Antifreeze

[JustUs2]

I just purchased a 2010 r21EC and just love it. I had it out the other day and at full throttle I saw some smoke coming out of the exhaust along with the water.This never happened before so I checked and found that the water level was low. My question is can I just add some antifreeze and what kind. I don't know whats in there now and in the chat rooms they say not to mix antifreeze (different colors)

I cant find any antifreeze extended life that the manual recommends. My marine supply house does not carry any and the only place I found that did was at a Walmart store. Some people say not to use it. Is it OK to use it and mix colors or must I drain the system and add all new antifreeze.

Thank You.
Annette

 

[tlkenyon]

The smoke at full throttle is probably a separate issue from the low coolant. A little smoke at full throttle is to be expected as the volume of exhaust is overwhelming the volume of water in the exhaust stream. The smoke should disappear when you slow down. If you run a long time at full throttle (10+ minutes), you might also get an overheat warning - drop back to half and it should go away. I have a water temp gage and it runs usually at about 170 and then climbs to 200 pretty quickly at full throttle (and will continue to rise from there until the alarm goes off at 205) but drops to 190 or so at about 3500 rpms. Full throttle does not get you there much faster for the increased fuel consumption and wear and tear. That being said, I usually run wide ope for a few minutes each day, usually toward the end of the day - to clean things out....

 

[SGIDAVE]

I just purchased a 2010 r21EC and just love it. I had it out the other day and at full throttle I saw some smoke coming out of the exhaust along with the water.This never happened before so I checked and found that the water level was low. My question is can I just add some antifreeze and what kind. I don't know whats in there now and in the chat rooms they say not to mix antifreeze (different colors)

I cant find any antifreeze extended life that the manual recommends. My marine supply house does not carry any and the only place I found that did was at a Walmart store. Some people say not to use it. Is it OK to use it and mix colors or must I drain the system and add all new antifreeze.

Thank You.
Annette

Hello Annette

Congratulations on your new 21EC. They ARE a blast!

Was the smoke white, black or white/bluish? If white, it could be accumulated unburned fuel from prolonged low speed operation . It should appear immediately then disappear in approximately 30 seconds at WOT if this is the cause. As tikenyon says exhaust gas temperature rises substantially with WOT operation, so if the smoke was white and appeared sometime AFTER you went to WOT the cause is commonly STEAM. So you need to note WHEN the smoke started in relation to the high engine speed (immediately or couple minutes later) and the COLOR of the smoke.

You didn't say but your engine otherwise operates well?

Yanmar 3YM operation manual is available for pdf download. I struggled to find the exact stuff listed in the owners manual and ended up using pink Dexcool antifreeze. I would advise AGAINST mixing colors.

dave

 

[knotflying]

Yanmar has their antifreeze product which can at times be difficult to find and expensive. I use the Prestone extended life. Since I can only drain about half of it out each time I change it every year.

 

[STELLA L]

I posted this and might help you.

A few month ago I had to change my anti freeze in my Yanmar 4BY-150. I wanted an anti freeze that I could buy off the shelf in case the Yanmar brand was not available. Since anti freeze has become as complicated as oil I called Covich Williams Marine Supply in Seattle for advice since they are Yanmar "smart". They highly recommended DELO EXTENDED LIFE (750,000 miles, red color) which I did find in a local marine supply store. It is the same color (red) as the Yanmar and can be mixed with it.

 

[Kenny Marrs]

Hello Annette,

To answer the antifreeze question, you should NEVER mix antifreeze.

I would flush out the system and start new at this point. That way you know exactly what is in your engine and you can keep some extra onboard.

Thanks,
-Kenny

 

[Swamalcatraz]

Hello. I have a 2010 Ranger 25R with Yanmar 150 ... I need to know what kind of antifreeze to buy at a regular store? It's a BMW engine and BMW dealer said there cars use non phosphorous blue coolant! Not sure what color is in there now but might be wrong stuff since I just bought this boat? Can I get a blue BMW coolant at Autozone? Thx

 

[Andrew Custis]

I remember when doing the BY engines we noticed that the coolant was blue. That is because they were sending them with a little bit of the BMW blue antifreeze. We would then mix the "Yanmar" antifreeze which they said was compatible. I would really call Cascade Engine in Seattle as they will tell you the real story as to what to use. They made a big deal not to use anything else. Same with Volvo.

Thank you,

 

[Brian B]

As Knotflying posted above. You can use Prestone Extended Life, it has an Orange cap. Also says GM DEXCOOL.

 

[Swamalcatraz]

Mechanic made a three hr round trip to Hermilliso Mexico from San Carlos and went to BMW dealer to get the blue coolant that goes with radiator! Just feels better having the correct stuff but very costly for me! Hopefully get to start up engine in morning for my first time? ....Also talked to my Engineer Mechanic back home and he said for the gearbox fluid the Valvoline dexron VI full Synthetic is better than the 30w due to that being all they had when the gearbox was first being made! Higher temp rate and much better quality for the gear box! FYI HE has a patton for helping design Cats over the road truck diesel engine and has a lot of experience with fluids and there use in all different capacities !