please dont let her sink...

[scootdogg]

i am still battling an issue. when i open the drain valves on the engines the water will not stop draining. i guess it is siphoning right from the lake. it never did this before... it started with the port engine and has now progressed to the starboard engine. i ordered my heater today... but would REALLY like to be able to drain the engines each time i leave... better safe than sorry! HELP!

 

[Lazy Daze]

Can't say I've ever heard that one, before. Are removing the blue plug from the t-stat housing? Have you drained the blocks before... In other words, can you compare the time it's taking (generally) to other times? Is it pouring out or dribbling out?

 

[scootdogg]

well... a fellow CSR member was nice enough to run down to the boat and tried removing the blue thermostat housings and it still was draining. is there an order that has to be strictly followed? i drained them many times before and never had to remove the blue plug...

it is pouring out!

 

[Lazy Daze]

is there an order that has to be strictly followed?

No - no real order. This is really strange. OK... try this first... are your drives up or down? Try tilting them all the way up to see if the water intake will come out of the water. If that doesn't solve it, I see two options to at least physically stop the water from coming in. For the first, this "fellow CSR member" is going to have to be a really good friend... plug the hose connection on a set of "muffs" and slide them over the water intake on the drive (not sure how "wet" he/she is going to have to get... hence the "really" good friend part). Second option... Clamp the water intake hose shut.

 

[fasttoys7619]

how about for future winters , get a wooden cone plug , and two inline valves ,(one for each motor) they sell them at west marine , cut the hose between lower unit and the sea pump or strainer , plug the hose quick , and install the valves , quickly remove plug and make last connection , now you can shut the valve and drain your blocks safely every year , just a thought , but remember to open the valves before firing the motors next use

 

[islandhopper00]

Scott, is the boat loaded differently than before? The stern seems to be sitting pretty low in the water. I don't know if that would make a difference.

Dennis, would the muffs would have to remain on the drives while the plugs are out?
would the intake hose need to remain clamped, for the motor to remain drained?

I suppose the answers would be yes to both.

I don't think the drives will trim full out of the water.

I don't know about really good friend, but I'd help most anyone with a genuine need. Carma thing.

 

[islandhopper00]

double post, it told me to do it! haha

 

[Lazy Daze]

Hopper - I really don't know why it's doing this to start with, so normally I would answer "no" to both your questions.... but "there's something strange in your neighborhood".

However, based on what's going on... the muffs could come back off after a minute. The hose would need to stay pinched off, though.

Thinking outloud... the Alpha impeller set-up will allow water to pass through very easy - it is not a blockade in any way to water in either direction. The only way I can think of this siphoning happening is if, indeed, the boat is sitting that low in the water as you mentioned. Can you tell how high up on the transom plate the water level is (without you standing on the platform)? Does it look normal?

 

[islandhopper00]

The swim platform sits close to the water, but with the twin 4.3's I think it is probably normal. The water is about 6-8 inches below the rear most point of the platform. If I stand on the platform, the edges are under water and the rear most lip is 1-2 inches above the water.........wait, I weigh about 300 lbs though. haha

I really thought removing the vent plugs would do the trick. I'm surprised it didn't. Does the 4.3's have the fuel cooler plugs also like the 5.0's? My motor has two more plugs under the motor.

I'm really wondering why he could drain his motors before and now something is different so that he can't.

 

[Lazy Daze]

The plug setup depends on the type of drainage system. There are two styles of fuel coolers - I believe you have the gen 3. He should have the spin-on style. One of the differences is that his cooler is separate from the filter. He would have one blue plug in his fuel cooler.

 

[islandhopper00]

Would removing that plug help?

 

[Lazy Daze]

Doubtful - it's still below the outside water level. That won't break the siphon. It can't hurt to try, but I don't think it will open up the bottom of the siphon enough.

 

[Alex F]

It's been a while since I messed with outdrives, but I'll throw my .02c FWIW. Isn't the point of raw water intake from the outdrive gets to the impeller pump? I would think that it's very possible for bad impeller letting the raw water thru and it runs continuesly when you take the plug out of the block. I would not want to leave my boat floating in this condition.

 

[CV-23]

Sounds to me the stern is sitting lower in the water for some reason. The top of my outer transom plate is out of the water on my CV-23 Alpha1 six inches with the top cap a few inches under water. The same applies to my Bravo1 drive on the 270DA. I'd put an inline valve in and close it to winterize, Mike.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Alex - he has an Alpha. With an Alpha raw water pump impeller (impeller in the drive), the impeller never really "seals" like an engine mounted raw water pump does. Even a brand new one will allow water to pass through very easily (in both directions). This is why it isn't really necessary to add AF to an Alpha raw water pump. During the normal winterization process, AF does get introduced into the pump area, but it's not really the intended purpose - it just happens because that's the path that the AF follows upon exiting the system. An Alpha drive is totally fine for winter if it's simply left in the down position - it will drain. An engine mounted raw water pump will not self drain.

Unless, that impeller is just so worn that there is now a large opening for water to pass... but then overheating would have been seen.

Regardless, I agree that this should be figured out. I just can't figure out why this is happening.

Dogg (or Hopper): What drain set-up do the engines use? Is there a blue plug (and orange tube) on the front, lower port side of the engine?

 

[Alex F]

Thanks for clarification, Dennis. You're right, when I posted I was thinking BIII. It's been way too long since I touched an Alpha drive on my 175BR. I don't know if I could spell impeller back then. :lol:

 

[scootdogg]

yes... that is exactly the set up...

 

[Lazy Daze]

I've been thinking about this throughout the day and I think I need to back track. I'm going to assume that, while the boat may be indeed be sitting a little low, it's not sitting so low as to be out of the "normal" range. That being the case, I'm beginning to think that this might be normal. It may not happen to every boat every, every time, but it might just be normal for your setup.

If this is the case, the only way to possibly stop water from coming in (clamping the hose still leaves water in the hose which can freeze) is to either get the drive intake above water or cover the intake (plugged muffs - which I'm only theorizing will work - and if it did, the muffs would likely need to stay on permanently, unlike what I said a few posts above). Possibly re-routing/re-designing the water intake hose so it first goes higher than water level... But there would still be some amount of hose that would contain water, although it "might" be close enough to the outside water to keep from freezing.

In the end, I'm not sure there's a realistic way around this.

 

[skolbe]

I am assuming when the engineer designed this they intended for this boat to pulled out of the water for the winter therefore they were not concerned about siphoning.

 

[Nehalennia]

All of this sounds like a bad plan and trying to pull the plugs and leave it just does not sound right regardless if it's pouring out water or not. It's inviting the proplem of potentially flooding. I assume you're planning on leaving her in the water all season?