Winterizing 2003 SAN EX330 photos

[Codywb01]

So I’m late to the game and missed my heater hose. And after reading this I missed the crank plug. The boat sat in my dads garage through one of the coldest winters we’ve had here in Pittsburgh, Pa. two of the soft plugs blew out. How much of screwing around do I have to do to get this boat back on the water as the season is right around the corner. Or did I just find a $13000 mistake I made.


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[gscho002]

really appreciate all the great pictures. i am thinking to winterize myself this year. i am wondering why i must remove all the water if i am just going to flush with RV antifreeze? is there concern over dilution? what if i flush with extra? locating and removing all those plugs and reinstalling properly looks like a recipe for disaster. plus my boat is not identical so i'm concerned i might miss something. i assume if i do my best and THEN flush with extra RV antifreeze, i should be ok?

[03SANTE]

really appreciate all the great pictures. i am thinking to winterize myself this year. i am wondering why i must remove all the water if i am just going to flush with RV antifreeze? is there concern over dilution? what if i flush with extra? locating and removing all those plugs and reinstalling properly looks like a recipe for disaster. plus my boat is not identical so i'm concerned i might miss something. i assume if i do my best and THEN flush with extra RV antifreeze, i should be ok?

In my opinion getting water out is more important than getting antifreeze in as this has been debated for years. I would worry that antifreeze would not circulate to every area especially if thermostat isn't hot enough to operate. Zero risk in unscrewing a plug and reinserting once water drains and you can always follow up with an antifreeze flush. There has to be some info on here for your specific year or maybe described in the manual.

Personally I drain the water and then pour the antifreeze, not flush. Has worked for me and I definitely get below freezing in an unheated garage. Don't forget those ballast lines and pumps.

Good luck!

[bturner]

There's nothing saying you have to do anything but when it comes to something like winterization not doing it correctly can cost you really big.

There are a lot of ways to winterize. Some are over the top and some are short cuts. Some work 100% of the time and some 95% of the time. The method you choose to do is up to you.

Flushing if done correctly works fine and I've seen many posts on this method but it is not something I do or recommend. While it may work fine, unless you're a shop that's able to capture the antifreeze from the exhaust you're basically pouring antifreeze on the ground. Going with "extra" just means you're pouring more on the ground. I don't consider myself to be a "green" extremist by any measure but I don't dump my oil in a pit behind the garage and won't intentionally dump antifreeze on the ground or into the lake either. What I typically hear after making this statement is that it's just a little, you catch most of it or it's non-toxic. Just because something says it's non toxic doesn't mean its OK to drink or add to the environment.

As to pulling all those plugs. If you don't have the skills to find them, remove them and reinstall them then you probably shouldn't be doing this by yourself the first and probably second time. I started doing this type of work with my father at about 12 and it wasn't until I was 15 or 16 that he would let me do this work by myself and we were doing 5 or 6 boats a season at the time. Over the years I've taught quite a few guys (no girls strangely enough) to do this work. Even though several of them have done this 4 or 5 years they'll still have me drop by while they're doing their boat. I mostly hand up tools and drink beer but it's still a second set of eyes and a second person running down the check list.

If you really want to do this consider it a hobby or a CV (Chinese Virus) learning experience. Take your time, follow the instruction in the manual, pull all the plugs and do it correctly. You'll learn a lot about your boat, gain a skill and save money all at the same time. That said if you hate doing this kind of work and are just looking to get it done as quickly and easily as possible to save a couple bucks, I would then highly recommend taking it to the dealer and paying the money. But that's me.

BTW.... most of the manuals should have a picture like the one below for you to work from. In mine it even tells you the order in which to remove the drain plugs. If you notice on mine I've documented the size of the sockets used for each of the drains. I also kept a record of all the part numbers and quantities or parts and materials I use for every boat I do. This makes prepping for the next time much easier.

[gscho002]

thanks! esp for the diagrams and advice from both of you. i also found the very long threads on this in some of the other posts. i can see it is a hot topic! i agree that if there is a risk of damage to the engine then saving a bit of time is not worth it. so i'll try to find all the plugs.

meantime BTURNER, i actually looked locally for someone i could pay to teach me how to do this properly, but was not able to do so. it sounds from your post that you do this - if you are anywhere near western MD, let me know!

[hal2814]

Once you find them once, it’s easy. The first time with my current engine took about an hour to drain. Now I can do it in 20-30 minutes. Hardest part in a v-drive setup is getting to the water pump j-tube (2 in the pic above).

[lfadam]

This thread was very helpful for winterizing my 04 210 today with the Excal 330. Found all 6 plugs and removed them, but my heater does not match the photos at all. I'm guessing the first owner installed it after market. No red hoses. The only one I can find that seems to be the heater has a weird T-valve on it with some kind of sensor. And the only hose that looks like a return goes to the engine block near the serpentine belt and water pump...could that be it?

Here's a pic I took of what I think one of the two heater lines looks like. Any insight on how to purge this would be much appreciated so I can knock this out tomorrow!

[NautiqueJeff]

I think that T is holding your lake water temperature sensor. I doubt that's your heater.

[lfadam]

The hose going out of frame on the bottom left says "heater hose" in white letters...if it's not this, where would I find it? The pics on page 1 have it near the oil fill cap. I don't see any other water-carrying-hoses in the area. Is it possible my after market heater is electric or something?

[jmo]

In comparison to my old 2006 196 with the excal motor, that is the right spot, but the bigger diameter hose on top goes to the exhaust manifold. Pull that one off and it should reveal another smaller diameter hose under it. On mine the line to the heater and the return are there.

I attached the only pic I have - notice my heater lines are red…

[lfadam]

Thanks jmo, will take a look for the return down there.

After further photo sleuthing, it looks like the OP and my boat have swapped the locations of two components...whatever this sensor is (engine temp or lake temp?) and one of the heater hoses. I guess the previous owner of my boat did it a different way for some reason. Anyone else seen the heater done this way / know how to winterize it? See pics for context. His sensor is in the purple location, and hose in the green. My hose is in the purple location and the green spot is unused (my sensor is further down the hose at the T junction)

[lfadam]

Update: The hose with the t-junction in my above post was indeed the heater hose (outbound). The return went under the engine and connected on the aft side of the engine right next to the serpentine belt. After removing both hoses I was able to blow the water in the core out without any trouble (using my lungs, no compressor).

The return hose was melted onto the fitting so had to cut it off. Not even boiling water helped. Luckily whoever installed my heater left plenty of slack so not a problem.

Hope this helps anyone else with a heater-equipped Excalibur 330 with non-red hoses and non-standard hose fitting locations.

[03SANTE]

The heater circuit is one area I always dump the pink antifreeze into after blowing it out like you have done. Since it is so remote I just feel better knowing it won't freeze if I missed a little water. I usually dump some in the top hose and wait for some pink to show up through the other end.

[lfadam]

That's a good idea. I plan to suck up 5 gallons of antifreeze into the engine for added security. Hoping some of that will make it to the heater circuit.

[wakeskater88]

There's one more place that is good to drain. Its the plug right below the transmission cooler. It takes a 7/16 socket or wrench.