FormulaONE
New member
Hello everyone,
I decided to check on the boat yesterday ( 1999 Formula 41pc) as we just had a few days of frigid temperatures dipping into single digits at night just to make sure everything looked good. During my inspection of the engine room I discovered a small amount of engine antifreeze resting on top of the port exhaust manifold. Upon closer inspection it appears that the gasket on the water jacket cover was leaking since the antifreeze was localized around it ( see photo ) and not only that but there was also antifreeze located around an auxiliary heater line bung just aft of the leaking cover.
To determine if the fluid was engine antifreeze or pink from the winterization, I cracked the aux bung open to compare. To my surprise the system had a small amount of pressure and a couple of ounces of antifreeze spilled out. Keep in mind that the engines have not been ran since October. So my main question is, what would cause the system to have pressure?
My fear is that maybe I did not properly winterize and one of the coolers expanded causing the excess pressure.
My theory ( comfort ) is that the cooling system just retained some pressure that was not relieved since the last time she ran in October. Which I suppose would be a good thing that it held pressure for this long.
Now to compare, I cracked open the pressure cap on the stb engine and it did hiss as there was a small amount of pressure as well.
My procedure for winterizing is the same as on my last boat ( Sea Ray 330 twin 7.4 mpi) which is run 6 gallons of antifreeze through the engines while confirming that the pink stuff is flowing out of the exhaust. I know this may start a HUGE debate but I use Supertech -50* as I’ve done since I’ve owned my Sea Ray with 0 issues in the past.
I will be ordering the gasket for the water jacket cover for both engines and replacing them in the spring. I am just curious if I should also attack the after cooler and heat exchanger and service them as well. The engines have just under 1000 hours and the after coolers have never been serviced ( boat has been in brackish/fresh water since 2003 )
Any input or advice or similar experiences would be awesome to hear!
Thank you!
-Bob
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I decided to check on the boat yesterday ( 1999 Formula 41pc) as we just had a few days of frigid temperatures dipping into single digits at night just to make sure everything looked good. During my inspection of the engine room I discovered a small amount of engine antifreeze resting on top of the port exhaust manifold. Upon closer inspection it appears that the gasket on the water jacket cover was leaking since the antifreeze was localized around it ( see photo ) and not only that but there was also antifreeze located around an auxiliary heater line bung just aft of the leaking cover.
To determine if the fluid was engine antifreeze or pink from the winterization, I cracked the aux bung open to compare. To my surprise the system had a small amount of pressure and a couple of ounces of antifreeze spilled out. Keep in mind that the engines have not been ran since October. So my main question is, what would cause the system to have pressure?
My fear is that maybe I did not properly winterize and one of the coolers expanded causing the excess pressure.
My theory ( comfort ) is that the cooling system just retained some pressure that was not relieved since the last time she ran in October. Which I suppose would be a good thing that it held pressure for this long.
Now to compare, I cracked open the pressure cap on the stb engine and it did hiss as there was a small amount of pressure as well.
My procedure for winterizing is the same as on my last boat ( Sea Ray 330 twin 7.4 mpi) which is run 6 gallons of antifreeze through the engines while confirming that the pink stuff is flowing out of the exhaust. I know this may start a HUGE debate but I use Supertech -50* as I’ve done since I’ve owned my Sea Ray with 0 issues in the past.
I will be ordering the gasket for the water jacket cover for both engines and replacing them in the spring. I am just curious if I should also attack the after cooler and heat exchanger and service them as well. The engines have just under 1000 hours and the after coolers have never been serviced ( boat has been in brackish/fresh water since 2003 )
Any input or advice or similar experiences would be awesome to hear!
Thank you!
-Bob
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
