold. Less than a minute run time. Do I need to worry about the thermostat not being open, surely yes since it wasn't up to temp. What bad am I looking at with he thermostat not being open?

If you drained the block first, it's all good. The problem comes when you don't drain the block first, if done this way, with the thermostat closed and the block full, all that antifreeze is just diverted out the exhaust.

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Jeebus, how hard is it to drain the block and pour 2 gallons of antifreeze into the heater and block. Don't get the appeal of having to pull the boat out of the garage and run it or removing the stat, which would be a huge pain in the rear.

Your previous post convinced me to try this method this year (with 3 gallons of the -100 antifreeze) and while I must say it was a lot less set-up and mess, getting the thermostat apart wasn't easy! Should be from now on though! I'm going to try and recycle the antifreeze come spring as well...

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Your previous post convinced me to try this method this year (with 3 gallons of the -100 antifreeze) and while I must say it was a lot less set-up and mess, getting the thermostat apart wasn't easy! Should be from now on though! I'm going to try and recycle the antifreeze come spring as well...

Why did you remove the thermostat? I do not remove it. I drain the engine and heater and then fill through the heater hose and the large host on the t-stat housing that goes to the engine water pump.

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I'm sure glad ours has partial closed cooling. Heater sit in coolant 24/7/365, as does the block. Pull three drain plugs, disconnect three hoses, have a nice day. 5 minutes and done.

I think the heater is the real issue here. I never bothered hooking mine up, so even though I have an open cooling system, it takes about 5 minutes to winterize too. I don't do the antifreeze thing. In fact, I usually just do it at the boat launch on my last outing, that way any water trapped in low spots in the block or exhaust get sloshed around and maybe drain out during the trip back home.

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I did mine at the house stern side downward and had a 13mile commute to the storage.

On second thought, your plugs are out, mine aren't lol

Edited by triscadek
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I did mine at the house stern side downward and had a 13mile commute to the storage.

On second thought, your plugs are out, mine aren't lol

Yeah, I put mine back in when I get home.

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Why did you remove the thermostat? I do not remove it. I drain the engine and heater and then fill through the heater hose and the large host on the t-stat housing that goes to the engine water pump.

I wasn't sure how this operated after looking at pictures so I wanted to see for myself... but after this comment I realize I might have some 'misconceptions' about how the Thermostat works... although its more likely that i didn't realize that what you pointed out was an option until you said it. (filling block through heater hose)

What I did was:

1) Drain engine and heaters

2) Circulated -100 antifreeze from a bucket through heaters and sealed them off separate from the engine for storage (my heater has an inline pump)

3) Opened the thermostat housing (required me to take the thermostat housing off due to things being stuck), removed the thermostat,

4) put all hoses and plugs back on/in after determining block was empty

5) poured -100 antifreeze (2 gal) directly in to the engine block through T-stat

6) Replaced thermostat and housing

7) Pumped ~2 gallons of -100 antifreeze from bucket in to V-drive intake while boat was running

With that being said - you might be able to help me do this easier next time around... My heater "Output from engine" is located at #1...

fromport_zpsfnwfvkjt.jpg

Are either of these statements true?:

1) Since I have a heater installed at location #1, I could simply fill the engine block with antifreeze from this heater hose as well as from the J hose (By disconnecting the pump side of the large J-hose) to fill what I assume are the manifolds and lower engine block.

2) If I did not have a heater installed, I would still need to take the T-stat housing off to pour antifreeze in the engine block.

And then a question:

If you filled the engine through the J-hose and heater hose as described above, how can you be sure that antifreeze got to the manifolds, since they both sit higher than where the J-hose connects and where your heater connects to the block?

Thanks for your help so far. I hope I don't sound completely clueless - I'm just trying to find out what parts of the engine / manifold are directly connected, and where water is most likely to pool.

Reason being that after completely draining the engine block (Through plug and knock sensor (while clearing debris), j-hose, quick-disconnect hoses, oil cooler hose) - leaving it disconnected - putting the boat on an upwards and downwards incline and sitting for a day to dry - I then removed the Thermostat and housing and saw that there was still standing water in the block (directly under where the thermostat sits) and it was a bit alarming.

I also learned upon opening the T-stat housing that I need a new thermostat as it was in bad shape. I'll be re-using the 4 gallons of -100 as it is a bit spendy, but it would be great to figure out specific places to pour to reduce waste and environmental impact.

Edited by jonredcorn
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Your hoses are a little different than my 2012 but close enough.

I don't fill the block from the heater hose, just the heater and heater hoses - I have both hoses disconnected when I do this.

I fill the block from that hose you labeled #2. OK, sure you might not get antifreeze all the way to the top of the tstat but it fills through the waterpump into the block.

As for antifreeze in the exhaust manifolds - I don't put any in there.

I only wind up using 2 gallons, and it gets pushed right out into the lake the first time I start the boat in the spring - that is why I buy the environmentally safe stuff ;) If you want to reclaim it then the green toxic stuff is a lot cheaper.

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