[Terry]

Mechanic returned today and disassembled the starboard side and orientation of the gasket was wrong (as suspected). He put the gasket in the correct position and put the parts back together. We then filled the coolant and did a sea trail run and there was no leak… Finally progress made!

Rob, the mechanic did reuse the gasket…I asked him about if they were a one time deal and he said that since the engines had not been run they would be ok to reuse. Honestly, I thought he should just replace the $34.00 gasket to be sure, especially after his error, but did not want to get in an argument with him on something that I really do not know about. and he did install the gasket dry. I had asked this mechanic and another mechanic from the same shop about using the RTV and they both told me that it was their shop policy to install the gasket dry. Live and learn…I don’t think I will have them out for repairs in the future.

When I go to the shop tomorrow to settle up with the service manager, I am planning on giving him a printed copy of Tony’s Tip for “Changing a Turbo to Exhaust Manifold Gasket on a Cummins Mid Range Engine.” Additionally I plan to ask the service manager to put on my invoice that the same gasket was installed twice, just in case it fails in a short time.

Cheers to everyone…Talk to you on the next issue… and will be doing my “Tony’s Tips” reading to make my life easer in the future.

[Terry]

Well, I went to the boat today with print outs of several of the photos that you all had sent me. Based on those photos, I looked at the edges of the gasket sticking out from the flange area and could tell that it appeared to be installed at an incorrect 90 degree turn. I could see that the gasket had a small half circle cut out along one of the edges and that this portion of the gasket was on the top right corner of the exhaust manifold and based on the pictures I received, the proper orientation should have put this half circle cut out on the bottom right corner of the exhaust manifold. I further observed that both turbo gaskets had been installed in the the same orientation by the mechanic….Therefore before the mechanic even arrived I felt better that it was en error and not a problem.

The mechanic FINALLY arrived at about 2:15 p.m., and he did not seam too happy to be there as he started out by saying “so the service manager said you think I installed the gasket wrong.” I told him that I was just baffled that the engines would be leaking without any pressure when they hadn’t been leaking like that prior to installing the gasket. The mechanic then proceeded to disassemble the port side and upon removing the turbo he observed that the orientation was off and that the big holes on the gasket were covering the small holes and vice versa. The mechanic then apologized for the improper install. The mechanic then put a straight edge to both the turbo flange and exhaust manifold and told me that they were not warped. The mechanic then reinstalled the gasket and put everything back together….and after we refilled the coolant on the port engine there was NO LEAK anymore. The mechanic is coming back tomorrow to do the starboard engine and go on a sea trail to make sure that all is good.

So there was a positive outcome today…and I just wanted to let everyone know.

Since I do not have any mechanical background (although the more time I spend on boats the more I am learning) I really wanted to thank everyone for their replies and photos as they did help me to understand that what was happening was not right and that errors had likely been made. My enlightenment by you photos and comments helped so that I could not be tricked by the mechanic… I learned a lot, and I think the mechanic did too!
Im glad I could this website!

Regards,
Terry

[Terry]

Thank you all for the replies and the photos….They definitely help!
The mechanic is coming out tomorrow afternoon to disassemble the turbo to manifold exhaust and I will let you all know what I see and if the gasket installation was installed incorrectly.
Regards,
Terry

[Terry]

Tony,
Thank you so much for your quick reply! I am glad to hear that it is not likely an issue with the manifold or turbo flange as I was dreading the $17,200 quote for the repairs…
I will check out all the stuff you sent me… and once again I REALLY do appreciate your reply!
Thank You
Terry

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