Winterizing 8V71 Ti’s

[Madhatter53]

Tired of paying for my motors to be winterized. Im looking to see how it’s done I have strainers and read somewhere that you can make a cap to fit on strainer with a hose bib to supply pink AF. I also read some go with a connection at the water pump and doesn’t require motors to run but does need separate pump. Let’s see what you folks do.

 

[Comodave]

We used to use a Sea Flush adapter. Quick and simple to use. But now we are in heated storage so no need for winterization. We used a reflectometer to check the output at the exhaust so we knew that it winterized properly.

 

[DavidM]

I don't know of anything unique about 8V71 Tis. This is how I winterize mine. It has worked on several types of engines:

This works if on the hard or in the water. If in the water it takes another step or two- see below.

Close the thruhull valve, the one that provides water to the raw water pump. Open the top of the strainer. Have 2-3 gallons of antifreeze at hand. Start the engine and immediately pour in antifreeze. The raw water pump will suck it up. Add 2 or 3 gallons until you see pink froth coming out the exhaust. Shut off the engine. If on the hard open the thruhull valve to let any sea water flow out and so it will drain if any condensate gets inside.

If in the water, if you leave it with the valve closed it is possible that during a hard freeze the hole in the ball valve which is blocked off if it is turned off, will freeze and break the valve. There are several things that you can do:

1. If in a moderate climate area with no hard freezes and little or no ice on the water you can just leave the valve closed as the water won't get cold enough to freeze and break the valve.

2. You can open the valve and in most cases it will be ok, but only if the raw water pump is above the water level.

If the raw water pump is below the water level, opening the valve will let raw water up to the pump and then a freeze can break it. In this case the best thing to do is this:

3. Some thruhull valves have a port for emptying the ball. Just open the port with the thruhull valve closed and it will drain the pocket of water in the ball. If no port then it is a little trickier. Remove the hose attached to the top of the valve. With your mouth or an air compressor, blow into the top of the valve, quickly open the valve to blow it out and then quickly shut it. Even better is to do this with a slug of antifreeze, but even I won't do that by mouth.

David

 

[Comodave]

Just seeing color doesn’t ensure that the engine is protected. When we tested at first color the freeze point would be around +30, not very well protected. It would take more color coming out that you would expect before the protection got down to -20. Some antifreeze will not test properly with a reflectometer but the -100 and -200 do test properly. Simple and easy thing to check vs maybe loosing an engine block.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

I take the top off my sea strainer. Close the valve and run the engine while pouring antifreeze into the strainer. (on the hard)

I use the -50 RV antifreeze. I capture some in a glass jar and compare the color to a sample I have sitting on the swim platform.

Be aware that if you use a refractometer to measure protection temp it will not read with RV antifreeze. I have never tried the floating ball type of meter.

Just for fun I then put the glass jar with the exhaust antifreeze in my garage refrigerator. When the temp gets to about "0" the antifreeze gets somewhere between stiff and mushy. It made me very nervous the first winter.

I have never had a freeze problem either with the engine or plumbing. Some winters have seen -30 around here, probably less cold by the lake though.

pete

 

[Comodave]

We used a refractometer since it was only critical to me that the antifreeze was actually going to protect my engines and water systems in the boat. So I used either -100 or -200 antifreeze. It was a bit more expensive but then again I used less. But the main difference was that I could verify what temperature my systems were protected to. I would be adding the antifreeze inside the boat and my wife would be outside by the exhaust or drain and do the testing with the refractometer.

 

[rslifkin]

A refractometer will work on the -50 and -60 stuff as long as it's not the alcohol blended version.

On my engines with large water lift mufflers it takes 9 gallons to winterize them fully. Color starts to show at about 7 gallons. With the long exhaust pipes after the mufflers, it's probably through the mufflers by the 6 gallon mark. But I know there's some dilution in the mufflers, to so the 9 gallons is to ensure adequate concentration.

 

[fgarriso]

Move SOUTH !

 

[Cigatoo]

Move SOUTH !

That would be the easy way! But why do that when you can stay up north and freeze all winter. Sorry for the rant.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

I think it takes me about five gallons of -50 RV antifreeze to do my engine. I start getting "pink" at about four gallons but add another gallon for safety. The domestic water system takes about another five gallons. I usually buy two cases which is twelve gallons. If I have two gallons left I usually dump one in the toilets and another into the bilge, (although I really don't care for the smell).

At $3.00 or $4.00 a gallon it is a very cheap winterizing. I have thought of using real antifreeze for the additional security on the engine but it is hard on the environment.

pete

 

[DavidM]

Please do not use "real" antifreeze (presumably ethylene glycol based) as it is very toxic and harmful to the environment. Use the pink stuff- propylene glycol which is not toxic.

David

 

[rslifkin]

Where does everyone get this info on ethylene glycol being so bad? It biodegrades like propylene glycol and both have similar toxicity (low) to marine animals. Ethylene glycol is highly toxic to mammals, however. That said, it's not much cheaper than propylene glycol for a given temperature protection level, so there's no good reason to use it unless winterizing a system containing parts that don't hold up well to propylene glycol.

https://www.practical-sailor.com/blog/antifreeze-ethylene-glycol-vs-propylene-glycol

https://www.practical-sailor.com/safety-seamanship/winterizing-wisdom-from-the-chemistry-lab

 

[Cigatoo]

For those of you with mufflers, Many mufflers have drain plugs at the bottom. Pull the plug and let them drain of salt water. When running the antifreeze through only run until the pink starts coming out of the muffler drain plug hole. Then reinstall the plug. At least in my case there is no need to fill the muffler with antifreeze. Saves a couple gallons at the engine and also the generator.

 

[rslifkin]

For those of you with mufflers, Many mufflers have drain plugs at the bottom. Pull the plug and let them drain of salt water. When running the antifreeze through only run until the pink starts coming out of the muffler drain plug hole. Then reinstall the plug. At least in my case there is no need to fill the muffler with antifreeze. Saves a couple gallons at the engine and also the generator.

That's a good suggestion. Only reason I don't do it that way is no drain on the generator muffler, and not adequate drains on the engine mufflers. My engine mufflers are 2 stage water lifts and only the lower stage has a drain plug (and it's almost inaccessible with the mufflers installed). So unless I add a drain for the upper stage, I can't adequately drain the engine mufflers.