[Joel Hilden]

A year ago I purchased my 2005 Sea Ray with Cummins 480 CE engines, which are basically 450Cs with an electronic governor. I had an engine survey performed by the local Cummins service guys, who found the aftercoolers and heat exchangers had not been serviced. The buyer ended up spending about $13k to replace the aftercoolers and service the rest of the seawater-cooled stuff.

Good luck with the purchase!

[Joel Hilden]

I have a 2005 Sea Ray 390 Motor Yacht with the 480 CEs. There is nothing fragile about them; they’re basically a CTA 450 Diamond with an electronic governor. As Tony has stated many times, the problems generally come from overpropping. However, the earliest 480 CEs had a cylinder head that was more prone to problems, so Cummins superseded it with two new part numbers. Mine has the 2nd Gen heads, according to the Cummins guys who performed the engine survey.

Newer versions of my boat (40 Motor Yacht) were equipped with the QSB 425, which probably saves over 1,000 lbs in weight and gives the boat similar performance. However, you’re pushing more power from each liter of displacement, which can present the problems that Tony has outlined in the past when it comes to long-term durability.

[Joel Hilden]

Walker air seps are not identical to K&N air filters, but obviously it’s a similar concept of oil-impregnated fabric that filters the air.  Walker recommends using their kit to clean and re-oil the filters, and they actually caution against servicing them too often as it can impair the vacuum action.  The air seps do more than just filter the incoming air, they keep oily crankcase gases from polluting the air and fouling your engine room.  Ever seen an engine room with a pair of hard-working Detroit diesels that simply vent the crankcase gases?

[Joel Hilden]

Hey Tony, what causes that kind of “mud” to accumulate in the primary filter?  Is it mostly dead algae, or just crud brought into the fuel tank when fueling?

If I had problems with my Racors getting gunked up and having to be replaced often I would definitely look into the Double Double system.  However, my Racors seem to stay clean as a whistle and I’m just changing them once a year as a preventive measure.  I put Biobor JF biocide in the tanks once a year to kill any algae.  My engines have about 900 hours on them and I’m adding about 100 hours/year.  I tend to buy fuel at many different marinas.  Is it more the commercial operators who are running their engines for many hours everyday who have these kind of filter problems?

[Joel Hilden]

James, how do you calculate the Double Double system paying for itself in two years?  I did some calculations based on replacing a filtration system that has a Racor 900 30-micron primary and a FF5285 on the engine.  Replacing the Racor twice a year and the FF5285 once a year would cost $49.  With the Double Double, if you changed the FS19513 0.5x/year (every two years) and changed the FS1000 0.33x/year (every three years) it would average about $15 a year.  That’s a $34 savings per year, so it would take about 12 years to save enough to pay for the Double Double system, not including labor.  I’ll stipulate that the Double-Double is a superior filtration system, but I don’t see how it would pay for itself in two years unless you’re changing your Racor filters ten times a year.

[Joel Hilden]

Thanks Tony, I appreciate the response.

By the way, this new forum is terrific.  Don’t think I’ll be renewing my subscription to that other forum, you know the one.

[Joel Hilden]

Thanks for the replies.

[Joel Hilden]

Not exactly propped on the edge, running slightly below the 450C fuel curve with four adults on board, full fuel and water tanks.  The boat is used for bareboat charters on Chesapeake Bay, so I like prepare for the worst/assume going out heavy.

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