www.iFourWinns.com

While fishing a couple freeze plugs off the bottom of my boat under the VP 3.0 135hp 2008 engine, I found this little red thing. I replaced the freeze plugs but I'm not sure what the red thing is or where to put it or if I need to worry about it. Can you help?

Here is what the parts guy at my local four winns dealer said when I emailed him this picture:

Cap explanation sounds reasonable.

But why were your freeze plugs out? Did you have water freeze in your engine? If you did, you may have cracks in your engine block and/or intake manifold.

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"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

I completely agree. Yes I believe my engine did freeze. I did not winterize it at all (except stabil) since I was keeping it in my heated garage all winter. We had an unusually cold winter here in michigan and a jug of home insecticide or lawn weed spray froze in the garage. I did not realize anything else froze until the engine was spewing water and I found the freeze plugs beneath it.

I replace the freeze plugs yesterday and ran it a while, and I do not see any signs of any other water leaking. I'm not sure what else I should be looking for though. I do have good insurance if I ruined the engine (with only $100 deductible) so I'd like to find out now if there is another issue to be dealt with or a problem the freezing caused.

Is it the little vent/drain tube that hangs off the bottom of the starter?

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

Good luck. Hopefully you didn't crack the block on it. Keep an eye out for power loss and/or overheat conditions. If you don't get either you might very well have dodged a bullet.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Just note, most boat insurance WILL NOT cover freeze damage I don't believe..

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2004 Four Winns 328 Vista
1997 Larson Cabrio 290 - sold
1988 Rinker Fiesta Vee 248 - sold

At a minimum i'd drain the block going forward. You got lucky the freeze plug popped.

My boat is a rider to my homeowners insurance and my insurance agent said he thought it would. However I could find out the hard way if I actually need to file a claim. The freeze damage was due to my heat not working in my garage so it might be an exception too.

My marine policy states it will cover engine freeze damage only if it is winterized by a licensed qualified marine shop... So good luck getting any coverage. $300 for both of my engines is cheap insurance and not worth my time!!!

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2001 328 Vista "Nauta Dream 2"
AB Inflatable 10AL "Little Dreamer"
2000 248 Vista
1997 225 Sundowner


Mike

Interesting, it is possible my agent has no clue about that.

A little screwdriver to poke the drain holes is all it takes to avoid that happening...I drain mine if its going to sit more than a month in the fall, if I can't winterize it right away. You may get lucky, but what you are looking for is:
Milky looking oil
A line of rust stains across the block
Water leaking between the block and the head

When I pull mine out it has salt water in it which doesn't freeze till 28*F, so that gives us a bit more leeway but not much....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II