Texas Deep Freeze = Cracked...something on 2016 Mercury 4.5L Alpha

BEH and Pirate... you guys do realize we're specifically talking about what Marcus used which is the PG pink stuff (or at least that's what I'm assuming he used as it's the typical thing to use) right out of the bottle? Adding water to that is no-no. Period. Fact. Not even a discussion.

I have never seen the proper PG stuff being offered full strength anywhere for sale. And, truthfully, why would I when a gallon costs all of about $4 or $5?
 
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Waaaayyy too many misguided ideas in this thread.
 
PG does not kill pets. I wondered about this as I looked at a green puddle of EG leftover from my winterization experiment in the Fall. Suddenly I realized I was very near the neighbor's property with the barking poodle. I got a taste of that stuff once and it was sweet, like maple syrup. This is why pets like it. I moved deliberately to hose it off, imagining waking to find downed murders of loud crows were also belly up alongside the permanently quiet poodle. I am consciously insensitive but I have learned to never insult a pet, let alone endanger the obnoxious little sh*ts! I would've definitely heard about it.

Also, my 2003 Mercruiser manual recommends carefully draining raw water systems like most of ours but to use PG in closed systems.
 
Just to throw a comment in the hat on this. Antifreeze (the pink stuff). Absolutely will freeze - don’t believe me, put some in the freezer. It will get slushy and eventually solid - what it does not do (unlike water) is expand when it freezes. Hence how it protects against freeze damage. The more important reason for using it vs just draining the water is the anti-corrosion protection it also provides.
Sheeze what an awful topic this is on the first day of spring! I do hope you get lucky and don’t have any serious damage. Me - I’m going to tomorrow and get that pink stuff out of my motor!
 
Marcos says he used green "I winterized my boat with antifreeze in December (using Mercury's recommended ethylene glycol mix."
 
Arminius said:
LastCall350 had referenced "sleeves" and I thought he might be an insider with info. Questions were directed at him. My 1st car was a TR3 and it had a cast iron block with sleeves that worked fine. Aluminum blocks w/o sleeves have a checkered history starting with Vega and Porsche. The last big 2-stroke O/B Merc had an aluminum block with the rings bearing directly, barely any oil, and a forever guarantee. 6.2 is a small block stroker introed by Chev in 1956 as a 265, while the 8.2 is the venerable 454 Big Block. Chev and Mercedes each needed a V-6 in 80's so they took 2 cyl off their V-8s at existing factories and added balance shafts. Worked fine for Chev but the Mercedes's overengineered balance shaft drive gears dissolved about 1995 and the class action led them to build 60 degree v-6s. I hope the Mercruiser V-6s don't have the additional complexity of balance shafts. Maybe he didn't mean "sleeves" in the technical sense.

I like the idea of draining the anti-freeze which should be red, not green, to avoid poisoning anyone's pet.
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I don't have a lot of the insider details such as you were asking, I just own a Marine service center here in TN and 80% of what we service is Mercruiser. I have seen freeze damage on the 4.5's and 6.2's, and typically it results in cracking at the cylinders. I uploaded a couple pics of a busted 6.2 last winter, notice the cracking at the top of the cylinders.

Last time I was at Mercruiser school, I believe I was told they bought a casting facility in Indiana maybe? Over all I have been impressed with them in the field.
 

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Arminius said:
Most frequent complaint I've heard is cracked exhaust manifolds as they used to have to be drained separately.
Incidentally, I tried a buddy's trick of sucking up a bucket of antifreeze through the earmuffs. Then I drained it as I am a skeptic. The water out of the block was not green. So much for that trick.
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You still have to drain everything first before you use the muffs with antifreeze. And it's marine antifreeze... red not green for winterizing.
 
Arminius said:
Marcos says he used green "I winterized my boat with antifreeze in December (using Mercury's recommended ethylene glycol mix."
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You're right - I didn't see him use the word "green" and I guess I just assumed he was using the normal, pink stuff and got his terminology wrong.

Ethylene glycol is for CLOSED cooling systems. If Marcos is winterizing the block then he doesn't have a closed system and misread the recommendations. Pink PG is recommended for an open system. It's not that the ethylene is bad - but it's a complete waste of money and is not any better than the pink stuff. As long as he mixed it to the right freeze protection level, then the product, itself, did not cause the problem.
 
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Pirate Lady said:
Always used green. Don’t know about pink stuff unless it’s the stuff you put in the drinking water system.
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Pirate, I think there's more to this winterizing thing than you're aware of? There are different versions of pink. The kind we're talking about is proper for the engine and the water system. The other pink is only for the water system.

It's a waste of money to use the more expensive green stuff. Plus, then you have to recapture it to either recycle or, if you were so inclined, reuse it. But if you're going to reuse it, I hope your bilge is spotless otherwise who knows what ends up in the AF. You could filter it... but that's just a waste of time when you could use the same thing that pretty much 99% of the winterizing community uses.
 
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Lazy Daze said:
BEH and Pirate... you guys do realize we're specifically talking about what Marcus used which is the PG pink stuff (or at least that's what I'm assuming he used as it's the typical thing to use) right out of the bottle? Adding water to that is no-no. Period. Fact. Not even a discussion.

I have never seen the proper PG stuff being offered full strength anywhere for sale. And, truthfully, why would I when a gallon costs all of about $4 or $5?
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Sorry, I assumed vehicle antifreeze.
My mistake.
 
Lazy Daze said:
Pirate, I think there's more to this winterizing thing than you're aware of? There are different versions of pink. The kind we're talking about is proper for the engine and the water system. The other pink is only for the water system.

It's a waste of money to use the more expensive green stuff. Plus, then you have to recapture it to either recycle or, if you were so inclined, reuse it. But if you're going to reuse it, I hope your bilge is spotless otherwise who knows what ends up in the AF. You could filter it... but that's just a waste of time when you could use the same thing that pretty much 99% of the winterizing community uses.
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My mechanic does my winterize. Been long time since I did it. Only familiar with green for engine, pink for water system. Don’t know about others versions of pink. Life was simple back then.
 
Hi all,

First, I meant PROPELYNE GLYCOL (the pink stuff), specifically Camco 30757 RV And Marine Antifreeze.
Sorry about that confusion.

I got a video of the leak today. I'm thinking a cap or something busted off. Thoughts?

 
Pirate Lady said:
My mechanic does my winterize. Been long time since I did it. Only familiar with green for engine, pink for water system. Don’t know about others versions of pink. Life was simple back then.
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There are are versions of the pink (propylene glycol) that are intended for use in engines as a winterizing anti-freeze. It si used to protect the raw-water side of the engine cooling system. They come in different freeze protection forumulas (pink, purple, etc). While they certainly CAN be used in a water system, they differ from typical "RV antifreeze" by containing no alcohols. When used in a engine, the alcohols in RV antifreeze can evaporate and leave the engine subject to corrosion.

The benefit of using the "pink" for winterizing is that it is non-toxic to pets and people. What you don't want to do is use the pink for as an engine "cooolant". This is where the green stuff is used in a closed cooling loop on a typical car engine or some boat engines like a Mercruiser Horizon. The pink is great at winter freeze protection, but not so good at conducting heat during engine operations. The green is a good "antifreeze coolant" that acts as good medium to carry heat away from the engine while both having a higher boiling point than water (won't turn to steam at typical operating temps), and also having a lower freeze point.

In summary:
  • Use the marine engine "pink" for any any all winter freeze protection of boat systems. It's non toxic, prevents corrosion, protects from expansion of frozen water, and is fine for the engine and domestic water systems.
  • Use the "green" (or red, or blue depending on your engine) for engine cooling of the closed cooling loop only, and never in any domestic water system.
 
Marcos... you have gotten VERY lucky! That hole (there are a few others) is leftover from teh manufacturing process and called a core or welch plug. Often, they are are incorrectly called a freeze plug with the thought that they are purposefully put there to "pop out" from water in the block that freezes and expands. This is a rarity, not the norm, that this happens. You should go play the lottery!

If you look around the bilge, you'll find the plug. Reinstall a new one with some Permatex #1 and hopefully that's all that's wrong. Unless you dilluted the PG stuff, there must have a been clog that you didn't clear out before adding the AF.
 
BEH said:
Sorry, I assumed vehicle antifreeze.
My mistake.
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Actually, your assumption was correct based on the initial info! It's so uncommon to use that for winterizing that I basically glossed over that.
 
Lazy Daze said:
Actually, your assumption was correct based on the initial info! It's so uncommon to use that for winterizing that I basically glossed over that.
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Thanks, I’m the same as Pirate Lady.
Marina does my winterizing, so last time I did it was years ago and used vehicle anti freeze, Prestone etc.
The pink you guys are talking about, is it the Plumbing Antifreeze?
Thanks.
 
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