Official Cummins 6cta 450C thread

Blueone said:
Mine do I am mechanical…not sure with the electronic versions
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Disconnected them on the 480CE and never had an issue. Boat was in Florida so they were not necessary.
 
SRMark said:
Mine are mechanical also. When I start my boat I see them cycling on and off. I am in the water from late April until late October. If I disconnect them I wonder if it will cause starting/ running issues in the cooler months.
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It would be easy enough to do a test. Disconnect one engine and compare to the other in Oct's cold mornings. I don't think I'd remove them without doing that first.
 
I have CAT's but I repaired mine because in the winter even in Georgia, the engines produced white smoke on start up, the air heaters eliminated that. Both CAT and Cummins had this issue with their mechanical engines from what I read.

On the CAT system, if you want the air heaters to work , you put the start switch to on and let them heat about 30 seconds, and then once the engine starts, the heaters turn on/off until the engine coolant reaches a set temperature. If its warm enough, I can just start the engines and that will disable the air heaters. Might be worth looking into how the Cummins system works. You might be able to use them when cold, and not when its warm.

Another option are oil pan heaters.
 
ZZ13 said:
I just wrote this up and sent it to a friend. So here you go:

Remove three bolted on small wires on the heater (two power, one ground). Unplug air temp sensor on heater (I also took the sensor out and replaced it with a plug - optional). Remove small red power cable at starter (long cable that comes from grid heater on other side of engine). Remove two bolts below the aftercooler bracket, holding on the bracket containing all the grid heater electronics (those bolts may also hold on some unrelated ground wires and/or the check valve from the airsep - just bolt them back on where they were after you remove the grid heater bracket). Unplug the three sensor connectors coming out of heater wiring harness (they will be behind the aftercooler). Then pull it all out. It's all one big system all coupled together.
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I just removed the harness …not as fun as I had hoped…. I think I peeled every scab off from my AC install……your directions were spot on. Thank-you
0990B540-2D98-4B5C-87C0-80C53C74AD10.jpeg
 
Blueone said:
I just removed the harness …not as fun as I had hoped…. I think I peeled every scab off from my AC install……your directions were spot on. Thank-you
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That one doesn’t look too bad. Both of mine were a charred yucky mess.
 
Hey guys, new 400 owner here posting for the first time. I purchased a 2003 400 Sedan Bridge with the Cummins C Series Diamond 8.3s a few weeks ago. Love the boat and am prepping for end of season service. One question I have is recommendations for antifreeze. Cummins only recommends Fleet Guard ES Compleat, however, I’m in northern Door County, WI and can’t find this anywhere. Are there other acceptable brands?
 
Rob Bee said:
Hey guys, new 400 owner here posting for the first time. I purchased a 2003 400 Sedan Bridge with the Cummins C Series Diamond 8.3s a few weeks ago. Love the boat and am prepping for end of season service. One question I have is recommendations for antifreeze. Cummins only recommends Fleet Guard ES Compleat, however, I’m in northern Door County, WI and can’t find this anywhere. Are there other acceptable brands?
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Welcome aboard CSR. I'm sure these guy's can help.

http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/40-sedan-bridge-forum.53961/
 
Rob Bee said:
Hey guys, new 400 owner here posting for the first time. I purchased a 2003 400 Sedan Bridge with the Cummins C Series Diamond 8.3s a few weeks ago. Love the boat and am prepping for end of season service. One question I have is recommendations for antifreeze. Cummins only recommends Fleet Guard ES Compleat, however, I’m in northern Door County, WI and can’t find this anywhere. Are there other acceptable brands?
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Order it online or the next time you go to Green Bay go a few miles further to Depere and get it at the Cummins place.
 
Rob Bee said:
Hey guys, new 400 owner here posting for the first time. I purchased a 2003 400 Sedan Bridge with the Cummins C Series Diamond 8.3s a few weeks ago. Love the boat and am prepping for end of season service. One question I have is recommendations for antifreeze. Cummins only recommends Fleet Guard ES Compleat, however, I’m in northern Door County, WI and can’t find this anywhere. Are there other acceptable brands?
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Any 50-50 ethylene glycol extended life coolant pre-charged with the DCA (if not pre-charged then you will have to add the DCA yourself). Most use the Fleetguard ES Compleat EG. I've used Peak Fleet Charge for the 8 years I've had the boat. Read up on the reason for the DCA and how to use annual replacement of the coolant filters to make sure you continually have the correct amount of DCA.
 
ZZ13 said:
Any 50-50 ethylene glycol extended life coolant pre-charged with the DCA (if not pre-charged then you will have to add the DCA yourself). Most use the Fleetguard ES Compleat EG. I've used Peak Fleet Charge for the 8 years I've had the boat. Read up on the reason for the DCA and how to use annual replacement of the coolant filters to make sure you continually have the correct amount of DCA.
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Got it, thanks! I ordered a DCA test kit and am replacing the WF 2071 DCA filters so, I’m assuming that I won’t have to add liquid DCA. Does that make sense?
 
Rob Bee said:
Hey guys, new 400 owner here posting for the first time. I purchased a 2003 400 Sedan Bridge with the Cummins C Series Diamond 8.3s a few weeks ago. Love the boat and am prepping for end of season service. One question I have is recommendations for antifreeze. Cummins only recommends Fleet Guard ES Compleat, however, I’m in northern Door County, WI and can’t find this anywhere. Are there other acceptable brands?
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I never understand why anyone would deviate from Cummins recommended products….be it filters, parts or fluids. Yes they cost more but piece of mind I think trumps price…. Plus what would you think if you popped the hatch and saw fram filters ? Yes there are comparable products but I stick with recommended with something that expensive ….might just be me
 
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Blueone said:
I never understand why anyone would deviate from Cummins recommended products….be it filters, parts or fluids. Yes they cost more but piece of mind I think trumps price…. Plus what would you think if you popped the hatch and saw fram filters ? Yes there are comparable products but I stick with recommended with something that expensive ….might just be me
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So you are saying we all should be using Valvoline Blue and all of us using Rotella T are not being very smart?
 
SRMark said:
Mine are mechanical also. When I start my boat I see them cycling on and off. I am in the water from late April until late October. If I disconnect them I wonder if it will cause starting/ running issues in the cooler months.[
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Your motors will start and run fine without the air heaters. What you will notice in colder conditions without the air heaters is a little smoke and diesel exhaust smell. I removed my air heaters 5 years ago and went with pan heaters.
I have no regrets. Earlier this summer we went to Lake Superior and were out at Isle Royale for 11 days on the hook. I didn’t bother running the pan heaters for the few hours per day we ran the gen to keep our batteries up. Under those conditions the pan heaters wouldn’t have helped. Between the cold water and early morning air temps in the low to mid 40’s, the smoke was noticeable until warm up.
 
Blueone said:
LOL…. I didn’t think you guys actually read this stuff…. Do as I say not as I do :)
Here are two articles on the specs
https://www.sbmar.com/articles/cummins-marine-engine-oil-requirements/
https://www.plaisance-pratique.com/IMG/pdf/SBN_Oil_3810340__5jun13.pdf
https://www.plaisance-pratique.com/IMG/pdf/SBN_Oil_3810340__5jun13.pdf
View attachment 111932
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It’s so hard to be humorous on a message board. No inflection in voice our facial expressions to help. Glad you didn’t take my response seriously.
 
my3sons said:
Your motors will start and run fine without the air heaters. What you will notice in colder conditions without the air heaters is a little smoke and diesel exhaust smell. I removed my air heaters 5 years ago and went with pan heaters.
I have no regrets. Earlier this summer we went to Lake Superior and were out at Isle Royale for 11 days on the hook. I didn’t bother running the pan heaters for the few hours per day we ran the gen to keep our batteries up. Under those conditions the pan heaters wouldn’t have helped. Between the cold water and early morning air temps in the low to mid 40’s, the smoke was noticeable until warm up.
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So here's my issue with the pan heaters that i recently installed this past spring. I don't want to leave them on always in the cooler months (Should I?). Since I have the 250 watt model, if I get to the boat and want to take off how long would it take to heat up the oil to a useful temp?
 
Irie308 said:
So here's my issue with the pan heaters that i recently installed this past spring. I don't want to leave them on always in the cooler months (Should I?). Since I have the 250 watt model, if I get to the boat and want to take off how long would it take to heat up the oil to a useful temp?
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Not long for the oil, few hours maybe. The coolant and the block, overnight. It takes a while to warm up 1500 pounds of steel. I leave mine on, an added advantage is the warm engines act as a dehumidifier.
I removed my air heaters because one toasted similar to blue ones. It’s not for everyone.
 
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