480CE longevity

[Chris Conahan]

I’m looking at a 2003 43 sportfisher with 480CEs 4400 hours. Owner states the hours have been 96 percent 10kts or less traveling to baja and back. He also states that fact can be proven from digital logs. Receipts and logs look like the maintenance has been done. Port aftercooler was replaced last year and starboard was removed and cleaned a at the same time.

I know it’s impossible to answer with the information I have……but can I expect more life out of these motors or is it rebuild time?

Can the use of the motors be seen by plugging into the computer as the owner states.
What’s a good budget number to rebuild these motors?

Topic

[Tony Athens]

Basic answer is NO……………If your boat propped & running on the 450 Diamond/430 C prop curve does not meet your needs for speed in the 1900-2300 RPM range, then it’s simple.. You have TOO MUCH BOAT and not enough engine..

Very simple if you are asking me..

Of course, a very “on paper” & recommended marine surveyor may tell you differently–But, I have no need to go there as I am not a “paper credential” guy in that way….

Tony

[Chris Conahan]

480CE longevity UPDATE

I was able to speak at length with the current mechanic looking after the boat yesterday. he detailed the work thats been done on the boat the past two years:
STBD aftercoller replaced
Port aftercooler removed and “serviced” he states he removed and sent it out. not sure what that means.
check valves installed on the bottom of both aftercoolers
injectors all repalced
turbos rebuilt
cooling system serviced
replaced control block assemblies (ZF trans)

No work has been done to the top end expect a valve adjustment when the injectors were replaced according the the mechanic.

replaced props- done before the current mechanic got on the boat. Unfortunately I cant get any info as to why because it was done by the previous owner. I plan on taking Tony’s advice and recording GPH to understand where the boat is at currently if I can get to the sea trial step.

I was able to do a cold start in the slip. small amount of blue smoke at startup on both motors. STBD had slightly more smoke. ran to 150 degrees and smoke subsided but didn’t disappear completely.

[Matt]

Did they make any improvements on the new heads to allow you to burn closer to their published 480CE burn numbers? Or is it still advisable to keep to the 450 burn numbers?

I know mine was run overloaded by the PO and some by me before I discovered Tony’s advice. So I feel like I am on borrowed time(part of the reason I did not take the boat to Cuba last summer) I hate having the thought of dropping a valve in the back of my head every time I go somewhere, kind of takes the enjoyment out of cruising.

Matt

[Tony Athens]

Chris,

You are quite persistent — I just dropped you are note trying to keep all of this here so all can share & it’s “FREE”….

Back to you original question related to how many hours ( or more hours can you expect)…………If your 480CE’s had new genuine head/valves and you run at 10K’s or less–How about 20,000 hours?.

Valves were the only weak point if the engine was run in the past at loads above that of the 450 Diamond was designed to operate at………….. If the engine never did that, then you are still good for more hours than you even need.. But, neither of us know that for sure…………

What we do know is the engines in question have 4000+ hours and HAVE NOT dropped a valve.. What we don’t don’t is how close or how far away that may be…………………………..If you really like the vessel, both heads can be replaced for well under $10 K COMPLETE with parts and labor in any normal instances..

Tony

[Rob Schepis]

I’ve always preferred the higher hour engine that was setup right and treated right than the one that spent it’s life corroding away at the dock. Start putting hours on that “dock sitter” and all kinds of things start happening..

How long has seller owned the boat?

Would be great to know how much fuel was burned over a known amount of engine hours. Does he have those kind of cruising/trip logs? That could help verify if she really did spend long hours at hull speed.

Any chance the seller was referring to logs from his navigation software that would contain speed data? With my Garmin MFD logs I can point anywhere on a trip log and see instantaneous data such as speed, COG, water depth, water temp, etc.

Any pics of the engine? The turbo and air piping should be tan, not brown.

As Tony notes, bottom end should not be issue, more of concern is the top end – valves, head gasket..

[Mike Mason]

Take Tony’s advice. Use this forum. He will lead you on the right path. Follow what he says and you won’t be disappointed.

[Tony Athens]

“One-on-One” consultation gets expensive real fast……..This forum is best so all can share… That was the original idea on BD and ho, w it was built ( that went away after about 15 yrs) but here it will always be free………Your call..

Tony

[Chris Conahan]

Thanks for the input Tony. I was expecting that. Can I discuss it in more detail with you? What’s the best way to reach you?

[Tony Athens]

The 480CE has a very colorful history.. The engine is basically a 450 Diamond that was “pumped up” in the early 2000’s to stay competitive as to HP for the boat builders.. The problem was, Cummins Engineers added the fuel & the air to get the HP, but forgot about upgrading the internal components so to add the durability needed to make the engine “Cummins Strong” .. IMO that was a BIG MISTAKE…

In this case, if you are lucky, the 480CE’s in the vessel never ran hard or above the cruise curve in the 1800-2300 RPM range above the 450 Diamond fuel/load curve.. If so, you are in good shape……….THE ECM will not tell you that, only a proper seatrial with someone recording GPH fuel flow at rpm’s between 1500 & WOT will tell you that…. But do you want to really do that? If not then i’ts iffy as to what you can expect..

If it was me, I immediately install 2 new genuine 100% complete Cummins heads.. Well under $8000 for both engine including labor………If you drop 1 valve in one engine, it will cost you 2X that..Te you are good to do a proper seatrial to see where your are and to engine loading under your actual use..

The Cummins 6CTA 8.3 Marine Engine Story

Just work that $8000 into the $$, plus regardless of anything else, your aftercoolers need to serviced per our protocol so you know for sure where you are.. Service history in this case is worthless, trust me on that..

Tony

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