Quote:
Originally Posted by zx10guy
Yes, you would still flush the system due to any organic matter/crap that gets into the cooling system. I'm still pretty new to this whole boating thing and I also don't have a power boat but a sail boat with an inboard diesel. Mine was purchased used with two previous owners. I don't know if either of them have ever flushed the cooling system.
The cooling system in my boat has two loops in it. One is your traditional cooling system that uses 50/50 coolant. This coolant circulates to the heat exchanger where the surrounding water is pumped through it to pick up the heat from the 50/50 coolant. This water is then discharged out the side of the boat. Incidentally, it's also where the engine exhaust is sent out over the same opening. I don't know if there are any motors out there where there is direct contact within the engine block with the marine water as the coolant. I'd think this would be a major headache.
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I believe some of the vintage copper lined single piston diesels did have direct contact with sea water but that would be way before my time. All the diesel engines I worked on would draw seawater aboard, pipe it through a freshwater heat exchanger which would cool the engine. The Yanmar turbo diesel on my boat used the onboard water system as it's service line via the hot water heater. It was such an effective system when we could fire the engine up under sail and take a hot shower in minutes.