Please help, i need to know if i should get the water out of my engine block, it's been getting down to the low 20's at night and only reaches the mid 40's during the day.
Please help, i need to know if i should get the water out of my engine block, it's been getting down to the low 20's at night and only reaches the mid 40's during the day.
And we all thought we would have to wait for spring for cracked block / cracked manifold season Man, I hope you get lucky and no damage done. Cold all over, looking like it is gonna stay, so git er done!
Monday to Friday, Charleston ,SC
41? F | 27? FClear
41? F | 25? FClear
47? F | 29? FPartly Cloudy
47? F | 31? FPartly Cloudy
41? F | 22? F
I guess I have a horse shoe up my butt. Everything is fine. To all whom posted, living in South Carolina gives me the opportunity to have my boat ready all year long. I didn't think that i would have gotten the attitude that i did from y'all. Sorry to have bothered you with such a stupid question. As y'all will be looking at your boats out the window i will be in mine enjoying the water. A few days of cold weather doesn't bother me.
Doesn't bother me either. Of course, I define "cold" down here in New Orleans as anything below 60 degrees. But feel free to keep leaving your boat engine full of water in below freezing temps and see if the cold weather bothers it. You may also be able to save some money by using pure water instead of anti-freeze in your car.
While it sounds to me like you enjoy that, I wouldn't keep relying on that to protect your boat from freezing.
The reason you got attitude is because there are at least 100 threads on here about, "do I need to drain my block and manifolds when the temp is below 32 degrees?" You could have looked any one of them up, read it, and known what kind of reaction you would get by starting your own thread. Also, you would have know what to do.
Welcome aboard anyway. Learn how to use the "search" function (it is not exactly simple, though) and you will get LOTS of good info on this board. The old posts are saved on here for a reason.
I have lived in Charleston for many years, I also ran a large repair shop.
Bottom line is if you flushed your engine after that last use it most likely broke. Depends a lot on where you live. If your on the marsh or water you will be several Deg above the inland people If it still has salt water in it you can make it through a bit colder night. But it really needs help now. Around here it can be 55 or so in the day and dip to 30 for a few hours and you can luck out. But It has been too cold too long to get by like that. It is 31 on the water where I live now at noon. I look for everything to break tonight that was not taken care of. One spring we replaced nearly 70 motors. This included all the coolers and heat exchangers. We had not had a hard freeze for days like that in years. The only saving grace we normally have had is you just need to raise the temperature in the engine box a couple of deg. But this year has broken a lot of records and changed the rules. It needs to be drained now. Be sure to put plugs back when done. The salt water will wipe out the threads overnight. Plus some places are hard to tap.
If it had salt water in it you might have lucked out. At my house I just put heat in the boat and keep a close watch. Of course the best way is to winterize it and forget it.
Please don't take the responses here as attitude. When it comes to boat maintenance there is generally only one correct course of action and no one around here is going to massage there answers.
The facts here are simply, Yes you should drain your block if there is even a chance it will freeze, and yes it is a miracle that your block is not cracked if it has gotten close to 20 degrees over night.
I for one am glad to hear that your block "seems" good. I only hope that you now are aware of the risk you take not winterizing and avoid damage in the future.
Even the "attitude" posts are just guys trying to help you out.
In the upstate (Easley area) it's been cold. Pulled in the driveway this morning after work and temp read 11 deg. First cold wave that came trough it dropped to 29 deg. for about an hour and I hadn't drained the engine because I was waiting on a topside oil changer. I watch the temps all night while I was at work hoping it didn't drop any lower. I didn't go to bed before that engine was drained (I work swing shift). A week later it dropped to 21 degs. I was very glad that I followed the advice of people here. Got my oil changer and ran the engine for at least 15-20 min. to warm the engine up and changed oil, filter re-drained the engine and poured some Dow RV antifreeze in the thermostat housing until I saw antifreeze run out of the plugs. Reinstalled plugs and poured 2 gallons in the engine and all the hoses.
Engines don't freeze in the south. Tell that to friend of mine with his $30,000.00 flower bed on wheels.
And to my boating friends up north....ok jokes over y'all can cut those big ole fans off now that you're using to blow that cold air down here with; y'all got our attention. Y'all be careful out now ya hear.
Thanks for everyones tip, tricks and advice. I will heed it. Is it a good idea to pour anti freeze down the thermostat housing to get it into the block?
LOL yeah I made the change. I could have said you all but that's not correct (southern) English. It's like mama and nims (mom and dad), have you ate yet? (have you already eaten) and hey y'all watch this usually means I'm about to do something stupid and I want everybody see it. Do we really talk like that? Yeah I do..except for y'all watch this. If I do something stupid I don't want everybody to see it.
Thanks for everyones tip, tricks and advice. I will heed it. Is it a good idea to pour anti freeze down the thermostat housing to get it into the block?
The only reason I put antifreeze in the block was because I had already purchased it. I think it will help with corrosion in the block. Next year I'll most likely just drain the block and hoses. Like everyone says air doesn't freeze.
Man, I hope you get lucky and no damage done. Cold all over, looking like it is gonna stay, so git er done!
