Water in the block

[Tidbart]

Do you drain the block if you don't have plans to use you boat for an extended period of time? What would be that timeframe if you if you would? Or would you leave the water there? What are the ramifications of either? Of course I am not talking about saltwater.
It is relatively easy to drain the newer Mercs as they have the supplied block drains.

Bob

[Ed Donnelly]

When I stored mine, I ran antifreeze through it and left it in also fogged the engine..Ed

[f_inscreenname]

For the winter I drain and fog the motor.

[Ghost]

Feels like in some ways, better not to expose everything to the air. Better still, to have antifreeze mixed in the water, for corrosion prevention not just freeze prevention.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Feels like in some ways, better not to expose everything to the air. Better still, to have antifreeze mixed in the water, for corrosion prevention not just freeze prevention.

+1
For the last few years, I have changed to letting my mechanic friend run my engines with antifreeze to help prevent rusting the internals. That way every part that is exposed to water is better protected.
Since you asked what the time frame might be, I would probably actually leave the water in the block until it is time to winterize to reduce the rusting effect of air in the wet block and manifolds unless you don't plan to run it again before this next winter in which case you should do it now. If you can leave out the plugs, it can dry out faster during the summer months if you don't plan to use antifreeze for protection.

[Tidbart]

Let's do this, assume you didn't have to winterize at all because you live in the south or you had your boat in a heated garage all winter. Iguess it more of the air vs. water thing that I am questioning.

[mattyboy]

if you take freezing out of the equation yes I would keep it wet with something that prevents rust and corrosion


only reason I drain mine is for fear of freezing

[joseph m. hahnl]

I think most of us take it for granted. Having straight water in an iron block is going to create shale in the water jackets. It will do it with the water in there more than not in there,especially at the transition of water to air. If you remove the water it will only surface rust, If you leave the water in it will more readily shale :nilly: For the sake of a turning a petcock let it out. When I was confirming the blown head gasket I used straight water, as not to waste coolant. when it was evident that the water was bleeding into the middle cylinders I immediately removed the culprit head and dried the cylinders. A week later when I went to put the new heads and gaskets on, the other side which still had water in the jackets rusted and actually started to form a ring of shale:shocking:. Be safe drain it anti freeze it .Fogging will also help prevent condensation in the cylinders:kingme:

[gcarter]

Many large power boats here in the south where there's little to no chance of freezing use various inhibitors rather than anti-freeze in their cooling systems. I've never shopped for such additives, but i know they exist. I suppose that could be an improvement over anti-freeze, or plain water.

[Morgan's Cloud]

Many large power boats here in the south where there's little to no chance of freezing use various inhibitors rather than anti-freeze in their cooling systems. I've never shopped for such additives, but i know they exist. I suppose that could be an improvement over anti-freeze, or plain water.

George , and re; Tidbart's remark *6 .. Funny you should bring this part up .
While I totally agree with the anti-freeze mix for most of you guys , there's no chance of freezing out here. Plus we run in salt water .

I just got back in from giving the St T a little run time on the hose and putting a new cover on it.
It's been up and out for an extended holiday now , probably around 4-5 years . It's fresh water cooled and there's only about 31 hours on the engine.
What I've been doing since it's been up is just before I shut it down from a nice little hose run I introduce a nice dose of salt away into the system . It's easy to do with the way Volvo plumbs their engines now .

As soon as I see sudsy bubbles start to come out the exhaust hose I clamp off the water and turn the engine off.

I can leave it alone for at least 6 months like this and when I restart there's no rusty stuff coming out of the dump water when it fires up.

There's a possible alternative that might work for the 'southerners'

[MOP]

If you have closed cooling but no need for anti freeze Nalcool is a good product.