winterization of a4
- Thread starter rickcrane
- Start date
You might want to check in at this forum/site:
http://www.moyermarine.com//forums/index.php
My diesel has closed-cooling, so I do not normally have to worry about the block.
Is your engine raw water cooled or does it have a heat exchanger and closed cooling with antifreeze in the block??
Loren
http://www.moyermarine.com//forums/index.php
My diesel has closed-cooling, so I do not normally have to worry about the block.
Is your engine raw water cooled or does it have a heat exchanger and closed cooling with antifreeze in the block??
Loren
Advice from the peanut gallery
It takes under a gallon on pink antifreeze to fill up the raw water side of our engine until some pink water appears at the exhaust and we immediately shut the engine down until spring.
If you can remove the intake hose from the thru hull and drop it into a bucket of antifreeze.... I wonder how much has to get slurped in before it will appear at your exhaust outlet?
It would be best, IMHO, if you can do something like that to fill all the water passages in the block and hoses with antifreeze...
Of course, I'm just guessing here, never having owned a raw water cooled inboard engine.
Loren
It takes under a gallon on pink antifreeze to fill up the raw water side of our engine until some pink water appears at the exhaust and we immediately shut the engine down until spring.
If you can remove the intake hose from the thru hull and drop it into a bucket of antifreeze.... I wonder how much has to get slurped in before it will appear at your exhaust outlet?
It would be best, IMHO, if you can do something like that to fill all the water passages in the block and hoses with antifreeze...
Of course, I'm just guessing here, never having owned a raw water cooled inboard engine.
Loren
Walter Pearson
Member III
Much of this might be overkill because of your location and your worry level, but these are some of my thoughts:
Just going by 'pink' A/F might just get you the -50degF RV stuff, but I think it's best to get the A/F (propylene glycol-based) formulated for engine storage. I've purchased several brands over the years and they are not all pink in color. The RV, potable water A/F doesn't need much water dilution to affect its freeze point, whereas the engine type can be good to -100degF and withstands mixing with residual water better - and may even have a dilution chart.
The residual water issue I attacked by draining the entire system before drawing in any A/F. I drained at engine front and back, exhaust manifold and standpipe muffler. In my area, the incoming water is cold, and even after changing oil and running the engine, the thermostat position was hardly ever in the warm mode, so I would remove it after draining. (I also had a separate bypass valve that could be closed to ensure coolant was directed through the engine, but taking the t'stat out made sure it was not a barrier and also let me see inside somewhat to check for corrosion byproducts, etc.) If this step is done and the engine is then started to pull in A/F, remember the nuts for the t'stat housing are on headbolts and should be re-torqued to 35 ft-lbs. If you are careful with the gasket and keep it entirely to either one surface or the other, it can withstand many cycles of dis-assembly and re-assembly. (But it's not a bad idea to have this and other gaskets for spares.) Hope this helps more than confuses.
I had a dedicated 5-gallon pail with an outlet valve near the bottom and a wooden platform underneath that I set on the quarterberth (cushion removed) to feed the A/F. I usually overdid it with probably three plus gallons and saved the remainder for the next year. I started the engine at low idle, checked for A/F out the transom, stumbled down the companionway in a panic and immediately sprayed fogging oil into the carb intake until the engine quit. Some years, the fogging oil did not quite choke off the engine and I would have to go up the companionway in another panic to turn the key.
Other things to consider then would include removing spark plugs and spraying additional fogging oil into the cylinders; turning the engine over a couple of revs by hand and repeat. I always drained the carb and put aluminized plastic bags over all openings to the engine. I know some get by with much more minimal procedures, but I slept better in the winter this way.
Just going by 'pink' A/F might just get you the -50degF RV stuff, but I think it's best to get the A/F (propylene glycol-based) formulated for engine storage. I've purchased several brands over the years and they are not all pink in color. The RV, potable water A/F doesn't need much water dilution to affect its freeze point, whereas the engine type can be good to -100degF and withstands mixing with residual water better - and may even have a dilution chart.
The residual water issue I attacked by draining the entire system before drawing in any A/F. I drained at engine front and back, exhaust manifold and standpipe muffler. In my area, the incoming water is cold, and even after changing oil and running the engine, the thermostat position was hardly ever in the warm mode, so I would remove it after draining. (I also had a separate bypass valve that could be closed to ensure coolant was directed through the engine, but taking the t'stat out made sure it was not a barrier and also let me see inside somewhat to check for corrosion byproducts, etc.) If this step is done and the engine is then started to pull in A/F, remember the nuts for the t'stat housing are on headbolts and should be re-torqued to 35 ft-lbs. If you are careful with the gasket and keep it entirely to either one surface or the other, it can withstand many cycles of dis-assembly and re-assembly. (But it's not a bad idea to have this and other gaskets for spares.) Hope this helps more than confuses.
I had a dedicated 5-gallon pail with an outlet valve near the bottom and a wooden platform underneath that I set on the quarterberth (cushion removed) to feed the A/F. I usually overdid it with probably three plus gallons and saved the remainder for the next year. I started the engine at low idle, checked for A/F out the transom, stumbled down the companionway in a panic and immediately sprayed fogging oil into the carb intake until the engine quit. Some years, the fogging oil did not quite choke off the engine and I would have to go up the companionway in another panic to turn the key.
Other things to consider then would include removing spark plugs and spraying additional fogging oil into the cylinders; turning the engine over a couple of revs by hand and repeat. I always drained the carb and put aluminized plastic bags over all openings to the engine. I know some get by with much more minimal procedures, but I slept better in the winter this way.