Engine Storage

[besmith]

It's not likely that I'll get my CC in the water this season. She has twin 283 Chryslers and were properly winterized when taken out of the water last fall.

Will I have to do any additional servicing if I leave her out of the water until the Summer of 2006?

Thanks for all your help.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

It wouldn't hurt to fog your cylinders with a little oil. Make sure you change your oil next season at the start. Batteries are out I presume, and gas stabilizer in the tanks. If car antifreeze is used, it's a little more problematic. Always use plumbing antifreeze, it doesn't attack the rubber impellers and so forth.

[Gary E]

Originally posted by Peter Malcolm Jardine:
It wouldn't hurt to fog your cylinders with a little oil. Make sure you change your oil next season at the start. Batteries are out I presume, and gas stabilizer in the tanks. If car antifreeze is used, it's a little more problematic. Always use plumbing antifreeze, it doesn't attack the rubber impellers and so forth.Your engine will be fine if it was winterized correctly, it will last for several years. If it was a iffy job, you might remove the spark plugs and squirt a little oil in each cylinder and use a bar and socket to rotate the engine at least one complete revolution, that's a real pain so I prefer to jog the engine with 2 second hits of the starter.

Peter,
How whould you fog an engine allready winterized?

Prestone antifreeze will last for many years and does not attack seals or impellers, why do you say it is problematic?

Normal winterization includes draining of water tanks, actually complete draining is not allways possible so I allways added a gal of gin, which makes the next spring's first drink of water quite nice.

Peter, you say use plumbing antifreeze? Your post was not clear on where, were you sugesting using it in place of Prestone Engine Antifreeze? Please explain.

[ 07-03-2005, 06:16 AM: Message edited by: Gary E ]

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Regular antifreeze degrades over time. Inhibitors in antifreeze are there to prevent the propylene glycol from attacking (the aluminum rad mostly)metal and rubbers but degrade over time. Plumbing antifreeze is a lot less harsh on gaskets and seals and impellers, and is environmentally a lot more friendly too. I use it in my head and water system too, since that is it original intention.

Just a suggestion. I don't use regular antifreeze in my engines anymore. Remember winters here get down to -20F. A little extra oil sprayed in the cylinders never hurts.

[ 07-03-2005, 11:01 PM: Message edited by: Peter Malcolm Jardine ]

[WoodenBNut]

Couple of additional thoughts: (1) Regular auto antifreeze (ethylene glycol) is illegal to place in raw water cooled boat engines. If the "law" catches you starting an engine in US waters that has been winterized with ethylene glycol, you can get fined. You probably won't get caught, but do you really want to risk it and do you want to polute the water ways (more)? Besides, ethylene glycol is more expensive than propylene glycol. You can actually use propylene glycol in closed cooling engine systems also. propylene gylcol is supposed to be a much better coolant thhan ethylene gylcol for closed systems. BUT, you will need to replace your heat exhanged pressure cap with a 7 psi rated cap if you use propylene gylcol on a closed cooling system. Also, don't add any water(dilute) if you use propylene gylcol. (2) While you are at it, I would take out the thermostat on each engine and do a check with a thermometer for proper opening and closing temp checks. My GM 327 c.i. engine thermostats are supposed to open at 180F and close at 170F. You will have to look up the specs for your engine. Good time well spent to make sure they are clean and work properly. You will need to cut a new thermostat gasket (probably) when you reinstal the thermostat - you can get the gasket material at any autoparts store. Save the old gasket for a pattern (3) This would also be an excellent time to remove your raw water pumps and check the impellors and seals. Replace the impellor if it has cracks, or is very stiff. *Actually, it is recommended to replace the raw water impellors each boating season. Its a real "bummer" if the impellors go bad in the boating season and worse yet if you have to disassemble your cooling system to try to get the little bits of broker rubber impellor out that is blocking the cooling passages.