first time 6bt owner, questions

[Lee I]

Hi and thank you for providing the support and products on this website.

 

I recently purchased a sportfisher with twin 6bt 370hp cummins recons

The stamp plates read 2004 model year, they are all mechanical

Previous owner has some upgrades, oil pan heaters, ccv filter kit, not sure anything else.

Aftercoolers were just cleaned, both engines startup pretty easily in 40 degree weather (within 10-15 seconds of cranking). The seller told me he did all maintenance but injectors should be due for cleaning. As far as i can tell there arent any huge noticeable oil leaks. 

Both motors smoke a bit on startup, but then just a trickle cloud after a few minutes. Also both motors seem to have a small bit of constant smoke from the front cover ccv breather. Its not much, but during 4 hour ride to home port it was noticable in the cabin with the floor panels removed.

My port motor seems to have low oil pressure on the helm VDO gauge. I installed a mechanical gauge and that seems to never really get below 25psi or so. The oil pressure usually drops a bit (on VDO gauge) when shifting from neutral to gear. It goes up quickly again with any throttle. I did not notice the same with the starboard motor. Ill also note the battery on port motor is old. The sb battery was dead and wouldnt charge, so i brought my own new one. Not sure if this has any effect on the readings?

I also did notice a very thin oily residue on the water idling the port motor. Couldnt tell if sb motor did the same.

 

My questions would be:

1. is there a prefered method to clean up the ccv filters? do they need reoiling? should they be washed or just air blown out?
2. should i pull out injectors and have them rebuilt, or purchase another set of the same to keep spares? is there anyway to tell condition without disassembly?
3. what is the best shop manual for these motors? the plate says 370-3000 is the engine model. 
4. is there any immediate upgrades i should consider? i dont particularly need more power, but i would target upgrading anything if available over oem. the ccv kit for ex (already done) but also saw the water pump upgrade. also will add the freshwater flushout to the strainers
5. read a lot about exhaust backwashing water into the turbo. i think the setup i have here is clear of this, the exhaust is very long and angles down towards the outlet. the big elbow out from the turbo sits a good bit above the final exit, prob about 15-18″ or so

 

 

 

Topic

[Lee I]

Thanks Tony

 

I squeezed away from work for a bit and sent you email with better pics 

 

Eager to hear your thoughts

[Tony Athens]

Lee 1

I would really like to see some higher quality pictures of your engines  “clear & in-focus” . I see somethings that are not “kosher”.  Go to the extra trouble to do it right and I’ll go to the extra trouble to help you.

Send them to me direct   . I’ll then post for all to see.

[email protected]

 

Tony

[pwrobert]

IMO 1/4 cup (2 ounces) is a pretty significant amount of water for a single outing.  Of course that depends on how long the outing was – a day or a multi day trip.  Factors to consider are the source of the fuel, an issue with the tank over flow setup letting spray enter the tank, or a leak on top of the tank around gauges, etc.  Also, if you have a fuel cooler still installed it could be a source of water.

Because you mention the ease of servicing and being able to see the water amount collected I am guessing you have Racor filters.

I have one remaining Racor in my boat after installing the 6BTA’s in 2019 and chose to leave it in my port engine setup as it was part of an self designed Fuel Polishing setup. By changing a couple of valves it goes from standard running mode to Polish ing mode. I did add a single SMX Filter mount with a FS19513 Bulk filter with Vacumn Gauge ahead of the Racor  though.  The other engine has a regular SMX Double setup with one Bulk filter and a Primary FS1000.

The boat was run for 20 years with my older Detroit 8.2L  engines and twin Racors. Traveling yearly to the Bahamas with Racors on one other occasion did I  see more than an ounce or two of water between filter changes.  Usuallly changed them just before heading to the Islands or in the Spring if no major trip was planned the next year.

The one time did I  get more than that it was devastating.  Getting fuel in the Barry Islands on my way heading to Bimini  then home, I refuled  and headed out.  About 3 houors into the trip one engine shut down.  Checking the Racor bowls showed the port one filled to the top  of the sight bowl with water and the other with a few ounces.  My 200 mile trip home was on one engine.

Turned out that the water had blown 3 injectors in the Port engine and necessitated a full Top End rebuild.

I was the first person who refuled that day after the fuel resupply ship had delivered it’s load to the Island during the night.  The Bahama Islands are famous for running out of fuel and when supplies are low or recently refilled the water in fuel chances are higher.  I would say that there have been 10 times or more at various Islands that I have been among the boats  waiting around for a few days for the fuel boat to arrive.

Anyway, my routine now is that if I have any question about the fuel at an island before restarting my engines I run the fuel Polishing system on each of my tanks (3) for 2 to three minutes and check the filter bowl before switching to the next tank for peace of mind.

Sorry for the long story but fuel in the water- almost any amount needs investigation.

[Lee I]

Cool. Yea mine has 2 big filters plus the one on the motor already. There was a small amount of water in the first set of filters from the first trip. Small as in about quarter cup. I took it all apart and cleaned the bowls and put new filters. It was much easier to do than I thought. 

Im very handy but dont have a means to pull a motor from the boat. 

 

 

 

[Kevin Wallace]

I am in the same boat as you lol. I just bought an aft cabin with same motors (1998) model year. Previous owner did little to none maintenance to the motors. I just found out I’m going to need two after coolers since the original one is frozen solid and the new one replaced in 2021 is already showing bad signs. 

That being said, My current winter project is the fuel system. I purchased through sbmar the smx double double filtration system with priming bulbs, fuel cooler bypass, and envirovent air filtration system. 

 

I’ve read all of the Tony’s tips and they very helpful.

[Lee I]

Added a couple pics

[Author]

Replies