Closed Cooling on a 496 MAG Question
 

I am lost on this, hopefully someone can explain this to me.

Assume 90% use in ocean saltwater. On bigger boats with inboards, it is my experience is the heat exchanger takes all the abuse from the salt water and replacing heat exchanger/seacock parts was justified because it was cheaper than engine block parts.

A 496 MAG must have a heat exchanger, right?

And if so, can I flush that portion to keep it clean and salt free?

Also, is there a seacock through the hall or just the intakes on the drive, like raw water cooling?

Thanks in advance for helping me understand this

Chris

Re: Closed Cooling on a 496 MAG Question
 

yes, you can either pump it out with the valve on the exchanger and the attached hand pump or you can slap some muffs on your out drive and flush it normally at the wash rack, either way is fine.

Re: Closed Cooling on a 496 MAG Question
 

Flush with muffs first to get rid of the salt water and then pump that out with valve and hand pump would be the best.

Just pumping out the salt water without flushing would still leave salt on everything.

Re: Closed Cooling on a 496 MAG Question
 

Chris, I responded to your other post. I installed a fresh water flush fitting right before my sea water pump to run the engine on a hose, and flush all of the sea water portion.

As for the pump out option with the air pump fitting. I would be more inclinded to leave salt water in the salt water side, rather than pump it out. When you pump out the salt water, you expose the salt treated metal to air, which accelerates rust and corrosion. Yes, leaving salt water in there is bad too, as flushing with fresh water is the only way to go, but having it dry with just salt sitting on the metal is the worst.