How does thermostat work - probs winterizing with fake lake

[jklaus]

Started winterizing but hit a snag.

Made el'cheapo fake-a-lake with plunger, hooked up water, held on with water going and then started engine.

The water was flowing through the engine, but the impeller would not suck in the water on its own - no suction. I presume if it was in water it would not have sucked up any water.

How does the termostat work? When it kicks in does it also kick in the impeller for raw water intake.

I had it running approx 20 min and it did not start sucking on its own.

Did it not warm up because I had the water going through the engine from the water pressure from the garden hose?

If so, how do you know when to hook up the water hose and start the water when running?

Also is there more than 1 impeller? One raw water and then another one?

Thanks, Jeff

[spharis]

You should have had water exhausting the entire time. Usually, when running anitfreeze, you want to put the bucket above the engine so that it will siphon.

[jklaus]

It seems that the thermostat controls the impeller pump. I think that the impeller doesnt draw raw water into the engine until the engine is up to temp.

I dont think you'd need to have the antifreeze higher since you shouldnt have to use gravity - shouldnt the impeller be pulling it in?

Jeff

[bfrank]

My Steps are this:

1. hook up the fake a lake to the garden hose. run the boat with the hose on watch the temp gauge to see when the Thermostat opens. mine usually opens around 120 or so. It is easy to tell when it is open the gauge will climb up and when it opens it drops down.

2. I then take my bucket with a hose (See picture- Patten Pending) attached to the bucket and hook it up to the fake a lake and dump the anti freeze into the bucket and start the engine.

3. Then its a waiting game, the bucket will empty and should be sending green anti freeze out the exhaust.

4. After the engine is shut down and everything is disconnected I check all the blue water plugs to make sure I have antifreeze at each one. Don't take them all the way out just enough to see the happy green fluid.

[lee]

Originally posted by bfrank
3. Then its a waiting game, the bucket will empty and should be sending green anti freeze out the exhaust.

I hope you are joking and are using pink anti freeze. Green anti freeze is toxic to the environment.

[bfrank]

No green is the stronger lubricant for corrosion. I drain it with many five gallon bucket in spring. So the environment is safe with me!!!!

[TeamAllen]

bfrank - I think lee is concerned about the coolant being blown out the exhaust. It would be impossible to collect that. It would just splatter all over the place and start running on the ground.

Maybe with an FAE installed it might be possible to collect the exhaust water? I don't know, just thinking.

[ghollow]

The raw water pump pumps water constantly. It is always pushing water through the water jackets on the exhaust manifolds. When the engine reaches operating temperature, the thermostat should open and the water pump on the engine will pump water through the engine to keep the engine at operating tempature. The thermostat is constantly opening and closing in order to maintain operating temperature.

[jklaus]

Okay, I think I got her done - thanks for the help crew.

Things I learned:
-raw water intake screen is not just held on by two screws on outboard side - held in place by a large lock nut on inside of hull.

-cheap fake a lake attachment is a pain - not much suction to hold it on and prop up is tricky

-my engine uses a 1 1/4" id water hose going from screen to impeller housing

-still cant get water hose off screen side?!

-easy way to flush without using fake a lake is to take off waterhose at impeller housing and swap with a 1 1/4" clear suction hose from homedepot and stick in a bucket. Cheap and easy to get to.

-impeller does pickup at all times not on a thermostat.

-takes alot of antifreeze to get into all parts of engine. Since thermostat is always opening & closing, takes a while to fill engine block with antifreeze. Went through ~20litres and still had lots of water in block.

Cheers, Jeff

[bfrank]

I go thru 10 gallons of anti-freeze witch is over kill using my method.

[chpthril]

WOW, 4 gals total (2 a/f & 2 h2o) here!

[whitlock87]

Lee
I do the same thing as Bfrank, but I have an FAE ( Fresh Air Exhaust) on my boat so it makes collecting the antifreeze very easy.
I then save it for the next year.
David