opions on 2 different ways to winterinze the engine cooling system.
 

I would like to hear people opinions about 2 different ways to winterize the engine cooling system with red pop.
I am using the -50f stuff in the engine and the engines are open raw water cooled.

The first way is the traditional way of letting the thermostat open while running the engine then letting the water pump suck in the red pop and letting the stuff sit in the engine block for the winter.

The second way is doing the same thing except after the engine is shut off I open would open the petcocks and let the stuff drain out so the cooling passages are empty.
The reason behind this is IF the red pop was diluted and had a slush point higher than 10F there would be room for the slush to expand and not damage anything. I realize that NOT having the red pop in there does nothing to protect the metal. Also, the way I am getting the red pop into the motor is I am using the winterizer jug from Camco

i would say method 2 is the better choice but im not a fan of the jug at all. you dont like the warm em up drain em and then fill em back up from the t stat housing method?

On my cruiser, I warm the motors up, then opened the drains for the blocks and exhaust manifolds and the lowest hose. That removed most all of the water. Then reinstalled the drains and hooked my flush to the drive and ran till AF came out the exhaust, then ran another 1-2 gals thru just to make sure no dilution. That boat sits on the lift and sees freezing temps, so wanted the highest concentration. Only takes a few minutes longer to drain and will eliminate the chance of dilution when ran with AF

My Fountain is home garage kept, never gets below freezing. There I just ran to temp, then ran 6gals of AF thru. It may not be 100% non diluted, but I don't need -25* protection.
Both boats are kept with the AF in them for the rust inhibitors. Not a fan of empty blocks. Opinions vary on that though

drain all the water out first,put the plugs back in, pour anti freeze down the hose run the motor to get the air out, then top off, i leave all my plugs out exchaust and block and impropeller plate,stabil my fuel and fog motor with 2cycle oil down the carb,couple guys that race opa showed me that 8 years ago and never had a problem,

Do exactly as US F said. It's not good to leave it dry in any way. Run the stabilizers through while warming it up on the hose, then fog when about done with running pure AF.

Depending on what you do with your out drive, there are 3 ways of doing it I think.
The best imo is to remove it after the hose run and drain it, plug the inlet holes and exhaust up, fill with AF and store inside. That is what I do.
Second option is the same, but leave it on the boat and still run the AF from the raw water hose in the bilge.
Third is to run the AF into the muffs after draining. One more thing I do 1-2 seconds before the motor stops from the fogging or shut down, is to block the exhaust with a bunch of rags, just to leave the exhaust wet from the AF. If you use method 3, then plug up the drive quickly, to keep the AF in there.

Pull your thermostats out - fill a tub with antifreeze mix, pump it through with a sump pump hooked up to your fresh water flush system. Cut if off when you start to see AF coming out your exhaust.

LOL I love it

That directed at me?!?!

That is basically what I do every year....

Not trying to be a smart azz but being in the marine business I see a lot of engines boogered up either due to freeze damage or stripped out thermostat housings with silicone hanging out the sides. We sell thermostats with gaskets every year to people who use this method. There is no benefit in pulling out the thermostat. If you understand the water system, what you do need to do is DRAIN THE BLOCK AND MANIFOLDS. After this, you pump your antifreeze in.
Never use the pink antifreeze that is designed for water systems....always use the blue that has anti-corrosion additives.
Just my 2 cents!

My buddies and I have been doing this for years works great not one problem.

The pink stuff has the rust inhibitors additives.

I don't have thermostats so it isn't really an issue. On our outboards part of our yearly maintenance was to pull the stats at the start of the year, inspect them closely, and then throw them as far off the end of the pier as you could.

I am not sure a person should be doing their own winterization if they can't R&R a thermostat housing without f-ing everything up.

Bottom line is my way is simple and effective.

You guys go through a lot of work! I have had my boat in the Midwest where it does freeze for the last 9 years and all I do is run the green coolant directly through the ear muffs until it comes out of the exhaust and then turn it off. The only hard part that I do is to take a sample out of the block and check that it is good. I have never had a problem.

I have been doing the jug thing myself for a few years. I have never drained the blocks except for the one year I had a water pump problem, and could not get AF into the motor.

I am going to switch to a setup that will allow me to run the motor on AF all the way from cold to warm. Basically the motor will circulate the AF for 30 mins or so. This is the way a marina I used to work at did it, so I am going to start doing that next year.

I have come up with a design that will only cost about $100 for the pump, hose, muffs, hoses to return the AF from the tips and the tub.

Just a question. If you recirculate the same fluid for 30 min, aren't you concerned about overheating? I assume you still flush with water first, so that all the salt and dirt ect. don't recirculate in the system with the AF.

The AF I like to use is this. AMSOIL Antifreeze & Coolant
It has the corrosion inhibitor in it, and is a super long life formula (whatever that is, it sounds good). I also use it in the closed cooling system during the season.

I was just using 30 min as a number. Basically it will circulate untill the temps come up to open the thermostat. THen I will know that the AF is all the way through the motor. I run in fresh water only so salt is not a concern.

Question, how many gallons on average do you run through your engines? I think we ran about 4-4.5 through each engine this season.

Minimum 5. Usually 6+.

Same here.

Depends if you drained the block and hoses. If so, any more after the AF starts coming out is just wasted.

Same here too, I've been doing this for eight years on my Wellcraft, no problems. Matter of fact after Turkey dinner tomorrow this is what I'll be doing. :drink:

I never could undersrand why guys look for the easy way out on winterizing. Wont spend 30 extra bucks to get -100 pure polyglycol. Read the ingredients on the pink stuff its not glycol it's methyl alchohol. As to the way you do it if you just start the engine till you see antifreeze out the exhaust remember the block is being bypassed until thermostat opens. If you wait until engine is up to temp then switch over to glycol you will PROBABLY be ok. Really want to take a $5000 gamble cause it takes longer to drain system first? I have seen cracked blocks from not draining prior to glycol addition. One more point the minus 50 antifreeze is no longer a liquid at about 10 degrees ABOVE zero. The minus 50 is the temp which it expands to burst pressure. Minus100 stays liquid til minus 30 or so.