draining coolant from Westerbeke 21A

[Bob Loewenstein]

Ok, I'm not mechanically challenged. I've rebuilt car engines. I know which end of a wrench is up, so to speak. But, for the life of me, I cannot find any sort of a drain plug to drain the coolant out of my Westerbeke 21A. I even have the workshop manual and user manual for the engine and nowhere can I find any words like 'drain plug here...' Both books do say, 'drain the engine fresh water coolant.' Ok, I give up trying to figure this puzzle out and formally request help from this august body of knowledge.

Bob



rfl@yerkes.uchicago.edu

[Boyd Bundy]

Ok, I'm not mechanically challenged. I've rebuilt car engines. I know which end of a wrench is up, so to speak. But, for the life of me, I cannot find any sort of a drain plug to drain the coolant out of my Westerbeke 21A. I even have the workshop manual and user manual for the engine and nowhere can I find any words like 'drain plug here...' Both books do say, 'drain the engine fresh water coolant.' Ok, I give up trying to figure this puzzle out and formally request help from this august body of knowledge.

Bob

Dear Bob:

I faced the same delema..... There is a drain cock on the right side as viewed form the front low on the block above the starter. It is almost manditory to remove the starter and exhaust manifold to get to it. It is so well hidden that I discovered it by accident in the middle of a rebuild after I took everything off the block. Take a look for it. there is no way I could find to not drain the stuff into the bilge. :o( bad idea.

I suggest that you drain the coolent by opening/removing the expansion tank lid (if its above the engine), opening the drain cock on the left side of the heat exchanger, after the upper end of the system has drained open the drain/vent cock on the thermostat. Most of the coolant will drain. This probably leaves the coolant in the block and exhaust manifold. There is a hose on the exhaust manifold you can take off and get some more of the remaining.... but its a bitch. Its easier to buy a new hose and cut the old one off... a practice I follow frequently. Without opening the well hidden block drain there is no way to completely drain the block. Why are you determined to drain the coolant anyway?

I will be at my boat this weekend with my head in the engine compartment. I will check again and see if there is another option.


Boyd Bundy



tern30@AOL.com

[M. R. Bober]

Oh, do you have an electric drill? Just a thought.
Will you be in the area, draining?
Mitchell



thebobers@erols.com

[Bob Loewenstein]

Why are you determined to drain the coolant anyway?

Well, I don't know when the coolant was last changed and thought it might be a good idea to replace the old with new, which would require some draining.

Thanks for the tip. When I'm back at the boat I'll check out the geometry using your description.



rfl@yerkes.uchicago.edu

[Mark Yashinsky]

Are you changing the hoses??? Any idea how long the coolant and hoses have been in/on??? Thinking about doing the same (change coolant and hoses) on a Yanmar 2GM. Looks like not a fun job, per manual.

[Bob Loewenstein]

Are you changing the hoses??? Any idea how long the coolant and hoses have been in/on??? Thinking about doing the same (change coolant and hoses) on a Yanmar 2GM. Looks like not a fun job, per manual.

The hoses look good...I'm not sure how long it's been since the coolant was changed, but I suspect 3 years, which is why I want to drain and replace the coolant.



rfl@yerkes.uchicago.edu

[Richard Feffer]

I changed my anti-freeze at winter lay up last year. Open both caps (expansion tank and engine). On the starbord side of the block aft of the injection pump, near the oil filter, is a petcock. It's possible that the petcock has been replaced with a pipe plug. Open the petcock and the coolant will drain into the sump under the engine. Then it is a simple matter to pump the coolant into a container for proper disposal. The automotive industry is now using something other than ethyl-glycol which has been around for a long time. I'm not sure of the chemical composition, but believe it may have something to do with aluminum radiators replacing copper. I would recommend staying with whatever is in your engine now. Anti-freeze mixture should be 50% anti-freeze and 50% water. Hope this helps.
Richard
P.S. There is also a petcock on the bottom of the heat exchanger



RichFef@Prodigy.net