Might be late now... but forgot to drain V-drive

[brettmcox]

I have a 2001 Super Sport GT40.
I think i forgot to drain the V-drive.
I drained the..
Block
Water Pump
Strainer
Trans cooler.
But i think i forgot the Vdrive.

Boat is inside a non heated attached garage. It stays 30-50 in there but it has hit 25 over night a few times.

I have noticed that snow will melt off my car and floor will not freeze the water, but I left a water cup next to the door and it had some light ice on from last night.

Should I just climb in a drain it?
Or since there is space in the system it should be ok?

[beach]

Yes drain it. It's not that difficult and you never know if another deep freeze could still happen this winter. Plus the drains are labeled on a Walter vdrive.

[brettmcox]

when i do... should be looking for cracks?

[DanielC]

Drain it now!
You may be OK, but why risk it? May as well take a quick look for cracks, I think the water jacket is near the top of the V-drive. If there are, may as well find them now, so you have time to get the repairs you might need.

This thread shows a flushing adapter I made.
http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...ushing+adapter
You can use the adapter to pressurize the cooling system up to the raw water pump before you start the engine. This should make any cracks in the V-drive housing evident.
No, the pressure will not hurt any thing. A small amount of water will go past the raw water pump, and fill the block, until it startes running out the exhaust system, so if there is still a chance of freezing, you will need to drain the whole system again, including the V-drive.

[Zach@n3]

If it's only been an over night 25 degrees you should be safe. You have to have at least a day of sub freezing temperatures solid for it to penetrate that deep inside of a boat. The engine compartment and engine/trans/v drive themselves are all very good at storing heat. Drain it anyways and keep your fingers crossed in the spring. Run it on the hose and check for milky v drive fluid. Also you didn't mention draining the exhaust manifolds. Do that too. You also have a J tube in the block water pump supply hose that has a drain plug right at the bottom that should be drained too.

[nyryan2001]

I have a 2001 Super Sport GT40.

Or since there is space in the system it should be ok?

The Vdrive is the one that holds a TON of water. And it ALWAYS has water.


seems like whenever I winterize... many of the plugs dont drip any water... the Vdrives holds a ton of water.

[jsta281]

If the temp fluctuates between 30 and 50 with an occasional overnight low of 25 I would be shocked if it froze. Always better safe then sorry as others have said, but I would not be to worried about it being damaged.