[C320-list] Antifreeze change

[Allan Field]

Crosby - Following is a note from my archives on changing coolant.  One
variation I use is that I drain the old coolant into a bucket and before
properly disposing of the old stuff, mark on the bucket a line that shows
how much came out.  I then refill the bucket with the same amount of
pre-mixed coolant and dump that back in.  I don't blow out lines and run a
fresh water rinse but I do change the coolant each season.  By doing so
annually, I figure I get enough coolant turnover to keep things clean and,
since doing it this way, have never had an airlock.  Hope this helps.

Allan S. Field
Sea Shadow - #808
Columbia, MD 21046

If I remember correctly:
1.  Take off the filler cap on the heat exchanger.
2.  There are two drain petcocks, one on each side of the block, that have
knurled plastic knobs.  When they are opened (CCW) coolant should flow out.
There is also at least one thingy that looks like a small ball valve (on my
engine it has a clear drain hose attached to it) but this drains the sea
water side of the heat exchanger.
3.  Empty the overflow bottle.
4.  Detach both hoses that run to the hot water heater and blow out the 
coolant.

My experience was that some coolant remains in the block after the initial
drain. I flushed the engine twice by refilling with plain fresh water,
running for a few minutes, and draining again. The second flush looked a lot
cleaner.

Refilling with fresh coolant (I used the prediluted variety) took somewhat
over a gallon. I found it helpful to prefill the loop out to the hot water
heater to cut down on any airlocks. After the initial restart, it will need
topping off; I then ran it up to temperature to be sure the thermostat had
opened and the fluid level had stabilized.

For what it's worth, my engine (1998 Euro model) was filled with regular
green coolant. I seriously considered changing to the newer long-life orange
coolant but dropped the idea when the local mechanic at Parker's cautioned
that you have to remove ALL traces of the green stuff. He said that if any
remains, it will cause the orange stuff to form a gel. Although newer
engines are factory filled with orange he recommended staying with green in
my case.

David F. Eusden
C320 #581 "Eiderdown"

-----Original Message-----
From: c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com
[mailto:c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com] On Behalf Of Crosby Roper
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2007 6:18 PM
To: c320-list at catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] Antifreeze change

Hi All,
 
While everyone in the northeast is tucking their 320's in for the winter,
I'm hoping someone can give me some direction on changing the antifreeze in
my Yanmar YM30. It's been about 18 months since it was last done by the
dealer tech and I don't have any idea where to start. Any help would be
appreciated.
 
Thanks
 
Crosby Roper 
Tethys # 1054
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