Overheated During Winterizing

[Tall Turtle]

My 1st time winterizing this boat. I used the gas-oil mixture to warm the engine for the oil change with no problem. The next day I warmed engine to open thermostat and the alarm went off. I drained the engine using the single point drain system, then I switched to antifreeze using the Starbrite jug. It alarmed after taking about 4 gallons. I never run it out of the water without a hose attached and never above 1500 rpms, usually only at idle.

Is it OK for the winter? Is my impeller likely damaged?

Thanks.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Did you monitor your gauges? What I'm getting at is how do you know the alarm sounded for an overtemp situation?

By chance, is your drive lube monitor bottle low on fluid?

When you ran the boat, was there a good amount of water flowing out the exhaust ports on the gimbal housing (it's the black housing that is directly attached to the transom)?

 

[Tall Turtle]

Lube bottle is at proper level.

Temp gauge seemed higher than normal but I kept feeling the hoses to see if hot water was circulating to all areas. That would mean the thermostat was opened, right? Hoses to the manifold never got very warm.

Water seemed to flow everywhere, including leaking around the muffs. I'm not sure about the exhaust ports. It turns out the washing machine was running and could have taken some of the water flow for part of the time.

 

[CV-23]

My 454 runs hotter on the hose than in the water. I don't think the muffs provide enough volume of water for the Bravo1 pump....never had a problem with the Alpha1 drives, Mike.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Assuming the muffs were on correctly... if you had water leaking out around them, AND you had good water flowing out the exhaust, then you had enough water getting to the engine. However, depending on what your garden hose flow rate is, the washing machine scenario is a possibility.

It's rare that hoses or risers get too hot to touch when at near-idle speeds.

I'd say don't worry about it for now. See how it actually runs next season. Who knows, it could have been something like a piece of dirt on the oil pressure sensor.

Although, if you have the means and the time, pulling the lower unit is a very easy (and quick) job.

 

[Tall Turtle]

Thanks for the response Dennis. I'll check it out in the spring and hope that there are no issues.

I'll also review the process to check the impeller and may tackle it if time and weather cooperate.

 

[ProfitOfDoom]

I think I did the same thing. I ran it on the hose for about 20mins then switched to my 5 gallon winterizing jug and just like you said right around the 3rd-4th gallon my gauge starting to rise. My problem was that I didnt punch a big enough hole in the air valve on the jug so it was having a hard time sucking up the antifreeze. As soon as I noticed I stopped the engine and ran and got another 3 gallons and re did it to make sure I got enough in there. So make sure the air vent on the winterize jug has a nice big hole on it.

 

[wish2fish]

This, my bucket loving friends is why I don't ever advise using the jug method. When you do as the mercury manual says and drain the block, and re-filling the block with anti-freeze via the thermostat housing, overheating and cooking your impeller will never happen.

But, some people love the jug for some reason.

enough already!:huh:

 

[dpvandy01]

Hey, you can't argue with the results. This just plain doesn't happen if you do the job per the service manual. But I will heed your wish and not say anything more about it in this thread unless someone has a question on how to do it.

I do, I do. 3L engine in a 190 Seville please.