Walker Airsep Problem

[jeremy mcarver]

Not a question, but, some input on the Walker Airsep on a cummins 5.9. I purchased a SeaRay 370DB with twin direct drive 5.9’s. Before the purchase, during the sea trial, I insisted that we open her up to make sure it would reach full RPM, and look for other mechanical issues, etc. There was zero blow by, engines seemed healthy. The previous owners just putted around on it. They weren’t sure it would reach max RPM, or, what the top speed was etc. All was well, it was right there at max (even with pretty heavily fouled props). I found nothing else major wrong with the vessel so I bought it. I went down a week later to do some minor things to get it ready for the 100 mile (statute) trip we were going to make. I fired up the engines, doing some final checks. After getting up to OP temp, I noticed oil in the coolant on the port engine. NO WATER IN OIL. I popped the oil filler cap off and there was a lot of blow by which wasn’t there before. I did some pondering. I deduced that the vent had to be clogged somewhere causing the blow by , and the oil in the coolant should be coming from the oil cooler. Well, I was correct. Apparently, when we uncorked the ole girl, all the putting around the previous owners did, caused a build up of “GRAVY” in the vent tube coming off the block going to the Airsep, clogging it almost completely. The crankcase pressure blew the oil cooler gasket. I completely cleaned all the Airsep components, and installed a new oil cooler and gasket, changed coolant and oil, and all has be well since. I am switching to the environment set up though, for sure.

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[Rob Schepis]

You had your thinking cap on – well done, great post, thanks for sharing.

[Author]

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