Dumping Antifreeze

[rcornejo]

Good Evening Everyone,

Well, I just finished doing some major work to my 1997 Peninsular in efforts to avoid having to replace the engine however, I just found out that I put the wrong antifreeze back in. According to Matt at Peninsular, I should have used an anti-freeze that did not contain Silicate in it. I used the Oreily 50/50 green mixture not knowing there was a difference. My question is does anyone have the procedure to drain the antifreeze out to ensure that any silicate deposits are removed completely. The good news is that I just ran the boat for a very short distance with that anti-freeze. During the test run, the boat did not heat up at all.

Thanks again for your help.

[jcollins]

I'll be following this thread myself. Matt told me the same thing. Replace my "yellow' with the "orange" silicate free. Normally I would let the marina do it and not worry. This year I'm going to get my own hands in there.

[rcornejo]

Hi John,

According to Matt, changing the cooling fluid is not hard to do. I have a friend of mine who is very good at doing things himself, is going to call Matt today to get a run down on how to do it. Once I get that, I will post it for you. Hopefully, it's not a big deal. The funny thing is that when we did the work to our engine and replaced the sea water pump, exhaust elbow and numerous cooling system lines, green antifreeze was present. Apparently the previous owner used the green stuff and never had problems with it. As a matter of fact, my boat always ran very cool.

I'll keep you posted on my findings.

[RobS]

..Apparently the previous owner used the green stuff and never had problems with it. As a matter of fact, my boat always ran very cool.

It's not about the cooling properties of the coolant, it's the corrosion protection, seal compatability, service life, etc..

[rcornejo]

Hi Rob,

You are absolutely right. I did not realize there were so many types of antifreeze available. I plan to drain all the antifreeze out and put the recommended brand in.

I will keep everyone posted on the procedure to do it.

[RobS]

Don't forget to drain and flush the coolant lines to and from the water heater.

[efishnsea]

We were told at Mack Boring school that the problem with the green antifreeze is if you have a overheating issue. It will leave a deposit in the cooling pasages that insulate and will inhibit cooling in the future. They also stress that these engines are heavy duty engines doing heavy work and they need a hi grade coolant. The red antifreeze is not cheap. Around 22$ a gallon. They swear its necessary. I think our engines are a large investment compared to gas and the extra protection is worth it.

[DougSea]

It will leave a deposit in the cooling pasages that insulate and will inhibit cooling in the future.

Thanks for posting that. I always wondered what the thinking was behind the different antifreeze.

[jleonard]

The deposits can also start galvanic corrosion and the Yanmars have a lot of aluminum alloys....and they don't handle corrosion too well.
My son who owns an auto repair business gets lots of business when folks use the wrong coolant for too long in aluminum heavy engines. It's not a Yanmar specific thing, it's an aluminum alloy issue.

When you dump your coolant I would drain the hoses as suggested, but I wouldn't go anal about getting every last drop out of the hidden pockets.

[RobS]

The red antifreeze is not cheap. Around 22$ a gallon.

If you buy the extended life coolant straight up and mix it yourself with distilled water you save considerably over buying the 50/50 premix.

[efishnsea]

They also told us when changing antifreeze type to empty system, Fill with fresh water run the engine and empty again. Then use new type antifreeze.

[RobS]

They also told us when changing antifreeze type to empty system, Fill with fresh water run the engine and empty again. Then use new type antifreeze.

I agree. When I bought my 28 it had green coolant. A gallon container was still on the boat, it was a NAPA product which stated it was approved for diesel application, low silicate and safe for all aluminum engines. Regardless, I promptly changed over to orange ELC. I filled with fresh water, ran engine, dumped and re-filled with distilled water, ran engine, dump it again and filled with the distilled water/ELC, 50/50. This certainly took care of clearing the water heater hoses and coil. The double-flush was probably overboard (pun intended), but that's just me...

[rcornejo]

That's exactly what I plan to do. According to Matt at Peninsular, I need to drain the antifreeze at the j-pipe below the heat exchanger and then fill with fresh water. He also said to disconnect the belt that drives the sea water pump so that no sea water enters the engine and so that I do not burn up the impeller. I never thought I could start the engine without running sea water through it. I think the idea is to let the engine heat up a little to work the old antifreeze out. I am not really sure what the reason for that is. He also said to run the engine for a few minutes, flush the fresh water out and continue the routine one more time. Once I do that twice, I am to refill with the correct mixture, Chevron Long Life 50/50 mix, reconnect the sea water belt, run the engine for a few minutes and fill the heat exchanger as needed to top it off. This does not seem to bad just time consuming however, well worth the trouble. I do plan to disconnect the hoses going to the water heater as suggested by Rob.

[RobS]

Dont run the seawater pump unless the boat is in the water with the seacock open or you are feeding the pump with a garden hose via the strainer or you will waste the impellar. You can idle the engine as long as need without the seawater pump running with out fear of overheating.

[rcornejo]

Hi Rob,

How long can the engine idle without heating up? Also, how long should I let the fresh water circulate before dumping it?