31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

[cecho]

It'll be 31 degrees at dawn. I'll be running the engine tomorrow and re-winterizing it after I'm done. What should I do about tonight though? 100W light bulb under the doghouse? Dipstick heater? Don't worry about it? Just use another bottle of antifreeze?

The boat's stored outside.

 

[Don S]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

You don't need anti freeze in the block if it -31?.

Just drain the cooling system. Air don't freeze.

PS, the bulb should work fine for a night.

 

[cecho]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

Thanks!

I thought it wasn't possible to get all the water out just by draining it.

I'll setup a bulb tonight just in case.

 

[Don S]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

I thought it wasn't possible to get all the water out just by draining it.

Of course you can, it's the DIY craze and the internet that got the antifreeze kick going.

 

[Oshkosh1]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

At 31 it'll take a loooooong time for that block to freeze up. Your lightbulb under the housing will be more than enough at that temp.

 

[cecho]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

I know buckets of water or even a glass of water won't freeze overnight at that temp, but I thought it was possible the engine might act like a heat sink... Even if it did it would still take a while for the engine itself to get down to 31 degrees when the air temp is 31 degrees.

I'd really like to convert to closed cooling sometime this summer so I can continue to fish in the winter without having to winterize. Fishing seasons lasts 10 months out here. Boating season lasts 5.

 

[QC]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

but I thought it was possible the engine might act like a heat sink...

The engine works as a "heat sink" . . . think about it. Works both ways. Stores a little of the day's heat too

 

[cecho]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

Yeah, that makes sense. The engine has a lot of mass for the amount of surface area it has so it would end up keeping the water inside of it warmer when the temp drops than if a high surface area to mass heat sink was attached.

 

[Don S]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

At a couple places I lived, the internet temp and TV temps were usually 5 to 10? warmer than where I was. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[jimbo_jwc]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

I just take out plug on exhaust manifold ,turn on lever valve on block , unscrew 1/4 npt plug on thermostst housing and three minutes later drained with I/O below level boat tilted on trailer . Of coarse 1000w box heater set 50 . Only 4Cyl easy But why take a chance .

 

[cecho]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

At a couple places I lived, the internet temp and TV temps were usually 5 to 10? warmer than where I was. Just something to keep in mind.

Thermal Heat Island effect.

It's usually warmer here than at the airport outside of town on top of a small tower where they take the official temps at. No reason to take the chance though.

 

[Bondo]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

Ayuh,.... A Lifetime ago, 1 of My mentors always said it takes 6 hours at 28? to crack a block fulla water,...

I believe 'im, but have Never tested his advice,...
'cause he also told me, Air don't Freeze, Drain the danm thing....

 

[cecho]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

Ayuh,.... A Lifetime ago, 1 of My mentors always said it takes 6 hours at 28? to crack a block fulla water,...

I believe 'im, but have Never tested his advice,...
'cause he also told me, Air don't Freeze, Drain the danm thing....

Actually, air freezes at -355? F... but it doesn't expand like water does, it shrinks. We might have to worry about more than a frozen block if it were to get that cold though.

I've been told several times by several people that it's impossible to get all the water out of a block and that's why you are supposed to put antifreeze in them.

 

[Bondo]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

Actually, air freezes at -355? F... but it doesn't expand like water does, it shrinks. We might have to worry about more than a frozen block if it were to get that cold though.

I've been told several times by several people that it's impossible to get all the water out of a block and that's why you are supposed to put antifreeze in them.

Ayuh,.... You weren't lied to, as the block will still be Wet inside....

But a properly drained motor will Not have enough water layin' anywhere, where the Expansion can harm anything...

Btw,... Water is the Only element that expands upon Freezin'....

 

[tazrig]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

I'd really like to convert to closed cooling sometime this summer so I can continue to fish in the winter without having to winterize. Fishing seasons lasts 10 months out here. Boating season lasts 5.

You might want to re-think converting to a closed cooling system on an engine thats been raw water cooled all of its life as little pieces of rust and other contaminants from the block can find their way into the the tubes in the heat exchanger and cause over heats. Also even with a "full" closed cooling system there are still parts of the system that have raw water going through them and would need to be drained or have antifreeze run through them to prevent freeze damage.

 

[Oshkosh1]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

Btw,... Water is the Only element that expands upon Freezin'....

Actually the element Bismuth does also...along with a couple of rare trace elements.

 

[cecho]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

I put a remote temperature probe in the doghouse with my engine last night. The probe is reading 41.1 despite it being 30 right now at 8:26 AM. Last night at 11:30 it read 54.4 when the temp was 39. I had run the engine up to temp at around 4 PM.

The probe was sitting on the port manifold.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

I put a remote temperature probe in the doghouse with my engine last night. The probe is reading 41.1 despite it being 30 right now at 8:26 AM. Last night at 11:30 it read 54.4 when the temp was 39. I had run the engine up to temp at around 4 PM.

The probe was sitting on the port manifold.

Well, if you didn't drain it, the block temp never went below freezing and it didn't freeze, you rolled the dice and won!

When they say it's going to be xx degrees around here, it's gonna rain/snow, not gonna rain/snow, it's gonna be windy/not windy,

They're frequently WRONG!


like my dad used to say...........Let your conscience be your guide!

Good luck on that....

 

[cecho]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

I drained the block of course, I just though it'd be good to see the actual temps.

 

[steelespike]

Re: 31 degrees tonight. Should I put antifreeze in the block?

Years ago I had a very nice 49 Lincoln I parked in the grandparents garage in the fall Intending to winterize later. Got busy and when I finally got there on a cold day I checked in the radiator and there was hard slush.That big flat head V8 was 356 cubes and had 2 water pumps.Had no tools so I started it and ran it for 20 or 30 seconds ,shut it off and let it stand for the heat to spread. The pumps didn't move. After two or 3 times they started to turn. I think I was very lucky not to lose something even the heater core was ok.
The 49 "baby" Lincoln was based on the Merc body like the James Dean Merc but with a much cooler front end
and the big V8 made it a bit of a hot rod.