Freeze plugs popped on manifolds...

cobra8432

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Joined
May 6, 2010
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4
Hi there. Time to de-winterize the 1990 Maxum 2400SC with a Merc 5.7 and Alpha one Gen 1 . It was winterized by a local marina with lots of years of experience, btw.
When i opened up the engine cover, everything looked the same as last fall, except one small difference: Out of the four freeze plugs (two plugs on each manifold) one was popped on each side, and i mean the darn thing shot across the compartment!
I checked for cracks, no signs...
Should the manifolds be empty, or full of antifreeze, 'cause there's no sign of fluids in them. I called the marina and the owner kinda paused when i told him about the freeze plugs...
Should we attempt to fire this thing up or there's other things i should check for first??
BTW, all the freeze plugs on the engine are still in place. This is a brand new engine, manifolds and Alpha drive, with less than 2 hrs on it, i'd hate think that buddy at the marina screwed something up in there...
Any ideas?
Tks much,
L.
 

HT32BSX115

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
10,083
Re: Freeze plugs popped on manifolds...

i'd hate think that buddy at the marina screwed something up in there...


Howdy,


Neither your manifolds nor your block has "Freeze" plugs.... Those are core plugs..... small semantic difference......but they don't protect against freeze damage. They're usually the indicators of it.....


Evidently someone did not get all the water out when they "winterized" it.

You will be considering yourself lucky if you do not have any cracks in the manifolds or block.....



Regards,



Rick
 

cobra8432

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May 6, 2010
Messages
4
Re: Freeze plugs popped on manifolds...

Tks for reply...
Sooo, with that in mind, how can i tell if there's damage? Visual inspection with engine off, which i did, but i can re-do, or, fire it up on muffs and see if water gushes out of the engine, maniflods, etc into the bilge?
Or, go to the marina and grab the mechanic by his ears?
L.
 

rbh

Fleet Admiral
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Mar 21, 2009
Messages
7,939
Re: Freeze plugs popped on manifolds...

If they winterized it let them commision it for the year, if there is an issue with cracks anywhere, it's was their responsebility in the first place to ensure that this did not happen, so don't touch anything.
 

Fordiesel69

Lieutenant Junior Grade
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Sep 18, 2009
Messages
1,146
Re: Freeze plugs popped on manifolds...

My 4 cyl has a cracked manifold and not a cracked block or head. So it seems the manifolds are missed.
 

TilliamWe

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Dec 21, 2004
Messages
6,579
Re: Freeze plugs popped on manifolds...

If they winterized it let them commision it for the year, if there is an issue with cracks anywhere, it's was their responsebility in the first place to ensure that this did not happen, so don't touch anything.



+1. Their mistake, don't do anything, they need to handle the checking for cracks, etc, FREE of Charge.
 
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