I'm a little concerned about overheating while trying to winterize. I filled a five gallon bucken and stuck a 3 foot hose attached to muffs and winterized in that method. It takes too long to suck that down. The way i have my fuel return system hooked up now, I sucked my 1 gallon of winter fuel mixture in about a minute or two. In that time period, it had only sucked half the five gallon bucket. I then reverted to a funnel and pouring the antifreeze in that way. That made things a little quicker, but not night and day difference. By the time the antifreeze made it to the exhuast it steamed it pretty good. It was about 50 degrees out as well; and I had the block drained before i started this antifreeze. The engine was luke warm at best when i started. After I shut down, the exhuast manifolds were pretty hot, but i could keep my hand on them.....Did I overheat this thing, or do I need to quit being a worry wort....................I worried about warping the block or cast heads............

did you have the bucket sitting on a ladder high enough so that gravity helped flow the anti freeze into the muffs?

Usually muffs only work good with a good amount of hose pressure to force the water into the drive. I did a buddies on muffs and we ended up sitting the bucket on top of a 6' ladder and let it flow that way. Seemed to work good.

gotta gravity feed with the muffs.... even if you're using a flush system I still like to gravity feed the juice... you can never be too safe so why chance it!

5 gallon gas can with the filler neck hooked to a hose down to the muffs works really well also! When you're ready, fire up the engine and immediately turn the gas can on its side to start the flow of juice!

I wouldn't be worried about the engine as far as overheating. If you could hold your hand on the manifold then it didn't get hoe enough to hurt anything. However, I would change the impeller. It sounds like it was partially starved for water. Only pulling a gallon a minute is no where near enough to keep the pump cool. You should change the impeller in the spring anyway, so no big deal. Wait until spring to change it so it does not sit all winter and have time to dry out and take a shape to the housing. Good luck.
Eddie

Yeah, probably should have had it up high. My fault. At this point i just want to know if i risked damaging the motor. Once the fluid finally got in there, which took three separate 2 minute sessions due to running out of my little gas can of gas, the water temp read about 150. I was just worried about what was going on before it got filled. But again, it was 2 sessions of 2 gallons a piece, which litteraly took about 2 to 2.5 minutes a piece before i had to quit. And end result was i could still leave my hand on the manifold.

I'll change the impeller in the spring as suggested. And next year winterizing, i'll come up with a different system for getting the antifreeze in.

I did the same as you. I could not believe how fast my 350 twins sucked 5-6 gallons a piece. Im betting it was 1-2 minutes at best and the bucket was empty. Sounds like a weak impellar. No way you damaged the motor.

I'll just add, don't change the impeller until the spring. That was it doesn't have to sit all winter and deform inside the housing.



Darrell.

I use a bilge pump in the bucket with long leads and hook it to the battery.

Ditto that, a small pump to help get the antifreeze to the outdrive makes the whole process much simpler...

I use the merc muffs with the pin thru the middle and a 5 gallon bucket on the ground, if everything is sealed good, should start sucking while you are cranking and when it starts, It should suck up the antifreeze in no time at all, when it comes out the exaust, your done.