PCM EX343 winterizing help please

[Quinner]

Hutch has it right. Connect a garden hose where he indicated. This will supply PLENTY of water to get the engine up to temp. While it's doing that, get a 5-gallon bucket ready with AV antifreeze. Shut everything down, and put a short hose in the bucket and restart the engine. It'll draw all the antifreeze out, up and around the engine. As soon as the bucket is empty, shut down the engine and you're winterized.

I would caution against this method particularly when using RV Antifreeze. You should always drain everything and then either pour in or suck up the AF. There is no reason you need to bring motor up to temp to winterize.

Regarding the suck up method, I remove the hose on the downstream side of the strainer and attach a funnel to it and just pour in the pink while the motor is running, attaching a hose section there and sucking from a bucket would also work and be easier if you don't have a helper.

[charlesml3]

There is no reason you need to bring motor up to temp to winterize.

And there's no good reason NOT to either. With the thermostat open, you know for sure you've displaced all the water through the entire cooling loop. And by running the engine a bit you give the Stabil time to circulate through the entire fuel path, not just the tank.

And I've been winterizing boat engines like this for more than 30 years with 100% success. No freezes, no failures, no problems.

-Charles

[HutchCanada]

There are some very knowledgeable guys here. Sounds like the safest method to ensure zero chance of engine damage due to freezing is to bring the engine up to temp using the fresh water hookup described, then remove all 7 drain plugs, then suck up the AF till it runs out the exhaust. To be double sure pour AF in all the 3 hoses connected to the thermostat housing - 2 on right and 1 on top left in this pic



Sounds like total overkill but I will sleep better during our cold Ontario nights

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[charlesml3]

Sounds like total overkill but I will sleep better during our cold Ontario nights

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Agreed. When it comes to winterization (especially in really cold climates) overkill is exactly what you want. Antifreeze is cheap. Replacing an engine is not.

[HutchCanada]

No kidding. A lot of boaters on my lake think I'm crazy not paying to have it done by our local marina. But at $680 after taxes to do engine, heater and ballast, I'm sticking it to the man. After watching my neighbour do his DD ski boat I was like "that's it? Seriously?" it was a no-brainer. $100 to pour AF in my ballast vents and run the pumps in reverse? No thanks. Plus I'm learning about my motor and that's always good. I'm a big proponent of doing your own work if you have the time and know how.

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[Quinner]

And there's no good reason NOT to either. With the thermostat open, you know for sure you've displaced all the water through the entire cooling loop. And by running the engine a bit you give the Stabil time to circulate through the entire fuel path, not just the tank.

And I've been winterizing boat engines like this for more than 30 years with 100% success. No freezes, no failures, no problems.

-Charles

Fuel should be treated before you put the boat on the trailer to winterize so it runs through the entire fuel system, TStat open or closed has no bearing whatsoever and will only confuse folks. Don't care how long you have done it the way you described above you have just gotten lucky to this point perhaps because your climate does not see the hard freezes like up north. Proper method is drain first then backfill or suck up after, period!

Hutch, do not worry about the tstat or bringing up to temp, you will just burn yourself when draing everything and by the time you are done with the drain the motor will probably be cool again anyways, lol.

[charlesml3]

Fuel should be treated before you put the boat on the trailer to winterize so it runs through the entire fuel system, TStat open or closed has no bearing whatsoever and will only confuse folks. Don't care how long you have done it the way you described above you have just gotten lucky to this point perhaps

OK, so let me see if I have this right. You believe that most of the people on this thread can handle pulling out the drain plugs, draining the water, refilling the block with antifreeze and doing all of that correctly, but "warming the engine up to operating temperature" is just going to "confuse folks." Really? That's what you're going with?

There is NO downside to doing this. None, whatsoever.

[HutchCanada]

I can see warming up the engine as a plus as you're changing the oil as well. Good point on a hot engine burning you - especially when you go for that tranny cooler plug on the starboard side. Interesting how the PCM manual says to pull all the plugs, put them back in and backfill thru the thermostat housing till the motor is full of AF. No mention of running the motor at all.

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[Quinner]

LOL, what I am saying is absolutely do NOT follow your advice to suck up water to operating temp then change over to suck up anti-freeze and you are done, a drain needs to happen in between!

And if you were winterizing your boat properly the first time you went to drain the 160+ deg motor after you (per your other recommendation) "brought the motor up to temp" and the water, drain plugs and anything else you touched burned the heck out of your hands, then perhaps you would understand why the tstat has no bearing on a proper drain or backfill/suck-up and see the downside, lmao.

[Quinner]

Hutch, ideally you would stabilize fuel before your last ski/drive. First step in winterizing is run on the hose to flush everything, at that point getting motor at least 120deg is going to really help to suck the oil out for your change. After my oil filter change I restart for just a short period to circ fresh oil and then move on to the other items on the list like trans fluid change, drain, etc. Good Luck

[charlesml3]

LOL, what I am saying is absolutely do NOT follow your advice to suck up water to operating temp then change over to suck up anti-freeze and you are done, a drain needs to happen in between!

And if you were winterizing your boat properly the first time you went to drain the 160+ deg motor after you (per your other recommendation) "brought the motor up to temp" and the water, drain plugs and anything else you touched burned the heck out of your hands, then perhaps you would understand why the tstat has no bearing on a proper drain or backfill/suck-up and see the downside, lmao.

You really have no idea what you're talking about. You really don't. When you put the hose in the 5-gallon bucket, it draws the antifreeze in, pushing the water OUT. That's how it works. The antifreeze displaces the water which is exactly what you want. By doing this at the raw water intake, you're covering the entire cooling loop. 5 gallons is more than enough to displace all of the water in the entire cooling system. It's even enough to reach up to the heater core and back.

And no, it does not "burn the heck out of your hands." It's no different than changing the oil on a warm engine. If you can't do that without burning yourself, then perhaps you should hire out your maintenance going forward.

Funny how you completely disregarded the point I made about how warming the engine does not "confuse people."

-Charles

[Quinner]

LOL, ok chucky, you got me, I will be over there in the corner with my dunce cap on along with the PCM and CC engineers who recommend the same thing as me, drain first!!

[scottb7]

ok...now my 3 cents...pcm does say drain first...and then they go on to say you get extra freeze and corrosion protection by putting the antifreeze in...I did this for a few years when i had that motor...until someone older and wiser than me pointed out that you only need the extra corrosion protection if storing over a year, and the extra freeze protection is fine if you want it, but if you drain their is no problem, which is why the rv antifreeze is OPTIONAL. No one will live long enough to get corrosion if they skip the rv antifreeze.

So with that motor i followed the instructions and drained where they said to and quit wasting energy with the antifreeze. That is my recommendation with that motor: follow the instructions for draining...and skip the rv antifreeze...get up close and personal once a year with the drain ports and get 'er done.

p.s. the pcm engines continued to get more and more complicated over the years with 1/2 coolant and 1/2 raw water systems, and then all raw water, and some engines have thermostatically controlled exhaust manifold cooling, etc. Just follow the instructions for your engine...but the rv antifreeze is optional.

[charlesml3]

Just follow the instructions for your engine...but the rv antifreeze is optional.

You know Scott, you're right. I think a lot of people just go "old school" and do the RV antifreeze but that was really for the old engines which didn't have drain plugs.

The only thing I would add to your procedure would be: (if equipped) Blow the water out of the heater tubes and core.

-Charles

[vanhanbr]

If you use antifreeze, you need to use the -100 stuff, the regular stuff causes more corrosion than just leaving it empty. I drain, then add antifreeze through thermostat. I leave the block plugs open till antifreeze comes out, then close them. Leftover water in the block is pushed out / combined with the antifreeze.


I used to use the regular antifreeze until I seen a post on the Mastercraft forum where someone tested the stuff.