Winterizing: My know-it-all father in laws says...

Bug Stomper said:

My know-it-all old man of the sea Master Mariner's Ticket father-in-law says that 55psi air pushed through the flush port to evacuate any water from the exhaust is not good enough. Says you need to get anti-freeze in there as well.

My Spark manual says 55psi air should do the trick. Anyone doing this antifreeze jug higher than the spark with hose attached to flush inlet and run the engine thing?

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I can tell you this- I winterized with the top off and took the front hose of the exhaust manifold and Nothing came out-I then took the rear hose of the exhaust manifold off where it exits the bottom of the hull (Inside the Back of the hull) and about 3 table spoons of water came out of the hose. Next I took the top exhaust hose off the water box and there was about 12 ounces of water in the water box because it took 3-4 turkey baster siphons to get it out.
I added about 12 ounces of antifreeze to the water box. NOW the water box holds about 2 gallons of liquid so if the small amount of water had frozen it just would have expanded slightly and would Not have been a problem.
Most old timers (Like me) remember the old 2 stroke days when Antifreeze through the engine and water box was mandatory because the engine was lake water cooled Not Sealed with antifreeze like our 4 strokes.

My question about anti freeze is wont that flood the cylinders thru the exhaust valves. Its the same concept of towing a jetski when broken down without the engine running. The flow of the lake water will flood the cylinders without the exhaust gas pressure. Wouldnt the antifreeze being forced thru the system backwards do the same thing. Isnt that why they suggest air pressure only?

If you run the engine, will the gravity of the antifreeze over come the pressure of the exhaust gas pressure?

Justflyinglow said:

My question about anti freeze is wont that flood the cylinders thru the exhaust valves. Its the same concept of towing a jetski when broken down without the engine running. The flow of the lake water will flood the cylinders without the exhaust gas pressure. Wouldnt the antifreeze being forced thru the system backwards do the same thing. Isnt that why they suggest air pressure only?

If you run the engine, will the gravity of the antifreeze over come the pressure of the exhaust gas pressure?

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No

This is the normal flushing of my SPARK everyday, by sending fresh water backward with the engine running I get all the salt out.

So it stands to reason, just replace the water with 55 LB air that will also flush the water out.

Then again I will store my SPARK in a garage for the winter, next to my hot water heater.

I understand the flushing process. During the flushing process, you use the hose with sufficient pressure to overcome the exhaust gas pressure. My question is with the engine running, will holding a jug of antifreeze above the cooling system be enough pressure to run the antifreeze backwards thru the system? Or will it just force the anitfreeze back into the jug?

Justflyinglow said:

I understand the flushing process. During the flushing process, you use the hose with sufficient pressure to overcome the exhaust gas pressure. My question is with the engine running, will holding a jug of antifreeze above the cooling system be enough pressure to run the antifreeze backwards thru the system? Or will it just force the anitfreeze back into the jug?

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I had dealers (2) that had a large drum of antifreeze and when people came in they just Flushed their system briefly with antifreeze and collected the run off to put back in the drum? Charged them about $50 each!
I was going to do what you indicate- Hold a jug up and run a gallon of antifreeze though the reverse flush process BUT since I was taking the top off anyway to change the oil filter it saved me a LOT of expensive antifreeze I could use somewhere else!

DickB said:

Looking at the system, the exhaust manifold has little volume for water, and I suspect pressurized air would completely evacuate any water in there. If a little water remains in the muffler or resonator, there is plenty of room for expansion if it freezes.

I'm going to winterize per the manual - no antifreeze. But not today - 60s are predicted this week so I will ride!

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your right, but I still run antifreeze with corrosion inhibitor through it, you never know what kind of damage you will have until its too late, water sitting in the muffler for long periods of time could cause corrosion damage, I know the muffler is made out of stainless steel but I have seen stainless corrode before.

I blew mine out yesterday. I blew 100 psi through it, ran it blew it, ran it, blew it until I didn't get so much as a drop out of it. I opened the IBR bucket fogged it with oil and parked it in the barn. Everything is either stainless or aluminum a little bit of water shouldn't hurt it. Besides that's all the dealer was going to do when I called them for a quote and they wanted to charge $275. Mind you that included an oil change.

Glad I read this thread. I totally missed the part of the manual where it said to blow air through the system if in freezing conditions. I was on the water on Sunday with 70* F temperatures. Then the Arctic Blast came through and we were just below freezing last night and will be at or near it for the next two nights. (Crazy central Texas weather).

Glad I did it, because I did have water come out.

thanks!!