Quick winerize question
 

I helped a friend winterize his raw water cooled, 330hp, 454, alpha 1. We ran about 5 gallons of antifreeze through the system after we warmed it up, and fogged down the motor (2 stroke oil through the carb) We did NOT pull any drain plugs on the engine, I say we should but he has it all buttoned up, is this the essential, or could we just let it be?
Thanks in advance everyone!!

some will say pull them, others will not, i've personally never drained the antifreeze out, my baja with a 454 mpi went to wisconsin last year in jan and everything was good to go for the new owner in the spring

I would...

i also drain it

If you want to be 100% safe, drain it.

If you are going to the trouble of pulling the plugs, I'd done it before hand, then fill with antifreeze, and then leave it full.

If you want to see what protection he has at their point to be absolutely sure, check with an freeze/boil checker. 1 min to check.

If your mixture is 50/50 or stronger and you made sure to run the whole 5 gallons and watched it green out the exhaust, good to go. Many years done here and no probs.

And I agree if you want to do the plugs, pull the thermostat and fill her back up last.

Note: make sure your thermostat opens up before you run the antifreeze.

I live in Canada, so, winterizing is something pretty familiar, lol

A suggestion? If you do
Plan on pulling the drain plugs, replace them with "petcocks" the same thing they install on automotive radiators, then you can just open the petcocks when you want to drain the block, much easier than crawling around in the bilge trying to spin out drain plugs. Some people drain the block, close the petcocks and fill the block with antifreeze/water. I used to just open the petcocks let the water drain and leave them
Open for winter.

Michael

Joe, I've never drained down anti-freezed/winterized engines after they're fogged.

The main question I have is did you drain the block/manifolds down after it was warmed up, then run the antifreeze thru it?

If you ran it on the hose, then switched over to antifreeze without draining it first, I'd be a little worried because you don't get a perfect mixture. I always warm it up fully. Drain the block and manifolds, then run fresh -50 even -60 or -100 thru it.

Panther's right. You should have drained the warm motor and then run AF. Leave the AF in there for corrosion protection.

+1

I warm-up on water to open T-stat, drain water out, replace plugs and run about 5 gallons of anti-freeze that has a corrosion inhibitor and leave it in.

to be safe,i always drain the system,then add antifreeze,i sleep beter knowing it is done right,i feel that just running af threw the system on a hose is like playing russian roulet.

Frank, (and everyone else) I did not drain it after warm up, just ran the 5 gallons (not diluted) straight through, I did this last year as well, on mine and my friends and didn't have a problem, but now I'm not feeling so confident n this :angry-smiley-038:

I also use the green stuff, straight, not the 50/50 mix.

Why use the green stuff and not the pink stuff?

If you used the automotive stuff, you should be more than protected. Used to use the green too yrs ago, but just too much of a issue anymore. The cost of the RV stuff is cheap enough that you can run twice the amount thru and be fine, and not have to worry about catching it on startup.

this year we drained the blocks completly (even started it for 5seconds with the plugs out to ensure it was empty). put the plugs back in and then run each motor for 5-10 minutes until warm using an antifreeze loop. at that point we change the oil, fuel filter, and fog it. we never drain the antifreeze back out. my 0.02.

It's probably stupid, but I trust the green stuff better. I never had an automotive engine break with even the wrong mixture

Thanks everyone for the replies, my buddy wants to leave it as is so we'll roll the dice again.

If I start a thread in April about a sprinkler in a buddys boat we all know what happened :angry-smiley-038:

I hope with green stuff your doing the first start up in your driveway and rinsing it down hard core.

Use the pink stuff fellas, better for everybody and cheaper. Taking out the plugs or leaving them, do what you want. The pink stuff is good till -30 so youll be fine.

We run hose off the exhaust and collect 90% of what comes out, We do the first start-up in the same manner come spring, I hate anti-freeze in general so the neater it is the more i can deal with it.

the pink stuff we have is good to -100.

yeah i cant remember mine might be too thought the last number i saw was -30. Either way my as well just leave it in. And if you start up in a lake or driveway nobody is getting hurt by it and dont have to worry about ditching the green stuff somewhere.

Pink is either -50 or -100

x2...and generally priced

-50 = $4.99
-100 = $9.99

per gallon of course...