Side mounted flame arrestor

[K-DUB]

Sorry if this a repeat, but I could not find any other posts on this.
I have a 40 Sundancer with the Merc 380 Horizions.
I tried to remove the side mounted flame arrestors to clean, but there is no room between them and the exaust tube to slide them off their bolts. What's the best way to remove and/or clean them? The arrestor seemed to be one unit, and did not come apart. I did not want to destroy it by forcing it apart.
Thanks.

 

[K-DUB]

Is the consensus no one bothers to clean these:huh:

 

[CliffA]

Sorry if this a repeat, but I could not find any other posts on this.
I have a 40 Sundancer with the Merc 380 Horizions.
I tried to remove the side mounted flame arrestors to clean, but there is no room between them and the exaust tube to slide them off their bolts. What's the best way to remove and/or clean them? The arrestor seemed to be one unit, and did not come apart. I did not want to destroy it by forcing it apart.
Thanks.

i have absolutely no knowledge of the set up for your engine, but can you unscrew the bolt as well to remove both the bolt and the arrestor?....i know on my old Jeep i can easily unscrew the center bolt in the carb that is used to secure the air breather to the top of the carb....

cliff

 

[K-DUB]

i have absolutely no knowledge of the set up for your engine, but can you unscrew the bolt as well to remove both the bolt and the arrestor?....i know on my old Jeep i can easily unscrew the center bolt in the carb that is used to secure the air breather to the top of the carb....

cliff

Thanks. I had thought of pulling the 4 bolts out as well, but then the injection throttle body would come off the side of the manifold, and I rather not break that seal. I may just have to pull it away from the intake, block off the pasages and clean it on the engine.

 

[JediJD]

I have the 8.1's on a 380 I'm just not sure I understand the issue. Mine is a tight fit and requires a little effort to pull straight off as a unit. I think has a circular slip ring on it to tighten it to the intake, but it comes off and I do spray it out with carb cleaner and wash it out every year. You'd be surprised how much crap it accumulates.

 

[K-DUB]

I have the 8.1's on a 380 I'm just not sure I understand the issue. Mine is a tight fit and requires a little effort to pull straight off as a unit. I think has a circular slip ring on it to tighten it to the intake, but it comes off and I do spray it out with carb cleaner and wash it out every year. You'd be surprised how much crap it accumulates.

The problem with mine is that there is only an inch or so between the face of the unit and my exhaust tube. It will not clear the four 6" bolts that hold the unit on. Removing the tube would not work because the metal flange coming out of the riser would still be there.

 

[belliswood]

I have the 7.4's in my boat and also have the same problem. I can not remove them due to the riser and manifold is in the way.

So I started the engine and used carb cleaner and sprayed them to get them clean while the engine burned it all up. It cleaned them pretty well and engines run just fine after doing so.

 

[K-DUB]

I have the 7.4's in my boat and also have the same problem. I can not remove them due to the riser and manifold is in the way.

So I started the engine and used carb cleaner and sprayed them to get them clean while the engine burned it all up. It cleaned them pretty well and engines run just fine after doing so.

Thanks, that's what I figured. I was hoping I would not have to do it that way since I just got the boat and don't think they have been cleaned before. I didn't want to suck all the previous owners gunk into my fuel injection. But it is what it is.

 

[JediJD]

The good news is that the gunk only goes into the intake manifold and then the cylinders. If you are running at over about 1000 rpm, the negative pressure (vacuum) is enough so that nothing is going to stick to the intake manifold and it will probably vaporize pretty easily during combustion. Since the injectors are actually firing during this time, the odds of them accumulating anything are pretty small.

 

[K-DUB]

The good news is that the gunk only goes into the intake manifold and then the cylinders. If you are running at over about 1000 rpm, the negative pressure (vacuum) is enough so that nothing is going to stick to the intake manifold and it will probably vaporize pretty easily during combustion. Since the injectors are actually firing during this time, the odds of them accumulating anything are pretty small.

That does make me feel a lot better. Thanks!

 

[Sea Ray Mark]

Sorry if this a repeat, but I could not find any other posts on this.
I have a 40 Sundancer with the Merc 380 Horizions.
I tried to remove the side mounted flame arrestors to clean, but there is no room between them and the exaust tube to slide them off their bolts. What's the best way to remove and/or clean them? The arrestor seemed to be one unit, and did not come apart. I did not want to destroy it by forcing it apart.
Thanks.

Had the same problem with my 1998 370 DA. It's a wonderful design! I never liked the idea of letting that stuff get into the engine by washing it through. That's one of the reasons those arrestors are there in the first place. I used to spray a non flamable cleaner like Simple Green while sucking it up right away with a shop vac. Don't use anything flamable or the shop vac could explode. Mark

 

[K-DUB]

Had the same problem with my 1998 370 DA. It's a wonderful design! I never liked the idea of letting that stuff get into the engine by washing it through. That's one of the reasons those arrestors are there in the first place. I used to spray a non flamable cleaner like Simple Green while sucking it up right away with a shop vac. Don't use anything flamable or the shop vac could explode. Mark

I cleaned mine last night. I ended up taking the cap nuts off, and sliding the arrestor away from the intake as much as I could. I put a plastic bag between that and the intake and a towel under the arrestor. I sprayed it with carb cleaner and used my air compressor to blow it out onto the towel. Seemed to work pretty well.
Thanks for all the input.