I am looking for a drain on my W13, but have not been able to find one. Do I just remove a low hose on the engine?
Randy Gadikian
Paisley Moon
NS 26 C #37
I guess you mean to drain the raw water system? You don’t need to drain the coolant/antifreeze normally.
There is a drain cock on the bottom of the heat exchanger and a drain plug on the muffler. I think it is a lot of work to do the winterizing this way.
Easy way to winterize (when the boat is out of the water) is to remove the raw water intake hose from the seacock at the front of the engine and put this hose into a plumbing antifreeze jug. Then run the engine for a few seconds until pink antifreeze comes out the transom exhaust.
Tom
Randy: Are you talking about the coolant or raw water??
Joe Valinoti
S/V IL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
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I am talking about he coolant. I have no idea how old the coolant is.
Randolph: It’s a good idea to change the coolant after several years. I’ve been procrastinating about mine. There should be a petcock to drain the engine on the starter side of the block just above where the sump pan joins the block. Remove the cap on the recovery tank to facilitate flow.
Joe Valinoti
S/V IL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
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Don’t forget to bleed system after re-filling and while restarting - if you don’t - then you will know very soon after restarting that you high temp alarm will activate (or at least should)!!!
Cedric
Single Malt 26C 207
Chester Nova Scota
Or you could convert to electric propulsion and eliminate all fluids involved with auxiliary propulsion. 
Just sayin…
Are there instructions available for bleeding the air out of the cooling system of a W-27 after replacing the coolant?
Jim Cosgrove
FATE 30U #343
Galesville, MD
When I thought I was having diesel problems the thought of converting to electric crossed my mind. But the longer I have this boat the more I like it, even the diesel that shakes the boat and is loud.
Thank you. I will have a look around the engine once again.
Cedric is quite correct about bleeding. I believe it’s just a matter of getting the engine up to operating temp and filling from the cap on the manifold (not the overflow tank) until it is topped off and bubbles stop coming up. Then fill the overflow tank to the level line. This is much harder to do if you have an engine heater style hot water tank which, BTW should be drained also.
Joe Valinoti
S/V IL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
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Yeah I would not take out a perfectly good running diesel to install electric propulsion. But, when the diesel dies it would be something to consider. It makes life so much easier , maintenace cheaper and the boat cleaner. I have never regreted switching. Especially this time of year not having to winterize the engine.
Does anyone have a feel for how much coolant it should take to refill a W13. I can’t seem to find it listed anywhere in the manuals. If I had an idea of how much should go in relative to how much I managed to pour in I would have an idea of how much I needed to worry about air in the system.
What are you using for coolant?
Thanks.
Ralph Bush
1983 N26C #104
“Hyggelig”
EYC, Toronto, ON
Hi Ralph
The W13 operators manual attached here says the 2cyl W13 takes 6 quarts. However this must be a typo. It says the larger 3cyl block W21 it says takes 5 quarts.
The W13a operators manual has the same 6 quart typo but not a table with the following engine body capacity. It does say there is an air bleed petcock on the manifold or thermostat housing but I could not find one on my engine, only drain petcocks.
The W13 manual page 25 says cooling water capacity in W13 engine body alone, 2.1 ltr 0.56 US gal.
W21 3ltr 0.79USgal
BTW last week I went to see the boat and the little hose from the overflow tank cracked and drained the antifreeze from this tank into the bilge. Old age? There was always a slow leak somewhere which I couldn’t find, maybe this will be it.
Tom
N26 #28
Penetang
Tom
(attachments)
32363_13-33_Operator_Manual.pdf (3.96 MB)
Thank you Tom.
I have the Technical Manual for the engine, but didn’t know there was such a thing as an Operators Manual. I will save it and give it a good read. I’m sure it will be helpful.
This whole thing started because I developed a coolant leak at both the front and the back of the cooling manifold. The engine has never leaked a drop of anything during the time I have had it, but over the winter two separate coolant leaks magically appeared. I have ordered the replacement gaskets, but am living in fear of trying to remove 30 year old corroded bolts. The front shouldn’t be too hard to work with, but I really don’t see a way to get my 65 year old 6’ 4" body into a position to fix the leak at the rear!
My manifold did have an air bleed valve at the top. I guess I wasn’t quite truthful when I said the engine never leaked - that valve did start to leak last summer. The Westerbeke dealer wanted some ridiculous price for a replacement, so I just removed it and inserted a threaded plug.
Ralph Bush
1983 N26C #104
“Hyggelig”
EYC, Toronto, ON
Ah that may explain why I don’t have a petcock on top.
I think soon I will need to rebuild the cooling manifold as there is rust and stuff at both ends and it looks like it is getting weak. Could you please take some photos of the part once you have it open.
Thanks
Tom
Ralph: I bet that the air bleed valve can be gotten at just about any auto parts store for a pittance
Joe Valinoti
S/V IL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
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Tom:
I will snap a few photos, but it will be a while yet - it is still cold and dark under my boat cover here in Ontario.
Joe:
You would think so, but I haven’t had much luck. I figure I should be able to find one at a radiator shop but they aren’t as common as they used to be. In the meantime I have sort of stopped looking. The plug seems to be a perfectly adequate solution for $0.00. If (when) I need to bleed the system I can crack the filler cap or slack off on the plug a bit to let air escape. One less protuberance to snag things on when trying to reach around the engine.
from the westerbeke part cat Petcock 11471 6.30 USD
From Canadian Tire 5.99
Tom
26C #28
Penetanguishine
Went down to the boat today to scope out the job of fixing the cooling manifold leaks. The first thing I will have to do will be drain the old coolant. Up above Joe talks about how to drain the block “There should be a petcock to drain the engine on the starter side of the block just above where the sump pan joins the block.”. I checked my parts manual, and it shows a petcock like Joe says, but I sure couldn’t find one. I looked and felt as best I could around both sides of the engine (see Bottom 1 & 2 below). The only thing I see that looks as if it might be a coolant drain for the engine is what might be a plug located on the front center of the block near the bottom (see Front and DrainPlug ?? photos).
Has anyone out there had any experience with draining the coolant from a W13?
This newbie DIYer appreciates any help you can offer!
Thanks.
Ralph Bush
1983 N26C #104
“Hyggelig”
EYC, Toronto, ON
