Guest 000 Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Oh, the power of the Crew forum! Here we are half a world away and yet we still need you bunch of miscreants to solve our problems. And the latest - winterising a diesel engine. I've never done this before as in NZ we went to the boat and ran the engine every couple of weeks which of course we can't do with the boat in France, and we anticipate winter temperatures of zero degrees or lower. I've checked online but gave up after such inane advice as 'clean the engine room' and 'wipe down the engine with an oily rag'. I also dont agree with a lot of the info offered. As a sample : Change the oil and filter and run the engine to distribute the clean oil throughout the engine. Good. Top up the diesel tank and add a biocide. Good. Change the fuel filters. Really? In my opinion this should be done at the beginning of the season. Is it good to have the same bit of diesel in the filters all winter? Correctly tighten the belts. Really? From experience, belts get hard spots where they run around the pulleys if not run for months. I think the belt tension should be slackened right off. I'm also considering taking off the air cleaner and exhaust and blocking up the pipes to inhibit air movement through the engine...Good or no? We have closed circuit keel cooling with antifreeze/rust inhibiter in it so not intending to do anything there. I'm ok with winterising all the other systems, fresh water, dunny etc but as usual,engine advice appreciated. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazyhorse 47 Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 If its raw water cooled a good fresh water flush. Worked on the Grampians as a kid and they had a old flat head ford V8 and all they did was block the exhaust and air cleaner with rags. Was only used once a year and before starting a cup of oil in the rocker cover. Never once failed, probably still going!? It ran a chaff cutter. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fish 0 Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 All I'm aware of for winterising engines is to take the raw water impellor out (rubber, don't like sitting squished for long periods). But if you're some sort of crazy keel cooled canal boat you might not have a raw water impellor, just a circulating pump. The only other things are the obvious, make sure any fluids wont freeze, and I guess if you have anodes, put fresh ones in (on the basis you wont be around for a while), but then do canal boats even have anodes? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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