QSM-11 Coolant Reservoir Bracket Cracking

[Four Suns]

I was going through my pictures and wanted to show something that all of you with QSM-11 Diesels need to look out for. There is a bracket on the back of the engine that holds the coolant reservoir (a very heavy cast item) and heat exchanger that appears to be a problem on many many QSM-11's. They tend to crack after a few years of use. Here's a shot:

I had both engine reservoir brackets exhibit the same crack and had some new ones fabricated and installed. The problem is that you have to pull off the coolant reservoir because ONE... JUST ONE... of the bolts on the bracket will not come off the head unless you pull off the reservoir. The port engine is "easy" but the starboard engine requires removing the floor in the salon on the 480 DB (and probably the 50 and 52 DB) to get at all the bolts holding the thing on..

(Sea Ray should really clean up after themselves before they lay the carpet down)

This is just an FYI post for what I did. I know that Matt (Pirate) did something different on his 480 DB that was much easier. Taking the floor out is about an hours worth of work. The carpet just pulls back after you remove the canvas cover snaps in the corners but you also have to remove the cabinet that sticks out in the salon. It's a good time to service the aftercooler.... especially if you've left a seacock closed and blew up an impeller.

This problem is well documented on boatdiesel but I thought I would mention how I addressed it here....

 

[Pirate]

Gary - I used one of Tony Athens brackets to repair mine. His bracket did not require removing the heat exchanger or the coolant reservoir.

How did you remove the center cabinet? Wasn't your carpet glued down?

 

[Four Suns]

Wow... Today is Tuesday September 18th at 9:05 pm and it says I posted the original thread here yesterday... Huh?? I just POSTED IT!!!!! Or maybe I've been drinking too much and lost a day of time....

 

[Four Suns]

The carpet is only has a narraw strip of glue by the sliding glass door entry but we just rolled the carpet back to that point. The corner snaps for the carpet runner and the fact it is tucked under the cabinets is the only thing holding it in place. The carpet has staples around the kitchen hardwood... Only a few of those had to be removed. All in all, not too bad... but the solution you had was definitely easier.

Skip would just leave the cover off and made the engine room part of the salon...

 

[MadDog]

Thx for the heads up on that bracket - i'll take a look at mine this weekend. I always wondered how I'd get to the engines through the floor like that so I'm especially grateful you posted that picture. For some reason I'm a little more relieved...

Mark

 

[Four Suns]

You may also want to check out some of my other posts w/regards to hydraulic lines, hoses, and a manifold bolt coming off.... Just stuff to watch out for.

 

[Skip]

Gary,
I'd actually leave the floor off, and install a La-Z-Boy in the engine room, so when the kids get on my nerves I can crank the diesels and go sit amidst the torque with a frosty adult beverage. Simply leaving the cover off demonstrates a really appalling lack of imagination and poor space utilizaton, in my view.

regards
Skip

 

[Greg]

Gary,

I may want to remove the floor, I am having the front cover gaskets, and the exhaust manifold gaskets changed, they are leaking. To do the exhaust gaskets, the coolant reservoirs have to come off. All of this is covered under the warranty. As well as a cracked bracket.

While it is apart he is going to clean the aftercoolers, and replace the gaskets on the heat exchangers, which is good because my starboard heat exchanger is leaking. I am also having the valve and injector lash adjusted.

The mechanic started on it today, and he said it will take about two weeks! I printed out some pictures of the front engine support bracket that I got from somewhere, he is having his fabricator weld up something similar.

I think it will be a lot easier for him to work in there with the floor removed.

So...

How do you take out that center cabinet?

Does the corner piece of the couch have to come out?

Do you just roll the carpet from the door towards the front of the boat?

Was it a big deal re-stapleing the carpet around the galley?

 

[Four Suns]

The sofa does not have to be touched.

The island cabinet needs to come out and there are some L-brackets on the floor (I think 2) and then some screws where the cabinet meets the hull side/other cabinets. It comes out pretty easy.

The carpet just pulls back. It is not glued down... it's a finished fiberglass floor with some foam on top. You will have to unstaple the carpet about 15" back from the wood galley floor. It is somewhat of a pain to staple it back such that it's not noticeable. Should have been installed differently that those stupid staples IMO.

The two hatches on the floor are cross bolted down in the engine room. I think there are about 8 bolts... the hatch has screws on the top holding it in the grooves. There is a bunch of silicon that has to be cut in the groove to pull the hatch halves.

You'll need two people to lift the hatches. They are very heavy.

I didn't watch the guy replace my front gear cover seals. I think he just undid the front engine brackets and put a jack under the engine to support it... but I'm guessing.

My coolant reservoir brackets were custom made. Cummins has come out with a new one but it's just a little thicker than the old one. I had ones fabricated with some big thick beefy steel. It kills me that the brackets for the on-engine oil pressure and temp gauges have beefier brackets than the big honkin' coolant reservoir.... ridiculous.

It took about an hour to clean all the old silicon off the hatches and the grooves and I think it took about 5 tubes of caulk to put it back.

 

[Reb13]

I just read today that Cummins has a free fix for this bracket. I will call tomorrow and give my serial numbers to see if that's tru.

 

[cod]

I thought it was the gear cooler bracket, not the coolant reservoir bracket.... Please post what you find out, Thanks

 

[Zacal]

A company in CA. makes bolt on brackets - two bolts in the reservoir and two on the back of the head. They supply the bolts with the
brackets. You don't have to remove anything but the brackets and then bolt on the new ones. They are 1/4" thick and are about
one inch wide than the old thin brackets. I fooled around about two hours installing them.
The company can be reached at - brad@sbmar.com The guy that designed them is - Tony Athens - He works there.