Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

I am going to pick up my new boat with Innovation 600's, and have to winterize it as soon as I get it. What do I need to do on a closed cooling motor to winterize.

Corey

Re: Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

Only concerns should be the sea water/raw water part of system.. The closed portion has coolant/antifreeze throughout.

Depends too on how they plumbed the edxhaust manifolds and risers. On mine the manifolds are part of close cooling system, the risers are raw/sea water. Also have to drain the coolers (oil, transmission, P/S), the raw/sea water side of the heat excahnger, the raw water pump and outdrives.

If you've got A/C and a vacu-flush or other sea water terlet--got drain them as well.

The engine manual should give you a procedure.

Re: Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

Instead of draining my heat exhanger and oil/PS coolers, couldn't I just filll 'em up with antifreeze too?

Re: Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

You can run the pink antifreeze through the raw water side.
Just make sure the closed side is filled with antifreeze, and not plain water.

Re: Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

Check the coolant in the motor to be sure it has the proper mix of antifreeze and water.

Re: Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

I didn't think about running anitfreeze thru the raw water side--living here in central FL at least I don't have that problem with my boat.

Mine has the raw water pickups thru the bottom of the hull so I'd need on of those " Fake Lake" flush devices, If youyr pick ups are on transom I guess there is a similar contraption to get the coolant in there also.

Re: Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

525 has orange Dextrol coolant...better than green

Re: Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

Yeah, what's with that stuff... I've been out of the marine biz for a while and would like to know more about the change and it's advantages....

A friend told me that it's great stuff but once it gets dirty, it's junk. This may not be the same but my friend who told me about the problems in cars pointed me here; http://www.consumeraffairs.com/print...m_dexcool.html

Re: Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

Its hasnt gotten the nickname "Deathcool" for nothing! Actually form the concensus on the truck boards i frequent, it seems the problems arrise when the coolant gets air in the system. Not in the overflow tank but in the radiator or engine block....from that point on it starts to make a sludge and starts turning dark in color to a brown (first signs somethings wrong) In the GM family of trucks with the 5.7's it is a crappy intake gasket thats starts leaking in the rear....and most people dont notice it till its too late since most people dont check fluids like they should. My 1996 3/4 ton burban had the dexcool in the 454 when i bought it. It looked like it was just starting to turn colors......so i flushed it all out and went with the original grren stuff......35k miles later and no problems to date and still looks neon green like it came out of the bottle! :D

Re: Winterizing a closed cooling motor???'s
 

I had the "mud" problem last year and went thru a lot of money and time trying fins a cause. This starts to explain what was going on inside engine--it only occurred on my starboard engine. I may have gotten the mix ratio screwed up with more then 50% coolant in the system. Would that cause the problem?

How about a little more detail on what causes the problem or what the "Deathcool" does that makes this happen.

Wish I had seen this 10 days ago--we drained most of the "Deathcool".

Should I drain and flush the system and go to another coolant (closed cooling system) or just leave it alone?