Oil Test = High Aluminum

[Dalton]

I have my boat up for sale.
1999 Maxum with 2 6BTA and 530 hours.
1 engine has new turbo, both have new exhaust elbows. Both run great, get to 3000 rpm. One starts right up, the other needs a few cranks. White smoke goes away when a little warm.

Survey said aftercoolers need replaced (not serviced). I’m skeptical of this but won’t get into that.

Oil analysis came back and all they told me so far as aluminum is in the red. (I dont know ppm level yet) We only ran the boat maybe 15 hours per year for 2 years. (I know, not alot) Changed the oil once in that time. They are changing the oil and filters and running, then retesting.

I’m told this issue could mean the rings are going bad.

So my question is if it fails again what is my next step. I’m sure the potential buyers will run away but I will start working on fixing the issue. First off, I may send aftercoolers to Sbmar to attempt a service. Could those cause AL to be in the oil??

2nd step, get a compression test?
is there a way to inspect rings without too much work (pulling engines)?

Just looking for direction. I really don’t want to spend $30k fixing 2 engines on a boat I want to sell.
Hard to believe engines with 530 hours need new rings/pistons.

thanks

Topic

[Rob Schepis]

Gotcha. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.. keep us posted.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Dalton

[Dalton]

Rob

I bought the boat 2 years ago but was active for a bit here and the other diesel forum. I believe you helped me with a couple electrical things too!

During my survey 2 years ago there were samples done and it failed but for another reason, not aluminum. The theory was there was surface rust from sitting and it mixed in with the oil. They changed the oil and filters , ran for 5 hours and oil samples came back fine. I put maybe 25 hours on the boat since then and 1/2 thru i installed a fresh water flush system in the sea strainers and started doing that. (among lots of other fixes/improvements)

I also looked into the aftercoolers with a tiny camera hooked up to my laptop and they actually looked pretty good/clean. The port side does have a fair amount of green staining on the bottom of the aftercooler.

anyway I’ll see what this new oil change does and if nothing changes then I will remove afercoolers and probably send them to sbmar and hope for the best.

[Rob Schepis]

I’m not at a PC to do any searches but I think I recognize your name.. you’re purchase of this vessel was not long ago, right? Curious if oil samples were done as part of your prepurchase inspections?

In the event you find that you need aftercooler “housings only” do check with Seaboard as they usually have them available new.

[Dalton]

Thanks Phil

I understand what you are saying about random oil samples meaning very little but that seems to be the protocol. Whether I like it or not, these cash buyers are following the procedures by the mechanics and surveyors they hired and not much I can do about that. They all recommend (including my broker) to just change oil/filter and retry. If that fails then the buyers will run away I’m sure.

At that point, I will take your advice and get the aftercoolers serviced or replaced. Hopefully serviced! Then change the oil again and test. Even if I have documentation that the aftercooler service greatly improved the oil test numbers it won’t matter much if the next oil test fails again from a different buyer. I’m then back to square one.

It really sucks that I’m at the mercy of oil tests that may or may not prove anything substantial.

[Philip]

Ken

There is lots about oil samples here on this site and other but this all boils down to random oil samples mean very little. Even if you had oil samples every 100 hours you would only have 5 oil sample results. And oil sampling is all about trends over many more hundreds of hours not a single point sample.

Now being a seller your up against the “Buyer be aware” mentality. Get the aftercooler serviced either way as that is a huge selling item to be able to say the coolers are properly serviced. all the other things you state (quick start, minimal smoke, max rpm, and fuel burns at or less than Cummins spec) – those are your engine health indicators.

All those things will give this buyer or the next comfort to move forward,

Once the cooler is properly serviced, get some fresh oil in her, run her for a few hours and take a new sample. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that Aluminum will come down and you will then have two samples and a service history to explain all.

Phil

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Dalton

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