Easy and cheap set up for antifreeze


H

HitfrequenSEAII

Administrator
Try this.

$11.00 concrete mixing tub from Home Depot
$65.00 1/6 horsepower pump with garden hose connection
$12.00 10 foot long hose

Drain block and hoses, put plugs back in. Put tub under drive. Fill tub with antifreeze. Put pump in tub. Connect hose from pump to ear muff's. Have wife turn on pump. Start engine and run til up to operating temp. Fog engine. Engine stalls. Wife turns off pump. All done.

I used this set up to witerize the Generator and the AC. No carting jugs of antifreeze around. Just a garden hose.

PS. Make sure wife is around to keep the tub full. ;D
 
I have done it that way also, but on the a/c and genset, i installed a 1/2 inch boiler drain cock inline on the suction side of each, and attach my garden hose there. Some people backflush the a/c with antifreeze from the thru hull on the outside of the boat. It is easier if yours is not a combination discharge like mine. Good Luck.
 
I actually follow the factory manual, and drain the entire sytem thru the block/manifold drain cocks, and then the 2 or 3 hoses they tell you to pull off (bottom water pump, bottom seawater pump, and tranny cooler). Then I reinstall the hoses, close the plugs, and fill manually with anti-freeze thru the thermostat housing, and put a new thermostat in. Then I fill the exhaust manifolds with antifreeze thru their top hoses.

This may sound like more work, but it's quite easy, and ensures no trapped freshwater and less air pockets.

Air pockets are bad over extended time, really accelerates cast iron corrosion. The first year I sucked antifreeze, it never made it to the tranny cooler even after 5 gallons. Tranny cooler froze and burst. Expensive F-up :(
 
74Formula233 said:
I actually follow the factory manual, and drain the entire sytem thru the block/manifold drain cocks, and then the 2 or 3 hoses they tell you to pull off (bottom water pump, bottom seawater pump, and tranny cooler).  Then I reinstall the hoses, close the plugs, and fill manually with anti-freeze thru the thermostat housing, and put a new thermostat in.  Then I fill the exhaust manifolds with antifreeze thru their top hoses.

This may sound like more work, but it's quite easy, and ensures no trapped freshwater and less air pockets.

Air pockets are bad over extended time, really accelerates cast iron corrosion.  The first year I sucked antifreeze, it never made it to the tranny cooler even after 5 gallons.  Tranny cooler froze and burst.  Expensive F-up :(
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If my oil coolers freeze its your fault for jinxing me :p
 
said:
74Formula233 said:
I actually follow the factory manual, and drain the entire sytem thru the block/manifold drain cocks, and then the 2 or 3 hoses they tell you to pull off (bottom water pump, bottom seawater pump, and tranny cooler).  Then I reinstall the hoses, close the plugs, and fill manually with anti-freeze thru the thermostat housing, and put a new thermostat in.  Then I fill the exhaust manifolds with antifreeze thru their top hoses.

This may sound like more work, but it's quite easy, and ensures no trapped freshwater and less air pockets.

Air pockets are bad over extended time, really accelerates cast iron corrosion.  The first year I sucked antifreeze, it never made it to the tranny cooler even after 5 gallons.  Tranny cooler froze and burst.  Expensive F-up :(
Click to expand...


If my oil coolers freeze its your fault for jinxing me :p
Click to expand...

LOL, I found out the hard way, but it only happens once ;)
 
I have an 06 34PC. 496's, CWC, BIII. This is my first boat with CWC. I have always winterized my boats using a bucket of antifreeze and muffs to flush the cooling system. It was easy and seemed to work well. With this boat there does not seem to be a need to flush the engine since it already has a closed antifreeze/coolant circuit, however, is it advisable to still flush the raw water side and can't that be done without running the engine? Also, I live in the Chicago area, what antifreeze should I use in the water, genset, and AC. In the past I have used -100, is that overkill since it sure is a lot more costly that the pink stuff -50.
 
THE CLOSED COOLING ENGINES STILL HAVE A RAW WATER PUMP AND INTERCHANGER THAT COOLS THE ANTIFREEZE. YOU CAN HOOK A GARDEN HOSE ONTO THE FLUSH FITTING INSIDE THE ENGINE ROOM ON EACH ENGINE. CONNECT TO YOUR ANTI-FREEZE THIS WAY. I RECOMMEND USING A NON TOXIC ANTI-FREEZE THAT HAS CORROSION PROTECTION. GOOD LUCK.
 
Castines said:
The big question.  Does it have to be running?  We dont want to fill the cycliners with antifreeze!
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No, if you end up with water in your engine after flushing your manifolds with it not running, it means your riser gaskets are leaking, or you have a rust-thru hole somewhere internally in your manifold(s).
 
OK, it makes sense that the engine does not need to be running but what is the best location to introduce the antifreeze into the raw water side of the system? I looked for a hose connection on the inlet side of the seawater pump but did not see one. Does that come standard from Mercruiser or do I need to install one? I will send a midget in for a closer look in case I missed it. If I do not have one can the solution be pumped into one of the blue drain ports on the seawater pump or through the sterndrive with muffs? It seems like once you have a system it should be pretty easy.
 
I believe the flush connection is on top next to the stbd riser on each engine if equiped.  this line goes down to a y just before the raw water pump.
 
I used to drain the motor entirely, then would fill the motor back up with antifreeze thru the thermostat housing, and when done would put in a new T-Stat for next year.

The manifolds, just pull the top hoses, fill till it overflows inside the risers and dribbles out your exhaust ports. Put the hoses back on.

My Tranny Cooler I used to just pull the hoses and drain it, since both in/out hoses were on the bottom and no water would get trapped. Easy hoses to get to on mie.

My raw-water pump was on the very bottom of my motor, so I pulled off the supply hose and drained all that. I didn't worry about filling that with antifreeze since it drained totally. Had to take out the alternator to do that. Very easy though. 2 Bolts and 1 Wire.

;)
 
Talked to Mercruiser today. The flush connection for the raw water side of the CWC is an option that must be installed as a kit. So, it looks like I'll use the muffs and pump the antifreeze in this year and install the flush valve next year.
 
Flushed the seawater side with antifreeze today using muffs, 5 gallon bucket with a hose connected to the bottom for draining, and one of those impeller pumps that fit on a drill. Drained water from systerm, started antifreeze flowing using drill pump pulling from bucket, started motor, waited for antifreeze to exit exhaust, shut off motor. Done...... you need two people but both motors took about 20 minutes and took a total of about 5 gallons. I wasn't really worried about freezing since the new 406's have a really nice drain system but wanted the corrosion protection of the antifreeze.
 
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