Winterizing....purging with propylene glycol

[7lazy77]

This is my first year attempting to winterize myself & was looking for a little assistance.  I have a 2013 VLX & have read numerous posts & watched youtube videos on winterizing, but still have questions.

1.  If I was to just use propylene glycol without draining any water & run it through the plunger, about how many gallons would I need to displace all the water?

2.  If I first drained all the water from the engine (following the youtube video instructions) & if I wanted to take the extra precaution of running propylene glycol through the engine (just in case there was any other water), is this necessary?

3.  I have a friend that did the above (#2) & when he went to run the propylene glycol through, it was not sucking it up through the plunger.... does the engine need to purge it or is it becuase the engine is cold & the thermastat won't open?  How would he get it started in the intake so it will cycle it through the engine?

Any other information or help is appreciated!

[MLA]

1) probably take longer to run enough through to the safe than to just drain the water first

2) if the water is drained, theres nothing to the freeze. So AF is not really needed, but doesnt hurt

3) Should draw right in and fill the block then start to exit. 

[CLTMalibu08]

3 hours ago, 7lazy77 said:

This is my first year attempting to winterize myself & was looking for a little assistance.  I have a 2013 VLX & have read numerous posts & watched youtube videos on winterizing, but still have questions.

1.  If I was to just use propylene glycol without draining any water & run it through the plunger, about how many gallons would I need to displace all the water?

2.  If I first drained all the water from the engine (following the youtube video instructions) & if I wanted to take the extra precaution of running propylene glycol through the engine (just in case there was any other water), is this necessary?

3.  I have a friend that did the above (#2) & when he went to run the propylene glycol through, it was not sucking it up through the plunger.... does the engine need to purge it or is it becuase the engine is cold & the thermastat won't open?  How would he get it started in the intake so it will cycle it through the engine?

Any other information or help is appreciated!

If you notice in the youtube video, they have a pump on the AF tank to push the AF into the fake a lake. I dont think it will suck it out of the tank unless its at least gravity fed by having the tank higher than the fake a lake. 

[7lazy77]

Went through & drained all the water from the motor today following the  youtube video instructions.  On the video, is he just using a pump for filling up extra ballast sacs & he made garden hose connections to hook up to the plunger?  I have also read that others pour antifreeze in the heater hoses & down the big hoses on the thermostat housing & call it done.  Is one way better than the other?  I know that I should be good with just draining all the water, but it sure would make me feel a LOT little better adding a little antifreeze by one of the two way as I mentioned above.

 

Edited October 30, 2016 by 7lazy77
extra info

[Sixball]

I drain and refill with antifreeze 5.7L no cat's depending on the height of my trailer tongue It take about five gallons to fill the block an exhaust manifolds enough to get some coming out the exhaust .  I start with the big hoses ( Block) then the exhaust hoses.   

[formulaben]

11 hours ago, Sixball said:

I drain and refill with antifreeze 5.7L no cat's depending on the height of my trailer tongue It take about five gallons to fill the block an exhaust manifolds enough to get some coming out the exhaust .  I start with the big hoses ( Block) then the exhaust hoses.   

5 gallons?!

[Sixball]

Yep. That includes all the exhaust system.  As I said it also depends on the trailer jack. If its low the exhaust will take much more. The exhaust system takes the most maybe three gallons.

[Levi900RR]

I drain everything then run 3 gallons through using this:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-65501-Yourself-Boat-Winterizer/dp/B0000AXQU2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477930689&sr=8-1&keywords=boat+winterization+kit

 

 Been doing it this way for a long time and never had an issue...

 

[wedge88]

I always just drained everything and left disconnected for winter.  This year I was draining the pool cover and got the bright idea of how I could pump antifreeze into the boat's system without buying anything special.  I have a few of these for our pool cover laying around https://www.amazon.com/Little-Giant-PCP550-Pool-Cover/dp/B0013KCOIW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477931505&sr=8-2&keywords=pool+cover+pump so I put 5 gallons of antifreeze into a 5 gallon bucket, hooked a short hose from pump to fake a lake, had person in boat crank boat at the same time I plugged in the pump (it was submerged in antifreeze) and about 30 seconds later I saw antifreeze pouring out the exhaust.  Shut both boat and pump off.  Took about 4-4.5 gallons.

[jwl019]

I use a 5 gallon bucket and fill with the RV antifreeze.  I also bought an extra intake hose but it is about 3-4' long, disconnect the short intake hose running from the bottom of the boat, right before the vdrive, install my longer hose and submerge the other end into the 5 gallon bucket sitting in the boat in front of the seats/Vdrive area.  Crank the boat, pull the neutral switch out and rev it real quick to make sure it is sucking the antifreeze up and then just sit and wait a couple seconds until all the antifreeze is sucked up.

[minnmarker]

6 hours ago, Levi900RR said:

I drain everything then run 3 gallons through using this:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-65501-Yourself-Boat-Winterizer/dp/B0000AXQU2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477930689&sr=8-1&keywords=boat+winterization+kit

 

 Been doing it this way for a long time and never had an issue...

 

With 4 gallons.