Asureyez
New Member
- Apr 22, 2007
- 1,535
- Boat Info
- Sea Ray 460 Sundancer Hardtop 2001 - SOLD
- Engines
- Cummins 450 Diesels
Okay all you cummins fans, you've heared about these rascals having a special place in every Cummins owners heart ... Well I'm no different. These aftercoolers are what gives the turbo the efficiency of the boost and they earn their pay, but they demand some attention. I gave them a look see 60 hours early and I was too late for the Port side.
From another board dealing with Cummins diesels in boats, one of the experts there has written up quite a bit on these and their care and feeding. Mine came off this past Saturday for routine tear down and clean up, as it's part of the 600 HR service relagated to Cummins dealers as being a maintenance item owners can not do for themselves.
I asked Sun Power for a price to remove Aftercoolers/HE/Oil coolers, send out for clean up with ultrsonic and reasemble and replace,. They said sure for a smooth $12K! No fooling, 2 men 40 hours @ 105 an hour for $8K in labor plus parts, 12K!!!! My response, NFW! I asked for a friend to pitch in and help me pull them as he'sd done this before. So Saturday morning we did it together in 2.5 hours. Removed, off the boat and in my truck!
Replace will take about twice the time because of aligning the hoses and setting the clamps and torqueing the retaining bolts etc. I figure 15 hours labor all in, plus radiator shop services @ $1,200 and new wet hoses and clamps and gaskets @ 1,000. All in $2,200 in parts and A case of very fine wine for my friend.
I've got pictures below of these aftercoolers after with 540 hours on them over 5 years. The expert from the OTHER board claims that because the units are originally assembled dry without any grease in the ends, there is a lot of corrosion to be encounted and recommends that the aftercoolers be removed at original delivery and reassmbled with lithium grease in the aluminium/bronze matings. My experience is he is correct. I have one cooler on life support and will take some extra hours on the bench to get a servicable unit back, all do to 2 bucks worth of missing grease!
A note on operating on these aftercoolers. ALL impeller debris winds up in the wet end of the aftercooler. There is a cavity in the end caps, but water pressure rams debris up onto the tubes where they become lodged in other debris and zinc waste. On one cooler I was loosing about 30% water flow due to debris closing off the tubes.
aWith respect to Zincs, these type zincs leave a mustard yellow crust-like by product in salt water. This builds up and restricts water flow and entraps other things like shells. I'm going to have to really make a point of fishing around in the bottom cap for debris every 100 hours or so, perhaps even removeing the top and bottom hoses and back flusing the unit into a bucket to help keep the wet end from collecting so much crud.
Also, on the outboard of the STB engine, Cummins routes the boosted air to the intake manifold. The air pipes are connected by high temp hoses with contant torque clamps. As we were pulling the hose from the air discharge side of STB cooler, the clamp simply slipped off and slid down the pipe on its own, all it needed was a nudge. This is why my STB engine has been having difficulty keeping up with the Port ... at high boost pressures I was loosing air right out the hose duwe to a lack of clamp pressure ... The Moral....
Those inaccessible back sides of the Cummins engines really do exist and need TLC. It takes a skinny 160 (or less) pound person to get back there and be able to perform routine tasks, but it must be done. I want to borrow one of Gary's boys every 6 months to re torque my hose clamps every year!
From another board dealing with Cummins diesels in boats, one of the experts there has written up quite a bit on these and their care and feeding. Mine came off this past Saturday for routine tear down and clean up, as it's part of the 600 HR service relagated to Cummins dealers as being a maintenance item owners can not do for themselves.
I asked Sun Power for a price to remove Aftercoolers/HE/Oil coolers, send out for clean up with ultrsonic and reasemble and replace,. They said sure for a smooth $12K! No fooling, 2 men 40 hours @ 105 an hour for $8K in labor plus parts, 12K!!!! My response, NFW! I asked for a friend to pitch in and help me pull them as he'sd done this before. So Saturday morning we did it together in 2.5 hours. Removed, off the boat and in my truck!
Replace will take about twice the time because of aligning the hoses and setting the clamps and torqueing the retaining bolts etc. I figure 15 hours labor all in, plus radiator shop services @ $1,200 and new wet hoses and clamps and gaskets @ 1,000. All in $2,200 in parts and A case of very fine wine for my friend.
I've got pictures below of these aftercoolers after with 540 hours on them over 5 years. The expert from the OTHER board claims that because the units are originally assembled dry without any grease in the ends, there is a lot of corrosion to be encounted and recommends that the aftercoolers be removed at original delivery and reassmbled with lithium grease in the aluminium/bronze matings. My experience is he is correct. I have one cooler on life support and will take some extra hours on the bench to get a servicable unit back, all do to 2 bucks worth of missing grease!
A note on operating on these aftercoolers. ALL impeller debris winds up in the wet end of the aftercooler. There is a cavity in the end caps, but water pressure rams debris up onto the tubes where they become lodged in other debris and zinc waste. On one cooler I was loosing about 30% water flow due to debris closing off the tubes.
aWith respect to Zincs, these type zincs leave a mustard yellow crust-like by product in salt water. This builds up and restricts water flow and entraps other things like shells. I'm going to have to really make a point of fishing around in the bottom cap for debris every 100 hours or so, perhaps even removeing the top and bottom hoses and back flusing the unit into a bucket to help keep the wet end from collecting so much crud.
Also, on the outboard of the STB engine, Cummins routes the boosted air to the intake manifold. The air pipes are connected by high temp hoses with contant torque clamps. As we were pulling the hose from the air discharge side of STB cooler, the clamp simply slipped off and slid down the pipe on its own, all it needed was a nudge. This is why my STB engine has been having difficulty keeping up with the Port ... at high boost pressures I was loosing air right out the hose duwe to a lack of clamp pressure ... The Moral....
Those inaccessible back sides of the Cummins engines really do exist and need TLC. It takes a skinny 160 (or less) pound person to get back there and be able to perform routine tasks, but it must be done. I want to borrow one of Gary's boys every 6 months to re torque my hose clamps every year!
