Heater Winterizing
 

The heater was a pain to winterize each time after riding when it's cold, so I added quick disconnects on the output and return heater hoses. Makes the process much easier and quicker with no tools required on the heater. Becasue of where the return fitting is located it also drains all water from the impeller to the thermostat housing.

looks good! does that coupling work similar to an air compressor coupling? Do you have the same coupling on the other heater hose too? So all you have to do is uncouple both hoses and let it drain?
I just took all the hoses off and drained the water. Is that enough or do I have to run anti freeze through them?

you should blow, or suck ( shop vac) the line out as the passageways in the heater may be small and any trapped water can burst a line. bonus protection is to fill one end with a-freeze untill it comes out other end then drain to ensure coverage

Where did you find that fitting and is it totally water tight? No leaks?

ok, got it, anti-freeze in the coils
now, I pulled off the hoses from the engine, will that drain all the water from the engine? or should I start the engine and run anti-freeze through the engine again?

You still need to blow out the lines or the heater core will freeze and be damged. The couplings are very similar to those used on an air compressor. I did use the exact same thing on the return line to. I was concerned about leaks as well and pressure tested it on my lawn hose before i installed it with no leaks. I have not had it on the water since the install, but I'm hoping to catch a nicer day and ride soon to give it a test. Fittings are just garden hose fittings from Lowe's with the quick connect between them. Still have to pull the knock sensors to drain the block, but it does save a lot of time.

"Still have to pull the knock sensors to drain the block" is this part of the heater winterization?
what is the knock sensor? I pulled the hoses for the heater off the engine and drained the water from it. Is that enough?
or should I run some more antifreeze through the engine?

jo,

It sounds like you may be missing a step. Removing the hoses and running antifreeze trhu the engine is not enough. You need to remove the hoses and drain the block (as referred to earlier with the knock sensor). If you do this, there will be no water left in the block and anti freeze should be optional. The problem with antifreeze is that it is not really effective until the boat gets up to 160 and the T stat opens.

I think most people that use anti freeze will run the engine off of a hose until it is up to temp and then run antifreeze thru (up to 5 gallons) until it starts coming out of the exaust tubes. This insures that the anti freeze has made it's way thru the entire engine (remember only do this when the boat is at 160). How people fog the engine is another hot topic for debate, but many will spray fogging oil into the air intake before killing the engine. Others spray fogging oil into each plug socket.

Hopefully you have changed the oil as well so you have nice clean oil coating the cylander walls all winter.

Either way, once all of the above is done, you should now remove the water by uncoupling the the manifold hoses and removing the plug from each side if the block (one should be the aforementioned Knock sensor). Remove the heater hoses and blow any excess water out with a compressor. Also a good time to replace the impellar or at least inspect it.

It sounds like a lot typing, but it is really not that much and most people in the south or up here in the northwest, where the temperatures are not as extreem do not use anti freeze (not neccesary once you drain the water)

As troy stated knock sensors are another step. The only reason I've used anti freeze is to prevent corrosion internally on the block and normally I only do this when the boat will not be used for a couple of months. When I do use anti freeze I pour it in through the "short" heater hose (top of the intake) you see in my first post after the block, heater and risers have been drained. No need to run the engine this way or guess if you got all of the water out.

Troy, got it, thank you very much.

Just remembered one more thing. If you have v drive, there will be two.small drain plugs to remove the water from vdrive unit.

Troy, why would there be water in the V-drive unit?

i drained my block and everything, then i ran antifreeze through the motor, now do i need to drain the motor again?

Matt, if you drained ALL of the water from ALL locations and then added anit freeze you should be good. The reason I say that is you only mentioned the block specifically.

Jo, the water intake on the boat circulates water through the V-drive before it gets to the engine.

yea i drained it from every location

Make sure you drain all of the juice from the hole.

So here's the update. Finally got the boat out for a qucik set and there aren't any leaks. I completely winterized the boat at the ramp in about 15 minutes and the quick connects on the heater made it a lot easier. Well worth the $20 or so it cost in parts!