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Antifreeze in cylinder

Mark McM

Member
Hello All,
I have a pair of 1983 Crusader 350's, fresh water cooled.
I winterized them last fall by running RV Antifreeze through the sea strainers while cranking them over but not letting them start.
I'm getting ready to run them and in preparation, changed the spark plugs.
Whn I removed one plug about a cup or so of the RV Antifreeze came out of the hole!
This only happend on one plug but I am wondering how and why thsi happend and also what I should do next.
Any ideas or comments would be appreciated
Thanks
 
Uh-oh. I'd run a compression test and see if you have a blown head gasket.

How did that motor run before shutdown for the winter?

Jeff

PS: THe way you winterized them, you'll be lucky if parts of the raw water side aren't freeze cracked. You need to RUN the motor and pump the AF through it.
 
The motor ran great before I put them to bed. I do not think anything froze as i had 2 "goldenrod" heaters on each engine and we didn't see any prolonged cold temps.
The cylinder that had the RV AF in it is the one next to the 8" riser at the end of the log manifold. I am now thinking I have a bad riser and or gasket! There are stainless block off plates between the manifold and riser so maybe this is just the riser. No history on when they were last changed as we just got the boat last Spring.
Comments anyone?
Any great tips on removing the risers?
Thanks.
 
That sounds promising. Hope that's it.

Jeff

PS: Be sure to drain the...everything...before taking it apart.
 
While the riser change is likely good maintenance anyway, are you sure it was antifreeze and not water? A few years back JUST BY CHANCE while changing sparkplugs after a winter layup, we had the plugs out and decided to spin the engine by cranking it based on a post I had read a few years earlier. Cylinder 1 port side (closest to the elbow) spit out about 1/4 cup of water assumably from condensation. Never gave it any further thought as it was a few years back BUT... as you read these posts...you start thinking and playing back the brain's video tape...FWIW, AL
 
Never supply water / coolant to an inboard with out the motor running.--------------Motor should be running so that coolant is forced out with the exhaust.--There is always a chance it will back feed if motor is not running.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I've ordered new risers and elbows as I have no record on when they were last changed. Hope they come off without too much trouble but may take off the manifolds too.
Guess I'll change my winterizing procedures as well.
 
We all live and learn! I've always spin the motors over before trying to start them, in case there was water in the cylinders. What I did NOT do, however--like a total boob!--was running the blowers 4 minutes (as I always do upon starting them). The spark created by the starters alone is enough to blow the boat up if fumes are present! Like a fool I never thought of that before (and thanks to the wise gentleman on this site who brought it up).

From now on I'll run the blower 4 minutes, test crank for water, run the electric boost pumps to fill the carbs (another few minutes), then crank 'em up.

Older and wiser Jeff
 
several good threads in the archive about winterizing these...use the search button.

Also, several threads on elbow/riser/manifold R&R. Big tip - get new gaskets and pay attention to which one goes where and their orientation...the tabs oare on there for a reason!
 
Mark, et al,

Speaking of gaskets, the log-style round gaskets have either one hole (2 tabs) or three holes (one tab). A closed cooling system calls for a 3 hole gasket on each side of the stainless steel blocking gasket and this "sandwich" is used between the riser (when used) and the manifold, and a single one hole gasket between the riser and the elbow. My question is, does it really matter whether 3 hole or one hole gaskets are used in that sandwich? Someone told me that the 3 hole gaskets will help to cool the blocking plate, but wonder how true that may be. Your thoughts on this?

Erich
 
In the sandwich with the blockoff plate, the gasket picked won't make a difference. There's no 'cooling' benefit to the S/S plate provided by those holes in the gasket.
 
Just to follow up, I did change the risers and elbows. Turned out to be not too bad a job as the slid off the manifold with a few hammer taps and a slight pry at the stainless plate. Looks like they are date stamped into the cast 1981, so I guess these are originals! Says a lot about Crusader design and quality.
Put the news ones in, no issues. I did clean all the paint off the mating surfaces, used Ultra Black very lightly and did replace the stainless blocking plates.
I then removed the spark plugs, turned them over a few times, re installed plugs and both engines fired up like they were run yesterday! Thanks for the comments and advice!
 
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