HELP PLEASE! Draining exhaust risers on LTR
 

To drain the exhaust risers on my 2001 LTR engine in my X star, I believe all I have to do is unscrew or separate the hoses that connect the risers together on the back of the engine (which on a v-drive like mine is facing the front of the boat...), and then point each hose downward to let the water drain. At least this is all the indmar service manual says has to be done.

But today, after returning from where I store my boat outside which is 3 hours away, while reading some forums I've stumbled across a post that makes it seem like the hoses need separated (which I did) AND drain plugs need to be removed from the RISERS also. (this poster was not confusing the block drain plugs for manifold drain plugs, as he said to remove those also,i.e. removing 4 plugs in addition to separating the hoses....)

Now, I didn't see any manifold/riser drain plugs. And the manuals didn't point out any either, but the boat is 3 hours away for me to check this, and while i did pour antifreeze through the block after i removed the block plugs and saw the pink fluid drain, I did not pour antifreeze through the risers, and if there indeed is a drain plug on those things I missed, i need to get back there and take care of it.. I was led to believe splitting that connecting hose was all that needed to be done to drain them..

Can anyone verify this?

thanks
dave

Disconnecting and draining the hoses that connect the manifolds is all that I have ever done to drain mine. So far that has been adequate.

Thanks for the reply.. I hope this wasn't viewed as a redundant or stupid thread. I spent hours searching team talk before posting, and couldn't get a clear answer. From what I remember, there aren't any 'drain plugs' on my setup. Just hoses attached to both ends of each riser/manifold, and the hoses at the back of the engine attach to each other..

From my reading, I've deduced that at one point, there used to be drain plugs where these connecting hoses are now, and these drain plugs were very difficult to remove, thus the birth of the hoses with the quick disconnect..

But after reading the post from someone who claims to both 'uncouple' the hoses AND remove plugs from the same risers made me concerned...

BTW.. nothing 'flows' through those hoses when coupled, does it? The coupled hoses that join the right and left riser? The hoses are really acting more like a drain plug in that water pressure is the same at each riser, so the water in the hose just sits.. Is this right?

dave

I can't answer your last question. All I know is that when I uncouple the hose to drain the manifold a bunch of water pours out.

I drain the water from my Ford 351 Windsor by drain plugs on each side of the block, uncouple the hose that connects to the manifolds, Out with the impeller and all hoses that may have water there. No need for Anti-freeze, if there is no water there, Then there can be no Ice to damage anything.

On older boats, there used to be a plug at the back of the manifold where the hose is today. With that vintage motor, you had to pull the plug to drain the manifold. I am guessing that if someone was saying to disconnect the hose, they meant the hose on the front of the manifold and then pull the plug at the back. There really is no reason to pull the hose on the front in my opinion, and by disconnecting the hose in the back you did the same thing as pulling the plugs on older boats. To answer your second question, No, nothing flows through this hose it was merely added to simplify draining the manifold.

You should be ok with what you have done, especially if you ran some antifreeze through the block.

Thanks for the info... I appreciate it..

dave

I have an 01 205v LTR. You also have plugs in the block.

I open the orange hose in front (what you're talking about), which connects the manifolds.
There are 2 block plugs holding alot of water still comes out. One is the knock sensor.

From Indmar Owner's Manual:
Block – Two drain plugs on each side; 5.7 Liter EFI engines have an Engine Knock Sensor (1, Figure 1-2)
installed in one drain hole.

Drain water from exhaust manifolds. Uncouple the hose quick disconnect and drain the manifolds.
Indmar recommends that you leave the drain plugs out, or the hose uncoupled, until spring.

Remove the petcock, drain plug, or sensor from each side of the engine. Indmar suggests removing the
petcocks completely, not just opening the petcock drain valve.

Tighten it all back up and suck in 6 gallons of antifreeze.
I keep antifreeze in it since it inhibits corrosion.