[Paul Andrew Facey]

Just an update. I purchased 2 new After coolers. Had both Heat Exchangers removed and cleaned.
Got in contact with a Cummins mechanic out of Ft Lauderdale and brought him down to Jamaica. He installed the 2 aftercoolers and serviced my oil and fuel coolers. Gave engines a good check through. Temps on both engines running below 177 deg. Have been using boat and now feel comfortable with the performance.

Thanks to all for the advice.

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

Thanks Rob,

Will follow your instruction.

Any explanation for my starboard engine starting slower than usual/
This began since the HE, Aftercooler and oil/fuel exchangers were serviced.

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

Thanks Rob,

I saw that and followed it, however may not have followed quite right. When you say run up to 1000-1200rpm
do you mean at dock or actually moving or does it matter. Also for how long do I run for. The thermostat should open at 160 deg (is that correct?) What I didnt do was let her cool down and then top off. Instead I tighten the pressure cap and took for a sea trial, at which time temp went up to 185deg at 2150rpm, and engine emptied the supply bottle.

I do believe that the problem now is trapped air. My question is how to go from here. Can I simply take cap off, run (at dock or under load?) to 1000-1200 and get over 160 deg, then cool and top off with coolant, then tighten cap.

Best

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

Hi Tony,
Iput two posts yesterday. Not sure if you saw the first one. Would very much like your comments on my coolant filling up and burping. please read it and advise.

Regards

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

I found this on your forum, could this be my problem.

“Firstly I made up a 40mm piece with a 1/4″ socket to which I connected a pressure gauge. This I installed in-line just after the sea-water exit from the heat exchanger. This way, I was able to eliminate a possible sea water restriction in the exhaust mixer.
I then ran the boat with the radiator cap off the expansion (header) tank, slowly increasing speed, allowing the engine to heat up slowly. Once it went above 70 deg C bubbles started escaping from the coolant.
Once the thermostat opened the remaining bubbles escaped.
I then closed the radiator cap and opened the bleed nipple until a steady stream of un-aerated coolant escaped, closed up and voila – to the amazement of the technician, the problem was resolved.
I ran the boat with WOT on one engine only, and could not force the temperature to go above 83deg C after this purge !!!
Once again, Thanks everybody!”

If I try this, can I remove the pressure cap at this stage and run boat as above to hopefully release the air? and add coolant to tank if necessary? I do not have a bleed nipple on my engine, or is this the tap at the bottom?

Also I saw your comments after filling my coolant system. 50/50 EG is what I filled up with, you recommend diluting to 40/60 EG to Distilled water. Can I simply let some coolant out at the tap and add some distilled water?

regards

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

Thanks Tony,

I am taking your advice on the after coolers.

This morning I drained the coolant from both engines and flushed with water and refilled. Each draining I measures the quantity and came up with 5-6gallons each time. When refilling, i filled the bottles to the required level, then the port engine took 5 gal and the starboard took close to 6 gal. What was odd is that when I started filling the stb engine, i forgot to close the radiator tap at the bottom of engine, and clear water started to flow out. I let it run a bit until it begun to turn red, then I tightened. This may have been the reason for the difference in gals per engine. That said, I filled both very slowly and then squeezed the coolant hose as best I could. Can you tell me how much coolant these engines are to take, I read in the owners manual that the capacity is 7.7gals (this has not been my experience)

I left the pressure caps half open and proceeded to start both engines. The stb temps jumped up fast then settled while the port remained low for a while I revved up to 1000 rpm on both and the stb got up to 145deg quickly. Took up to 1200 rpm and port caught up with stb, but eventually went past and got up to 177deg while stb stayed at 145 deg (engines were on for about 6-8min.). I shut down and then tighted the pressure caps. The bottles had not reduced.

I then took for a sea trial. I wanted to see if boat was moving, things would have settled, also wanted to see what temps would go to on port engine since I had just cleaned its Heat Exchanger. Well at 2150 the stb ran at 176deg and the port climbed to 185deg. The port bottle required refilling. My question is whether the coolant filling was done incorrectly, or is it the aftercooler that has not been serviced?? I am stumped on this. I still plan to deal with the aftercoolers Though.

I need your help on this. If I have to drain coolant again I will.

best

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

Dear all,

Thank you for your comments, and Tony for your advice. I am taking heed.
I really am in a learning process here and need best advice.

After cleaning the HE core and oil/fuel coolers and partial clean of aftercooler (due to not being able to separate core), I took boat for about 10min sea trial a couple of weeks ago (remember that the Aftercooler was pressure tested and was air tight), the STB engine temp. ran consistently at 174-176 deg @2150rpm, while the port had increased from the previous time from 183 to 188deg. Since then I have not tried to start the STB engine, due mainly to my concern about the aftercooler and what Phil has said and Tony re the importance of proper maintenance and the damage that can be done. Re the port Engine, we removed the HE (which was clogged however not as bad as the STB was) and cleaned the core in some pool acid and and cleaned the surfaced, before installing new O’Rings and have fit back on engine. Have not Sea trialed yet.

After reading the forums on Seaboard and boatdiesel, I realize that the aftercooler due to its design with the aluminium housing is of great concern if not serviced properly. As Tony said in a forum, even when serviced properly the life is 15 years or 15,000 hrs. My situation is that my engines are 2006 (i am now in 12th year) and only gone 900 hrs. They were last serviced in 2015 the cummins way with the oil lube provided in their kit. My annual use will probably be 100hr/yr. My stb aftercooler is on boat, however core could not come out. would need to be pressed out by machine shop. If done, could have damage to the housing which could be cleaned and machined back to spec and refitted.

I have contacted a cummins trained mechanic out of Miami to come to Jamaica and spend 2-3 days with me. I am willing to purchase new aftercoolers and have them shipped in time for mechanic to install, or do you think I should work with what I got and if necessary take to machine shop to have them resurfaced and brought back to spec.

On another note, I have read where Tony said that mixing coolant in QSC engines will not be a problem. Did I read this correctly? I have gone and mixed Red Zerex ethylene Glycol heavy duty Extended Life with the 2.5 gal that was left in the engine housing, which was a green ethylene glycol (I do not know the brand). I plan to drain and replace with the Zerex red. Can you outline the procedure to do this and should I do any flushing with water before refilling.

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

These are the HE core after partial cleaning. Dont have pictures of end result, howver mechanic said all the sclae was removed.

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

Hi Phil,

The aftercooler was pressure tested before installation and was air tight. You say not to run engine.
Should I therefore take aftercooler off and get the core pressed out, cleaned and fitted back with alot of grease.

When you speak of the HE and cleaning the otherside, do you mean the other engine HE core.
For the HE core in question , it was removed and the entire core was cleaned.

I will attempt to send pictures again.

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

Dear All,

I had my mechanic remove Heat Exchanger, Aftercooler, and Oil/Fuel Cooler from my Starboard engine. I attach pictures of HE and Aftercooler.

The HE was very clogged, and the photo shown is after rodding took place. all the scale on the exterior was removed.

The aftercooler caps were removed, and the core we could not remove. Could have taken to machine shop, however my mechanic made the decision to rinse the fins and interior with diesel oil, and then soap water, placed new seal on the end and used the oil on the O’Rings that was in the aftercooler 3pc kit as show in attached photo. I had contacted the previous owners mechanic and asked his advise which was that this is a very expensive part, and that we should only use the oil provided in the cummins kit. So thats what we ended up doing.

Have now fitted all back on engine, started it and let it idle for 10min. Sounds fine. Plan to sea trial this weekend to see if the cleaning of HE has sorted out the high temp.

I have a few questions. I was reading seaboard forum yesterday, where someone took a similar decision to me and didn’t pull the aftercooler apart, and you recommended that they should remove it and pull apart and service as per Toni recommendation. What do you recommend?, and should I sea trial this weekend?

Also, when I started up yesterday, I noticed that the oil pressure was at 58. The port Engine also runs at 59. However up to this point the pressure was at 46 on the starboard engine. The previous owner said that that is how it always was, from the day he owned the boat. Could the servicing of the Oil cooler have anything to do with this? or do you have any suggested explanation?

Regards

Paul

[Paul Andrew Facey]

Thanks Phil/Tony for your replies.

Have not yet replaced impellers. I plan to do this next week, and if ok, then plan is to remove the aftercooler and heat exchanger from Stb engine and clean. I read were you recommend using Simple Green on aftercooler and I plan to use an acid based descaler for the heat exchanger.

Here are some photos.

All the best

Paul

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