www.iFourWinns.com

Last fall was the first time I winterized my H180 Volvo 3L. This it the same drive train I had in my previous boat, and I winterized that all the time so no problem, right?

Wrong. When I took the Poco Loco out of storage and fired her up, water was gushing out from the underside of the exhaust manifold. When I winterized, I opened all the water drains and removed hoses to get the water out, but I apparently did not drain it all from the exhaust manifold water jacket. Both 1" diameter freeze/casting plugs were in the bilge. I tapped them back into the cast iron manifold and fired her up. Presto, no cracks, no leaks.

This could have been a very expensive mistake. I think next fall, I will pour some anti-freeze into the exhaust manifold water jacket to be sure.

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All the Best,
MontreAl
'06 H180 3L-VP

Glad you lucked out. I ended up with a internal crack in my 93 190 Horizon. Ended up replacing the Ford 5.0 with a volvo penta 5.0GXIe. Quite the investment, but the performance is incredible!

Fortunately, it was the exhaust manifold and not the engine.

However, I would still be concerned that the casting may have cracked inside, which may be leaking water down onto your exhaust valves.

Of course you could remove and inspect and pressure check, etc, but your manifold is 8 years old (and you only have one), so you could buy a replacement for around $200 and not worry about it (or Manifold + Elbow for ~ $350).

Until you can inspect the inside of the manifold, or replace it, I would drain the manifold right after each use.

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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