Winterizing Without Draining Water First

[Suckerpunch]

Is it acceptable to use the flush hookup on my Axis to winterize by first getting the boat up to temp by running it on the water hose (opening the thermostat) through the flush system and then sucking antifreeze through that flush system using a small hose and a five gallon bucket filled with antifreeze until I see the antifreeze coming out of the exhaust pipe? 
 

If this is not acceptable, can someone tell me why??

 

Thanks in advance!!!

[RyanSkiVT]

If you have a heater my concern would be the antifreeze not getting all the way through the lines and the heating core with only 5 gallons being used. I think the water in those line will also dilute the antifreeze unless they are drained and blown out.

[Cole2001]

Closed or open cooling? Closed you should be fine, very minimal water. But open it would take a lot of anti freeze and likely be too diluted. 

[oldjeep]

Never can figure out why people are so afraid of actually using a tool and draining properly.

[Bozboat]

5 hours ago, Suckerpunch said:

Is it acceptable to use the flush hookup on my Axis to winterize by first getting the boat up to temp by running it on the water hose (opening the thermostat) through the flush system and then sucking antifreeze through that flush system using a small hose and a five gallon bucket filled with antifreeze until I see the antifreeze coming out of the exhaust pipe? 
 

If this is not acceptable, can someone tell me why??

 

Thanks in advance!!!

Simple answer: drain all the water, then store dry or add antifreeze. Without water in the block you will be fine in the Spring. No water no cracked block.

If you blend in the antifreeze trying to guess whether the thermostat is open or closed (the thermostat will open and close continuously at idle) you will end up with water in the block or a diluted solution of water and antifreeze. Depending on the weather and the unknown mixture of water and antifreeze in your block you may skate by or in the Spring you may discover your block has cracked.

[Suckerpunch]

1 hour ago, oldjeep said:

Never can figure out why people are so afraid of actually using a tool and draining properly.

So…would you suggest pulling all drain plugs to drain the water, replacing plugs and then cycling antifreeze through the system with the boat running until it gets up to temp so that the t-stat opens up?  

[Suckerpunch]

2 minutes ago, Bozboat said:

Simple answer: drain all the water, then store dry or add antifreeze. Without water in the block you will be fine in the Spring. No water no cracked block.

If you blend in the antifreeze trying to guess whether the thermostat is open or closed (the thermostat will open and close continuously at idle) you will end up with water in the block or a diluted solution of water and antifreeze. Depending on the weather and the unknown mixture of water and antifreeze in your block you may skate by or in the Spring you may discover your block has cracked.

Awesome!  Thank you for the explanation. There are so many “ways” shown to winterize and I want to be sure that I’ve done it right. I don’t want a cracked block. Lol. Do I only have to pull all of the blue drain plugs to get the water out of the system or are there hoses that I need to disconnect as well? 
 

I do have a heater and I am assuming that I will need to disconnect it and blow the water out. 
 

Thanks. 

[Bozboat]

7 minutes ago, Suckerpunch said:

So…would you suggest pulling all drain plugs to drain the water, replacing plugs and then cycling antifreeze through the system with the boat running until it gets up to temp so that the t-stat opens up?  

1) drain water

(I don’t use antifreeze)

Of those who use antifreeze, I like the idea of removing the thermostat and pouring in straight antifreeze.

My boat is older so I don’t know specifically how to winterize yours, but I do believe you should drain all the water.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Bozboat

[Suckerpunch]

1 hour ago, Cole2001 said:

Closed or open cooling? Closed you should be fine, very minimal water. But open it would take a lot of anti freeze and likely be too diluted. 

It is open. I got it to temp and then hooked up my bucket with antifreeze. Ran the boat until I cycled all five gallons through and saw pink coming heavily out of the exhaust pipe. 

[Bozboat]

6 minutes ago, Suckerpunch said:

It is open. I got it to temp and then hooked up my bucket with antifreeze. Ran the boat until I cycled all five gallons through and saw pink coming heavily out of the exhaust pipe. 

Even at operating temperature the thermostat may open and close to balance the engine temperature. While the thermostat is closed, you could run many gallons out the exhaust and still have a block full of raw water 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Bozboat

[oldjeep]

9 hours ago, Suckerpunch said:

So…would you suggest pulling all drain plugs to drain the water, replacing plugs and then cycling antifreeze through the system with the boat running until it gets up to temp so that the t-stat opens up?  

Pull plugs, drain water.  Blow out heater core (with your mouth) if you have open cooling

Pour in antifreeze through the upper heater hose and the upper end of the circulation pump hose.  No need to pull thermostat, or even fill the block up that high.  I use 2 gallons a year, 3/4 of a gallon goes into/through the heater since that is the most likely place for water to sit.

[Woodski]

Make sure you drain block from both sides, one side will still leave raw water in the block.  Exhaust manifolds & block are your high cost parts propelling your boat, to ensure they don’t freeze and crack in cold climates simply drain them.  Each have removable plugs/hoses at their lowest points.  This applies to open cooling systems.  Draining the water can be done faster than reading this thread.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Woodski

[saskicker32]

How do I know which hose is the heater hoses? Also can you not just run the heater to move the water out of the lines?

 

Moved up in altitude and need to winterize for the first time seriously

[Rednucleus]

Running the heater just runs the blower fan; it does not circulate water.  Heater hoses go from the block toward your heater (under bow?) I put a "T" in my lower hose to drain; works great to put a shop vac on that.

[oldjeep]

1 hour ago, saskicker32 said:

How do I know which hose is the heater hoses? Also can you not just run the heater to move the water out of the lines?

 

Moved up in altitude and need to winterize for the first time seriously

The heater hoses are the 3/4 inch lines off the circulating pump and top of intake.  Sounds like you should enlist some help.  Already past winterizing time here.  Find someone to show you how the first time.

[saskicker32]

6 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

The heater hoses are the 3/4 inch lines off the circulating pump and top of intake.  Sounds like you should enlist some help.  Already past winterizing time here.  Find someone to show you how the first time.

Thank you! I'll take a look and should be able to find that, I just didn't know where to look. I luckily did not move that far up in altitude, just a few thousand feet so just light dustings of snow occasionally. 

[oldjeep]

23 minutes ago, saskicker32 said:

Thank you! I'll take a look and should be able to find that, I just didn't know where to look. I luckily did not move that far up in altitude, just a few thousand feet so just light dustings of snow occasionally. 

I live at 600ft and it has been below freezing on and off  for a couple weeks;)

Edited November 27, 2023 by oldjeep

[footndale]

Altitude has something to do with cold? Dang, those of us in Minnesota and Wisconsin should never freeze then.

[Suckerpunch]

On 11/27/2023 at 7:50 AM, oldjeep said:

Pull plugs, drain water.  Blow out heater core (with your mouth) if you have open cooling

Pour in antifreeze through the upper heater hose and the upper end of the circulation pump hose.  No need to pull thermostat, or even fill the block up that high.  I use 2 gallons a year, 3/4 of a gallon goes into/through the heater since that is the most likely place for water to sit.

Alright, I’ve pulled all of the blue plugs according to my owners manual and blown out/added some antifreeze into the hoses.

I did have a question about the exhaust manifold plugs. There was a blue plug on a hose under each exhaust manifold that came off of a tee fitting that was located under where the exhaust manifolds come together in the middle of the engine. Was that the drain plug for the exhaust manifolds or do I need to pull the 1/2 inch square drive plugs that are located at the bottom of the manifolds?

[Woodski]

If that drain point is below the manifolds and a low point, yes.  As long as there is no blockage from the manifold fitting to the blue plug that should allow the water to drain.

[Leftlane]

I just drain the water out by pulling the blue plugs, then vacuuming out all the water from the bilge.  I reinstall the plugs, then hook up a Twin Hornet bilge heater that automatically kicks on at 40 degrees and is certified safe for closed bilges.  This usually takes me about 3 hours - that breaks down as follows:

2 hours loudly cursing every boat manufacturer ever (and really everything else on earth while I’m at it) for making it so damn hard to get to some of these plugs unless you are a 2 foot tall contortionist with no bones and superhuman fingertip strength who can perform tasks upside down while blindfolded

45 minutes yelling at the clouds after I drop a stupid blue plug and it immediately vanishes into the darkest black hole ever discovered

15 minutes of actually doing real work.

I then usually drive myself to the emergency room to have my ribs X-rayed, after being sideways and upside down, slipping and cracking my chest on something with zero cushion.  While there I’ll have them look at all the random cuts, scrapes, and tears on my hands and arms.  When I’m done, I then commence praying that I actually did this right, while I watch the weather hit 85 degrees and sunny for the next 2 months.  
 

Your experience might vary.