Drain the manifolds by removing hoses?

[2fast4u_evinrude]

So I been winterizing 3.0L 4cylinder merc boats for the last 6 years with no problems. This year I got myself into a 1998 Volvo Penta 4.3L GL V6 with power steering. Since I am new to 4.3L block I figure I should shut the season down early and get a head start. I been watching YouTube and reading forums on how to Winterize and for the most part pretty similar to the 3.0L but just double amount of drains plugs and hoses. So what I did today was ran engine to operating temp, changed oils, ran engine again but this time I had rv antifreeze running thru the muffs just to push any existing water out, sprayed the carb with fogging oil till engine stalled. I then removed the drain plugs on both side of the block and both sides came gushing out with rv antifreeze. I then tried to locate the drain plugs on the manifolds but could not locate them so I then disconnected the two front hoses going into the manifolds and rv antifreeze came gushing out. Would this be good enough? It's tight and tough to see what's behind the manifolds but it looks like there is rubber end caps at each manifold. As for the power steering I could not locate any water lines. Just looked like oil lines to me. I also removed the water pump hose and poured antifreeze down the tube. Any tips and advice is much apretiated. Thanks in advance.

 

[2fast4u_evinrude]

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[Scott Danforth]

you can not use RV antifreeze to push water out. wont work PERIOD. without the thermostat open, it will simply go out the exhaust and NEVER get to the block in concentrations high enough to prevent freezing.

your 4.3 has 5 drain plugs. 1 plug on each side of the block. 1 plug at each manifold (big arse plug opposite the hose connection). 1 plug in the intake under the thermostat. failure to drain the block properly now, in the spring we will be reading about your cracked blockand you will be putting a new motor in.

once drained, poke the drain holes with a piece of heavy wire to make sure all the crud is out and the water out too.

then remove the large hose from the water pump to the thermostat housing and drain that.

then remove the hose from the raw water pump to the power steering cooler and drain that

remove the raw water pump cover and drain that.

once drained, if you want to spend money on antifreeze, then use a funnel and fill from the thermostat housing. however air doesnt freeze

 

[tpenfield]

The downside to merely running antifreeze in through the muffs as you described is that there is not a 1-for-1 transfer of plain water for antifreeze. That is to say if you run 4 gallons of AF into the engine, you will not get 4 gallons of pure water out of the engine. The cooling flow within the engine and exhaust is more of a mixing/diluting process, as Scott mentioned.

So, you never know how much AF is enough to get all of the water out of the engine. Since engines tend to hold 4-5 gallons of water, a similar amount of AF may still leave you at a 50/50 mix of water and AF within the engine.

One year, I went to prove the point and took samples of the AF out of my friend's boat after we had pumped in 5 gallons of AF in through the muffs. One sample from the engine block and a sample from each exhaust manifold. I took these samples home and stuck them in the freezer overnight. -15 F was the temperature in the freezer. I also stuck a sample of the pure AF as a comparison. In the morning the pure AF sample was slushy and the samples taken from the engine were frozen solid . . . Meaning that there was still water mixed in the with AF that was in the engine.

Anyway, we also drain my friend's engine even after running the AF through it, so no worries. The fact that you drained the engine and manifolds is good, as you will avoid the potential for freezing due to an AF only approach. As long as those hoses that you had to disconnect in lieu of drain plugs were at the low points, then you should be OK

The saying around iBoats is that air don't freeze.

 

[2fast4u_evinrude]

No Title

Thanks for the tips guys. I will go back and re winterized. This will give me extra practice lol. I attached a picture of diagram with the drain plug up front. Is this what u mean by the 5th drain plug? I was also thinking this time run more antifreeze thru the muffs again but this time running the engine with the thermostat removed so I don't have to worry about thermostat not fully opening.

 

[thumpar]

Just skip the antifreeze and drain it.