I winterized my boat today and have a question about using cuffs.My boat has a 454 w/a B2 and a full closed cooling system.I still flush the salt water cooled side of the sysem using cuffs and then run antifreeze thru the system when fogging the motor.I have a jug with the antifreeze.It was a bout 40 degrees out and when I warmed up the motor using the cuffs,no water came out of the vent at top of the outdrive.Then engine ran at its usual 175 degrees with no poblems.I ran my antifreeze and didn't see any flow out of the outdrive but the lquid flowed into the engine.No broken pipes or water in the bilge.The boat had the bow elevated 2 feet when I did this.Is the lack of flow out of the top of the drive a problem?Next spring what should I check?Thanks.
Problems using cuffs on Bravo 2 for winterization
- Thread starter mikeg2
- Start date
THe first thing I'd do, is to open one of the block drain plugs and collect some of the anti-freeze/water mix so you can check it. How much and what kind of anti-freeze did you use. I wouldn't wait until next sxpring.
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- Sep 28, 2002
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You were trying to winterize the raw water side of the system, did the engine suck it in? You're saying there was no flow out the exhaust, if that's the case I bet the impeller is weak or damaged, I'd check the impeller and just drain the raw water side manually. I have heard that the impellers on Bravos and Volvos sometimes have trouble sucking up AF because the AF is more dense than water and the impeller is mounted far from the drive on the engine.
I used the purple stuff since it has rust inhibiters.It looked like the motor sucked in almost 2 gallons (except some that dribbled out the cuffs).Since the motor has a closed system all the block plugs have antifreeze already.Is there a way to check the riser for antifreeze without pulling it apart?Should I be able to see antifreeze coming out of the outdrive?If so where should it come thru?I thought the cooling system discharged thru a port toward the top of the Bravo 2.Thanks for the quick relply.I live 60 miles from my boat and have taken the batteries home so I'm not looking foward to going back in 30 degrees.At least the block is safe with a closed system.If I go back and drain it manually how do I do that?
Sorry,, must have been half sleeping when I read your question and missed the fact that you are FWC. Two gallons had to go somewhere, and that's a lot of antifreeze to hold up in the raw water side of the engine. Since you didn't see any coming out the outdrive, I'd be concernerned that you got any in the system at all.Could more have leaked out around the MUFFS than you think? When I've seen people have trouble getting the antifreeze to run through the system because of a bad impeller etc, it all leaks out around the muffs. You need to open up the drain plugs on the raw water side and sample the anti-freeze/water mix. I suspect that if you didn't see it coming out the exhaust, it didn't go in. Your owners' manual for the engine will show you where all the drain plugs are on the raw water side. You want to find out now so you don't have to replace lots of expensive parts in the spring.
I'll check with merc.There was exhaust coming out of the prop hub but the antifreeze may have leaked past the cuffs.Since I ran the motor for some time before the oil change I would have though the temp guage would show an overheat.How long can a closed cooling system run without outside water cooling at the heat exchanger (the temp was cold that day)before overheating?