Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

[ryanr623]

For the past 2 weeks here it has been unseasonably warm (toledo, oh) 70's and 80's. So, i decided to dewinterize the boat, because i figured it wouldnt get below freezing again this season. Many other people i know did as well. I drained the AF, changed the oil, spark plugs and lower unit oil.... and let her run on muffs for a while.

Well yesterday it rained, and this morning i woke up to little bits of slush on my windshield while driving to work. I found out it was 32 last night.

Im assuming that it must be well below freezing, and for many days, before it freezes all the way through to crack anything in the engine, but i am a worry wort who fixes every little thing, and i am worried. Can someone tell me if this is bad!?!?

 

[Jeepster04]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

If it just touched 32F over night you should be just fine. Since it was up around 70F for a couple of days the block was probably pretty warm, it would take a decent freeze to get the block down to freezing. And actually freeze the block enough to crack.

It doesnt take 10 minutes to drain the block so why not drain it? We bought a new boat a couple of weeks ago and I was just curious how long it would take to drain the block. I had all 5 drain plugs out in under 5 minutes.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

but i am a worry wort who fixes every little thing, and i am worried. Can someone tell me if this is bad!?!?

can't help ya other than to say what has happened has happened. it's either cracked or not cracked. time will tell.
best thing i can say is that if ya think your gonna have some below freezing temps after your up and running. just drain ALL the water out of it. air don't freeze and therefore your protected...

fwiw. i summerized last weekend. i saw some possible below freezing temps in the forecast so i drained my manifold and block. sure enough. got down to 25* one night. yes, i still worry, did i do it right. but i know i did and if i didn't it wasn't for lack of trying. the consequences will show up one way or the other. nothing i can do about them other than my best to try and avoid the consequences...

good luck with her..

 

[boat1010]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

32 deg will not freeze hard enough to crack your block if it is just overnight. 32 deg will not even freeze water on the ground if it has been warm during the day. no worries.

 

[ryanr623]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

32 deg will not freeze hard enough to crack your block if it is just overnight. 32 deg will not even freeze water on the ground if it has been warm during the day. no worries.

Thats what i figured, thanks!

 

[180shabah]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

...so have you drained it yet???

 

[boat1010]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

I was a little curious. Most of the things that you mentioned are things that "normally" are done when you winterize the boat. I always like to change the oil when winterizing it so I know that there isn't any impurities or a little water from condensation in the motor. And change the lower unit oil to make sure there isn't any water in it to freeze. And you said that you changed the "AF" I am assuming that is antifreeze? I use to just use antifreeze to winterize my boat but after listening to most on iboats I have changed to draining the water out of the block. I just put a new motor in my boat $6,000 and didn't want to take any chances of having it freeze. I found that it was quite a bit easier to just drain it than all I went through to put antifreeze in it. Like I said at the beginning, I was just curious to see if you had reasons for the way you winterize. I figure I'm never too old to learn something new or look at other options. Have a great one.

 

[ryanr623]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

...so have you drained it yet???

Its supposed to be 32 again tonight so im gonna drain it when i get home from work. I would tend to agree with everyone, the block was warm from the high temps, so it would take a long time of below 32 temps to completely freeze solid, and enough to crack a block. Better safe then sorry though however.... so a draining i will go!

 

[ryanr623]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

I was a little curious. Most of the things that you mentioned are things that "normally" are done when you winterize the boat. I always like to change the oil when winterizing it so I know that there isn't any impurities or a little water from condensation in the motor. And change the lower unit oil to make sure there isn't any water in it to freeze. And you said that you changed the "AF" I am assuming that is antifreeze? I use to just use antifreeze to winterize my boat but after listening to most on iboats I have changed to draining the water out of the block. I just put a new motor in my boat $6,000 and didn't want to take any chances of having it freeze. I found that it was quite a bit easier to just drain it than all I went through to put antifreeze in it. Like I said at the beginning, I was just curious to see if you had reasons for the way you winterize. I figure I'm never too old to learn something new or look at other options. Have a great one.

I change the oil in the block before and after winter. After 7 months or so of winter, the aanti wear additives are gone, so i change it again when i de-winterize. Hence the reason they suggest changing car oil every 300 miles OR 3 months. Even if it sits and isnt ran.

Same thing with the outdrive oil. Before and after winter, i am very meticulous and always play everything safe. An extra hundred bucks a year to ensure everything is perfectly safe is fine by me.

AF is anti freeze. I didnt "change" it, i have a raw water cooled boat. My mechanic who does the winterizing/fogging runs antifreze through it. So i flushed the AF out.

 

[boat1010]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

That answers a lot of my questions..Thanks.. Happy boating..

 

[Philster]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

Its supposed to be 32 again tonight so im gonna drain it when i get home from work. I would tend to agree with everyone, the block was warm from the high temps, so it would take a long time of below 32 temps to completely freeze solid, and enough to crack a block. Better safe then sorry though however.... so a draining i will go!

This is riddled with poor assumptions. I hope you didn't lose your block, and this info will probably help going forward:

If you wake to find the news reports a low of 32 degrees, well that is the low in the air where they took the measurement.... and some areas around town were probably a little cooler and some a touch warmer.

You can wake to a reported low of 34 and have frost on your car. Know why? Because the metal was down at or below the freezing level. The air might have been 34 last night somewhere, but metals and other surfaces were cooler. If something is shaded all day and doesn't absorb much heat and tends to cool more rapidly than the air, then those surfaces will be below freezing.

Different areas around your home will have different low temps, and ice can form on surfaces that are cooler than the advertised low air temp.

There was a cracked blocked thread recently where the poor owner of a cracked block said, '...but it only got down to 28 for about an hour...I figured that wasn't enough to crack a block.'

Don't gamble your block over a few degrees and the accuracy of a thermometer or , worse yet, a weatherman!!!!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

I change the oil in the block before and after winter. After 7 months or so of winter, the aanti wear additives are gone, so i change it again when i de-winterize.

Nothing is wearing out if its sitting in the engine not being used. With that logic, oil would wear out sitting in its container.

 

[Dryon]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

I agree with bruceb58.......The time schedule is for removing contaminates that can accumlate in the oil when running the engine. Just take a look at the oil color when it's drained. That dark color are blow-by gases mixing with the oil and micro particiles of metal from wear. This includes running an engine short distances and shutting down without fully warming it up, which causes vapor to condense inside the pan.

 

[ryanr623]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

Nothing is wearing out if its sitting in the engine not being used. With that logic, oil would wear out sitting in its container.

Oil sitting in a container is not exposed to oxygen. Regardless, i'll still change every spring. Oil is $3-$5 a quart. Not a big deal.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

Can I have your "old" oil?

 

[fat fanny]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

No offence to ryan but changing yourr fuids before and after winter is just a waste but it's your $ so do as you will. Also dewinterizing your rig this early w/out taking precautions for dropping temps is just being irresponsible especially if you didn't even put it in the water. I don't mean to sound harsh but this recreation is not cheap to maintain and if you don't have the forsight to take precautions to maintain your rig your just gonna have to live with what happens!

 

[JaseBosto]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

I dewinterized about 3 weeks ago, and it got down to the upper 20's a couple of times. Heres a little trick sonny: Put a lamp with a 60 watt light bulb (REGULAR NOT NEON) into the engine compartment without the lampshade. Make sure there is at least 4 inches of clearance around the bulb from anything. That light won't heat your house, but it WILL keep the engine compartment well above freezing. Works like a champ for me.

 

[JaseBosto]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

And don't forget to turn the light on too

 

[cr2k]

Re: Dewinterized and cold help, put my mind at ease

I have never heard of changing oil every 300 miles? I assume you meant 3000 miles. And that is for the benefit of the oil companies. When I was a car mechanic in the 70 they recommended oil changes every 5000 miles. So is technology and engine building gone backwards? I am sure newer engines are built quite a bit better these days and 3000 miles just seems a waste of oil.
Of course driving conditions has some impact on it.

Especially if using synthetics.