De-winterized to test drive, now temps are dropping!

[Silk]

I have a cold detached garage, temps are expected to drop to 27F tomorrow night..

I have an i/o omc 4.3l cobra

Is 27 enough to do damage for one night? Should we be scrambling to find a warm storage spot for it for an evening?

 

[veritas honus]

Re: De-winterized to test drive, now temps are dropping!

Just drain everything. You'll be fine. As Bondo so eloquently put it... "Air don't freeze." Don't just drain from the drain plugs. Unclamp the water hoses too, and make sure everything is completely drained. Jack the tongue of the trailer up high so everything drains as much as possible.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: De-winterized to test drive, now temps are dropping!

put a 100 watt light bulb or two in the engine compartment

 

[444]

Re: De-winterized to test drive, now temps are dropping!

I agree, just drain as much as you can. I ran straight water in my car to about -5*c and the water never froze at all overnight.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: De-winterized to test drive, now temps are dropping!

light bulb in the engine compartment or a small heater in the garage. (of course, that is assuming you have power in the garage, otherwise time to buy some extension cord!) In all reality, you are probably fine at 27 degrees. The interior of even a detached garage is going to stay a little warmer than ambient, so it should stay above freezing.

 

[Joshua Nichols]

Re: De-winterized to test drive, now temps are dropping!

This is a risk...The only way to know 4 sure is to drain out the raw water..
I live in Texas.. Almost everyone uses a light in the engine compartment:redface:.. Seen a awesome boat only 50 miles north of me with manifolds cracked so bad you can see it in the pictures....
I Might see 27 degree weather 4 times a year and the boat stays in the garage.. Still I drain out the water... It's pretty easy on your engine except for that block drain on the starboard side.. It's a bit of a pain..

Here is a freebe manual that will get ya by... http://www.4shared.com/file/2Vy3uORd/1986_-_1998_OMC_Sterndrive_Man.htm

 

[Silk]

Re: De-winterized to test drive, now temps are dropping!

Thank you Joshua for the link, excellent.

Thank you everyone for the tips!!!

Well we drained what we could and we are throwing a warm flood light on it tonight and tomorrow and hopefully that will get us over the hump. Spring in Minnesota comes in fits and starts and is always frustratingly slow. This year seems to be coming a bit slower than normal, so that does not help things.

I cleaned out my tackle boxes and organized them, just to make myself feel better this weekend since it was too cold to do anything else....well it wasn't so cold that I couldn't go to Cabela's down the road and stock up on some tackle