31 sonic questions
 

Spend most of our time in bay off Long Point in Lake Erie which is shallow in places and changing impellers can be a regular occurance my question is will the flushing hook up on the transon clean out the sand in the outdrives if I hook a hose up and flush it out? I believe the reason they are there is to flush out the salt water but will it flush only the water jackets or the drives as well.

A hose won't flush it, the sea water pumps pump more than a hose can. You need sea strainers.

Actually, yes, the transom water pick up will back flush the drives. When you turn on the water, it will go as far as the SWP, and then it will flow backwards until you turn on the engine(s). This is a great way to backflush crapola out of the drive/water pickup(s).

The only pitfall would be if you have a check-ball type flush installed, which Sonic did NOT install at the factory. The check-ball is basically a one way valve that does not let water run back toward the drive. Perko makes a setup like this.

If you hook the water up to your transom, and turn on the hose, and water is spewing out the outdrive, you are good to go. The more water pressure you can force through there, the more you will flush out your drive. Your system should have no problems handling 35 psi or so for short bursts like flushing.

(Just in case its not clear, you have to fire the engine(s) and run them long enough to heat everything up and open the thermostat(s) for a full engine flush from SWP to exhaust, including the block. If you have closed cooling like a 496 or 525EFI, there is no thermostat in the sea water side of the cooling system.)


G4B makes a great point. Sea Strainers would do wonders for your cooling system when there is that much risk of debris. Hardin Marine also just released a Sand Strainer, but I have no insight as to how well they work.

Do you actually have sand staying in the drives? I assumed you were sucking it into the motors, guess I should read a little more carefully.

Thanks for the information I will try it this weekend and see what I can get out of there.It sounds like I better get some more info on sea strainers as I am not familiar with them.Thanks guys.