Fogging and plugs

KYSEAN

Do you leave the plugs in or keep out for the winter after fogging the engine?

Black_Diamond

In!

212rowboat

Block drain plugs?

BoatAway

wait, if drain plugs aren't in, coolant leaks out just as soon as you put it in...

212rowboat

true.. possibly.. the nooks and crannies will retain some juice, but.. expansion of h20 when freezing will crack a block quick like in a closed system.. open that system up, and the remaining juice has somewhere to go/grow instead of cracking the block.. an 'open' block WILL NOT RUPTURE if/when it freezes..

edited to add: for the love of God and all that is holy, put the drain plugs in a baggie, marked, and tape them to your cowl so you don't lose them, and don't forget they aren't in there. 

BoatAway

maybe in Florida that's OK. But further North my research shows that the block that doesn't freeze, is the one filled with anti-freeze.

I use the purple stuff, one step further than the pink. A little more expensive, but I don't want to worry...

212rowboat

it can freeze all it wants with the drain plugs out.... won't hurt a thing.

seguir

I thought it was funny too, but the people who service my engine as well drained the antifreeze out.

Black_Diamond

I bet they bill you for the antifreeze, collect it and re-use it on the next guy who gets billed...

seguir

Interesting.....no they let it drain out of the bilge....I was there to watch the process.  But who knows the container that held the antifreeze could have been from the last guy.

JoeStang

That makes no sense ( to me anyways), does your car crack its block when it sits over the winter with antifreeze inside? As long as you make sure the thermostat opens and the antifreeze definitely had a chance to circulate throughout the entire system, there should be no worry about freezing.

How much corrosion protection can you get from the antifreeze once its drained out? Its not like its oil, it's gonna evaporate pretty quickly.  Again, just my opinion.

Black_Diamond

Good comment about using non-toxic antifreeze. Green and orange stuff kills everything.

jreau

With my Bravo 2 I run it on the muffs and then loosen the block drain and take a small sample and put it in a container and keep it outside at home and when we get these 10 below zero days I can rest easy knowing that my sample is not frozen. I like leaving antifreeze in to help keep the block from rusting and it also keeps the impeller from drying out.