# draining the engine coolant - blocked!



## jaybeegee (Dec 27, 2010)

Hi all! My beta marine (Model - BD722 - 20hp) comes with a water drain tap coolant | Flickr - Photo Sharing! however removing the drain tap does not give any results. I also tried with the water lid/pressure cap off in case it made a difference but no!

I have tried inserting some flexible wire to see if I can clear what might be a blockage at the tap end but cannot get past the bend about an inch in!

Now I am not sure if the blockage is at the water tap end or possibly further up and not enough coolant circulating the engine block! This check was triggered as I noticed what looked like steam(?)/ white smoke(?) and the engine hotter than normal although alarm did not kick in.

Then in the absence of the drain tap I have used a domestic type suction pipes fitted with an aquarium type pipe taped at one end to try and empty the coolant but could only get 1/2 ltr out (manual says 3.1ltr)

Is removing the heat exhanger the next logical thing? Not too keen on that as quite a newb! Any other ideas of what I can try?

thanks

J.


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## Bob142 (May 27, 2012)

Is it possible that the engine is that low on coolant...If you have already checked that please ignore this...just checking because it is often easy to miss the most obvious..


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## jaybeegee (Dec 27, 2010)

Hi bob thanks for that. yes I did check the coolant level and it is currently on max. I might try starting the engine without the cap and tap open for a little bit see if that clears the drain! Might make a bit of a mess in the process!


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Sounds like the drain is plugged.. breaking the lowest hose connection you can get at might be the next logical step.


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## jaybeegee (Dec 27, 2010)

Faster said:


> Sounds like the drain is plugged.. breaking the lowest hose connection you can get at might be the next logical step.


Thanks for that! I didn't see any piping/hose connections to/fro the engineblock leading to the water drain (all pipes with jubilee clips seem to be connected to the heat exchanger) but will have another look.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

(Pretty boat!)

Realize that the Beta Marine engines are "marinized" Kubota diesels. I have a Universal M25, which is also a "marinized" Kubota diesel. After looking at you pictures, it appears that part of the Beta marinization includes installing a 90º Ell, and a petcock (with a plastic valve!) on the Kubota drain hole. I suspect that the 90º ell may be blocked, or the plastic valve may be broken.

I would simply disconnect a coolant hose that connects to the block at a low point to drain the coolant every two or three years.

If you want to fix, then I would start by removing the paint from the Ell, and the petcock, and first try to back out the petcock with a wrench. Once that is out, you can probably clean the Ell. If not, it appears that you _may_ gain enough clearance by removing the petcock, to back out the ell with out bumping into that motor mount.

Find the manuals on the Kubota block that your Beta is based on, and use that as a guide.


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## jaybeegee (Dec 27, 2010)

eherlihy said:


> (Pretty boat!)
> that the 90º ell may be blocked, or the plastic valve may be broken.


Which plastic valve are you referring to? Is it that part which looks like a flynut? If yes I dont think it is broken as I managed to unscrew it completely and pass a little bit of wire right through until the 90degrees "L"



eherlihy said:


> (Pretty boat!)
> I would simply disconnect a coolant hose that connects to the block at a low point to drain the coolant every two or three years.


Can you please have a look at these two pics coolant2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! and coolant1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! ? Is this the hose I should remove? Do I remove on the side of the water tank (shown in pic) or on the other end which looks as though it connects to the water pump?



eherlihy said:


> (Pretty boat!)
> If you want to fix, then I would start by removing the paint from the Ell, and the petcock, and first try to back out the petcock with a wrench. Once that is out, you can probably clean the Ell. If not, it appears that you _may_ gain enough clearance by removing the petcock, to back out the ell with out bumping into that motor mount.


I dont think there is petcock just a screw which opens and closes the drain (literally a small hole and you can see it here coolant | Flickr - Photo Sharing!). Unlikely I will remove that "elbow" instead my colleague suggested using one of those gadgets used to pass wiring through the conduit. He has a nylon one which hopefully will fit through the thin hole.

thanks again

J.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

Yes, I thought it was the flynut... Looking more closely at your pic, I can see that it is painted metal.

This is a pic of *my *Kubota diesel in situ;









If I were to drain the block without using the coolant drain, which was frozen closed by the way, I would remove the hose highlighted in the picture below;








And then I would either open the vent on the top of the block, or remove the coolant fill cap.

The correct hose is the large "L" shaped hose in the middle of my first picture.


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## jaybeegee (Dec 27, 2010)

thanks for that - clear enough!


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## Stu Jackson (Jul 28, 2001)

We have an M25, too. The very last place one would encourage draining the block would be from a petcock. Why? 'Cuz they have small openings (which can get clogged from debris in the coolant) and they are usually in a position where opening them will spray coolant all over and be hard to gather.

As suggested, undo a hose. Like this: Engine Overheating 101 - How to Burp Your Engine (Reply #6) Engine overheating problem (with Instructions "How To Burp!") Read the rest of that topic, too, 'cuz you may have to burp your engine if/when you replace coolant if you have a water heater leg.


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## jaybeegee (Dec 27, 2010)

thank you for all your replies! No luck emptying the coolant via the flywheel however I managed to remove most of the coolant after removing the pipe between the water pump and heat exchanger. I was shocked with the quality of the water which looked really murky and bordering onto muddy!

I missed the point about burping the engine - will let it run without the lid next time i top up!

Also would still like to get the coolant drain unblocked but was not able to remove the "l" with the flywheel it the little spout hits the engine mounting - it is visible here (takes a bit of time to load image)!:



Not sure I will saw it off at this stage!

thanks again for the input - much appreciated.

J.


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## jaybeegee (Dec 27, 2010)

thanks all for your tips. I managed to remove the blockage by removing the elbow on the engine block as seen here:



Sharing this up in case there are others who had no joy draining the coolant via the drain tap!


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## sony2000 (Jan 30, 2013)

At some point you may want to borrow or buy a hand pressure pump that fits on the filler tube to move the coolant thru, or test for leaks.


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