Engine Oil cools drain winterizing on 2014 G21

[abstron]

The engine oil cooler is such a pain to drain when winterizing and every time I do it very little water comes out. Anyone have same issues and if so what do you do about it? Anyone just not drain this? Easy way to get to hose etc?

[scottb7]

Yeah, I skip it. On my old boat 2008 210 with 343, I used to NOT use rv antifreeze and just drained per the manual.

But on 2014 g21 with zr409, since both oil cooler and the v-drive are virtually impossible, I suck up rv antifreeze (lots of it)...and then since i saw pink coming out of exhaust i knew vdrive and oil cooler have to be fine...

Then - just to waste my time, mostly - I emptied everything I could reach to make sure the pink got to it...and room for expansion...

IMPORTANT: PCM confirmed to me that because the exhaust manifolds have a thermostat if you just suck in rv antifreeze you have to drain the exhaust manifolds...as that thermostat might not be open.

Probably do the same this year...I could quit emptying everything (except exhaust manifolds-which must be emptied) since pink got to it...but kind of like to drain stuff to be totally sure pink and room for expansion.

"PCM has always led the industry in providing robust cooling systems for every application. ALL PCM ZR409
CES, ZR450 CES and XR550 engines have a premium fresh water cooling system. Further, these engine
models built over approximately the past 3 years also employ a thermostatically-controlled raw water exhaust
system that cools the exhaust manifolds. This newer system with thermostatically-controlled exhaust cooling
has proven to guard against condensation and thermal cycling issues, and as a result, provides ideal cooling in
all conditions. The end result is added longetivity and improved reliability."

[abstron]

Im wondering if it is even needed without sucking up pink... but probably not worth the risk

[scottb7]

The cooler is on the list to drain, I don't think there is anyway around it...

Even if you could do the cooler by feel, which I don't think I could, you still got to deal with v-drive...

The question I keep asking myself is that if you remove the manifold thermostat and put a connector in it's place, could you suck in the rv antifreeze and skip draining anything? Probably not worth the trouble...

[abstron]

How do you add pink, I thought I tried before by removing the intake hose and dumping in but it didn't work, does it need good pressure seal?

FYI I can get my vdrive drain easy with a 3/8" rachet with a small xover to 1/2" on it and I go through the vdrive lid, takes me couple minutes and virtually no swear words!

[scottb7]

I have fresh water flush with hose bib fitting at back of boat. So I just dump 6 gallons in big tub and suck it up that way, from hose bib at boat to the big tub.

I just took another look. Yeah, I can see how you can get to v-drive...But no way I can get hose off the end of the cooler and back on. Not enough space.

Therefore, I think I gonna stick with sucking up the rv antifreeze ($3/each x 6 gallons = $18 bucks) and then skip those 2 drain points (vdrive and cooler)...It worked last year with no problem.

Rather just drain, but oh well.

I suppose one could add a drain port and a bit of hose somewhere along that cooler line area...does it just go to the vdrive, maybe disconnect the hose at the vdrive? Not sure..