www.iFourWinns.com

Long story short, a month or so ago, a good friend (who I dont fault for this; its my own fault) helped me (he did 90% of the work, lol) winterize my twin 4.3l Volvo Pentas. In the past Ive always paid a mechanic to do the winterization.

Yesterday I had a little get together and my mechanic (who Ive used in the past) shows up to the party. He asks did I winterize, yeah, how did I do it, I tell him my friend warmed up the motors shut off the motors and then used the "kit" with the purple -60F anti freeze. He said "come here" so we went out to the boat and crawled in under the shrinkwrap. He pulled the big fat water hose off the port side engines circulating pump and let it gush out. He caught some with a clear solo cup. We brought it inside. It was ALL water I dont know where the 8 gallons of -60F anti freeze went - I helped pour it into the kit as the boat ran and it DID come out of the transom (must have been a closed t-stat) but my engine it probably filled almost wholly with water

I went out and pulled both the block plugs on the port engine. Dead clogged. Had to remove the temperature sender and the brass barb thats screwed into the block, total PITA. Fished it out with a coat hanger. Water came gushing out, about 2-3 gallons it seemed with not a hint of purple anti freeze. I pulled the manifold hoses and drained the rest of the big fat hose on the front of the motor. THANK GOD we havent had consistent days of freezing temps!!!!! $$$$

Anyways, my stbd engine (97 278 Vista) I pulled the block plugs, same story - dead clogged. I cant fish a coat hanger through the barbed brass fitting, its a dead end 90 degree turn. Physics will not let me get at the thing with a wrench easily like the port side. I HAVE to get those drains out and snaked quick before we get freezing weather.

Any suggestions? Anybody have this problem before? Did I miss anything on my port engine (both block drains, big fat hose in front, both manifold hoses) that I need to drain?

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1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21

Might want to ask your mechanic.

Sorry, just trying to be helpful.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

haha!! I dont know about that, Im embarrassed enough!!

I just have no idea how I am going to contort myself to get the torque necessary to remove the brass fitting on the block for the stbd engine Right now a 3' body builder midget would be useful!!

_________________
1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21

Yeah I hear you. But really, sometimes the value of a good boat mechanic isn't just their "boat knowledge." Sometimes their value comes from having figured out how to handle issues just like this. That's probably the biggest reason I let a shop do nearly all of my engine/drive work. It's not that I don't know how, it's just not worth the slipped discs.

Very good to hear that you discovered your problem in time!

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Lots of people use the kits like you did with no problem. That being said I prefer to open the drains, remove the hose & then add some anti-freeze. That way you know it is done right. Might take a little longer but it is going to work.

You can try to clear the clog with some weed eater string.

_________________
1990 Four Winns Horizon 200
2005 GMC Sierra

+1. That's a great idea! Another thing you can try if you have access to a portable air compressor is to use a rubber tipped blowgun and "back flush" the fitting with air to break the debris loose

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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"

I always use a 1/4 pipe thread tap to clean them out. It freshens up the threads also.

If you drain the block and manifolds first, the winterizing kit works fine. No need to warm it up either. The raw water pump will draw it into the engine. The circulating pump takes over filling the engine then the thermostat bypass will fill the manifolds. I also mix Kleen-Flo part #709 with the antifreeze. It's a corrosion inhibitor and water pump lubricant. Of note, when I do change impellers, they show no signs of cracking or drying up. I thank the Kleen-Flo for that.

John

_________________
07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada

Update:
I drained the port side motor the other night. That went ok because everything was easily reachable (no genset in the way on the port side!)

Just to make sure I did it right, let me tell you what I did and you tell me if I missed anything:
1.) Pull both block drains, coat hanger them out (wait til you see the pictures of how clogged it was )
2.) Pull both manifold hoses, drain.
3.) Pull the rubber nipples off the end of the manifolds, drain whatever left. (I was only able to get 1 off)
4.) Pull big rubber hose off front of engine circulating pump, drain.
5.) Pull hoses to impeller pump located on the lower left side of motor, drain.

I just got inside because I got frustrated the other night and left the stbd engine alone because I couldnt reach the drain.

Heres how clogged the port side block drain was:

I doubt the previous owners ever even used the drains - I Know the last owner "for sure" winterized with the kit. Geez.

Still having problems getting the stbd side engine stbd side block drain removed - the generator is right there and my arm cant fit between the genset and the manifold to find the drain plug

Its noteworthy that the liquid that came out of the hoses at the impeller pump was noticeably purple (the color of the -60f antifreeze). However, water came out of the block, or at least very very diluted anti-freeze solution. There was no shade of purple to it

I took off all the hoses on the fronts of the manifolds but I cant physically remove the nipples on the back of at least 2 of the manifolds. Is it ok just to lower the boat trailer jack so the boat leans forward and whatever little water is left drains that way?

Anyways, did I miss anything?

_________________
1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21

Oh, by the way, what are the sensors that thread into the brass tee that the block drain is in? They look like this:

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1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21

That's a knock sensor.

_________________
07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada

I learned the weed eater trick from a guy at Twin Cove Marine,My F-I-L had the OB motor off his pontoon in for some service. It wasn't "peeing" right. He told us to do that to clear the mud dobbers nests out. So far that little trick has helped me more times than I can count, (from cleaning out the drain from the ancor locker to the ski locker and then to the bildge). Nice little headache solver.

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1990 Four Winns Horizon 200
2005 GMC Sierra