Heat Exchangers/ Aftercoolers Maintenance

brewster16 · Apr 27, 2016

Hi everyone.....I just had some big maintenance done on my Cummins QSC engines and generator. The heat exchangers and aftercoolers were disassembled and boiled. All parts were cleaned, prepped, greased and reinstalled. I have 458 hours on the engines and do most all boating in and around the coastal northeast. The aftercoolers and heat exchangers had some scaling and crud but nothing terrible. Impellers were replaced. At the same time I replaced all of the raw water hoses as many of them were cracked and deteriorated. It took about a week total and about 8K.

swaterhouse · Apr 28, 2016

That's what I did this winter as well, only I did the labor and got my parts from sbmar for much less than a Cummins dealer.

Now you should keep up by doing aftercoolers every other year. The aftercooler is the weakest link in the QSC.

mquiet · Apr 28, 2016

Aftercoolers seem to be the weak link in every engine lately.

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Robski97 · May 1, 2016

ITs on my todo list .... hope it doesn't bite me in the tail ! ( I knew better to let it go this long )

Rob

IanBat · May 2, 2016

Doing mine this weekend, going to flush them with Barnacle Buster and replace the hoses on the raw water side. Replacing impellers. Also did the serpentine belts,

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Robski97 · May 2, 2016

Ian,
The after coolers HAVE TO BE disassembled . Running barnacle buster does not make up for disassembly and gasket replacement .

Rob

BlueYonder · May 2, 2016

Robski97 said:
Ian,
The after coolers HAVE TO BE disassembled . Running barnacle buster does not make up for disassembly and gasket replacement .

Rob

+1

If you have any kind of leak in your after cooler, you will be leaking acid into the air side of the cooler. This will get sucked into the motor when you start it.

kevin27 · May 6, 2016

Yes my aftercoolers also get done every two years. This must be done.

mjmason1 · May 6, 2016

Had mine done this winter also. I was surprised at how good they were to start with. Glad I got them done.

Magic34 · May 13, 2016

swaterhouse said:
That's what I did this winter as well, only I did the labor and got my parts from sbmar for much less than a Cummins dealer.

Now you should keep up by doing aftercoolers every other year. The aftercooler is the weakest link in the QSC.

Did you do all the hoses? We have the same set up, I just got my 07 July of last year. Looks like the hoses are about due and I plan on doing them myself and looking for a cheat sheet in parts.

swaterhouse · May 14, 2016

I only had one hose that needed to be replaced, from crankcase vent to the airsep. for parts just call sbmar, they will find everything you need. I used my local dealer for everything except the aftercooler maintenance kit sbmar put together.

brewster16 · May 15, 2016

I replaced all hoses.....mine were dry rotted and damaged on the undersides

HUMPH · May 15, 2016

Don't neglect the transmission fluid cooler if you have them. I did and this is what I found last weekend when I pulled them!

Robski97 · May 16, 2016

WOW ... did u notice what ur gear temp was before ? Just curious

Rob

Rocket · May 16, 2016

Robski97 said:
WOW ... did u notice what ur gear temp was before ? Just curious

Rob

Rob, Wesco services these with the aftercoolers so we are good.

Robski97 · May 17, 2016

Mike,
Guy in my marina has ur boat . He said to service the stb motor after cooler the cockpit floor has to come up ?

Dude Wesco will bankrupt u . I cant imagine what they charged ...

Rob

HUMPH · May 17, 2016

Robski97 said:
WOW ... did u notice what ur gear temp was before ? Just curious

Rob

Not sure what the temps were, I just needed to make sure these were serviced. Very happy I did! I imagine that my transmissions are going to stay cooler now!
I removed my aftercoolers and heat exchangers myself. I brought them to the radiator shop my local CAT dealer uses to clean them. The job wasn't too difficult, just took some time. Next time I will clean them myself since they will be in MUCH better shape than when I bought the boat.

brewster16 · May 17, 2016

Robski97 said:
Mike,
Guy in my marina has ur boat . He said to service the stb motor after cooler the cockpit floor has to come up ?

Dude Wesco will bankrupt u . I cant imagine what they charged ...

Rob

Rob...what do they charge for the whole job?....both engines and the generator? Just curious?

shinsr · May 17, 2016

Robski97 said:
Mike,
Guy in my marina has ur boat . He said to service the stb motor after cooler the cockpit floor has to come up ?

Dude Wesco will bankrupt u . I cant imagine what they charged ...

Rob

Rob - it is a difficult job, but the floor does NOT have to come up. I have Wesco doing the job on mine hopefully next week. There is some extra labor to do the stbd engine is all.

Rocket · May 17, 2016

Rob, all in on the aftercooler and gear cooler is about $ 3500.00. Both Motors. Yeah he is expensive but they know what they are doing and I don't have the time to do it myself.

Heat Exchangers/ Aftercoolers Maintenance

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