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- Cummins Marine Forum Topics
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Temperature creep
This topic has 12 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by
5 years ago
August 8, 2017 at 1:02 pm Engines are 1994 cummins 6cta 8.3’s rated 400 hp with denso pumps. Work completed in the last 1.5 years: Two new aftercoolers, Rebuild of seawater pumps, replace serpantine belts, new injector tips, Valve lash adjusted, two new turbo chargers, descaling of HX exchangers, addition of Fresh water flushing (used all the time since new coolers put on). This weekend while boating, when we put the boat on plane, 2150 rpm, 20 PSI boost, 19.5 …
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in: Cummins Marine Engines
12 RepliesJanuary 27, 2019 at 10:10 am We have our boat in contract, and thus doing sea trial and survey. As part of the Survey, we did a 1 minute WOT run, RPM’s on both engines stabilized at 2675, we were pretty well loaded up with people, fuel and water. Thought I’d give the community an update on this old thread. The mechanic who was aboard was very pleased with the RPM, he said most setup’s he see’s struggle to get past 2550. I attribute that to boat m…Last Post by:
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raw water coolant flow rate at idle??
This topic has 10 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by
5 years ago July 30, 2018 at 11:27 am This is a question which may cause me to modify my fresh water flushing approach. First, if anyone can check my calculation, that would be great. Per a spec sheet I have for a C series 400 engine, raw water flow is 63 gpm (assuming that number is at rated rpm. So, doing the math, I calculate a flow of 14.5 gpm 18.7 gpm at an idle of 750 rpm. A calculator I found online indicates that my city water connection via 5/8th’s 50 foot hose…
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10 RepliesNovember 22, 2018 at 8:06 am Rob, This is my first winter with this boat and Cummins engines. I’ll try flushing both ways next season and see what happens. Thanks!Last Post by:
posted: 5 years ago
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Coolant valves risk?????
This topic has 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by
6 years ago April 13, 2018 at 3:58 pm I was in my engine room and doing some cleaning and painting, general checking for leaks. Recently we had to take the starboard Turbo off for replacement of exhaust elbow, that described in a different thread. While looking around, I noticed that the valves which controlled coolant flow to my coolant filter were closed. That had been done I expect to lower the coolant (Not done by me, done by my mechanic). My question is; if I’d run th…
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1 ReplyApril 13, 2018 at 5:47 pm The two small coolant valves only allow a slow flow thru the Coolant filter.. Closed or open, will not affect anything to do with engine temps.. If it makes you feel better, they eliminated the filter all together on the QSC.. Personally, and from 25+ years of dealing the the 6CTA, I’d have no issue eliminating it as long as you check coolant makeup every few years/ 2000 hours ( which you should do anyway) .. With the mid-stop liners in…Last Post by:
posted: 6 years ago
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Coolant recovery bottles?
This topic has 4 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by
April 6, 2018 at 11:34 am I’ve noticed that I never have coolant in the recovery bottles. Could this be a sign that I need to new caps, that something isn’t operating correctly? The recovery bottles are mounted on a bulkhead at least 1.5 feet higher than the main coolant tank, and they are 4 feet away from the tank. Perhaps the hose is performing the function of the recovery bottle?
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4 RepliesApril 8, 2018 at 1:56 pm I’m a bit embarrassed, as I’ve already with my own hands pulled off and replaced aftercoolers and Turbo’s and exhaust elbows… Should I be adding coolant in the recovery bottle, or into the main tank on the engine??? Thanks The recovery bottles became very difficult to access when cockpit airconditioning was added to the boat (Previous owner), a duct runs directly above the recovery bottle which makes access a pickle even …Last Post by:
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CCV???
This topic has 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by
6 years ago April 5, 2018 at 5:03 am I’ve got 6cta cpl 1282 engines circa 1994, rated 400HP. I’ve sorted most of the issues/deferred maintenance out over the last several years, and am getting to the point of buffing up the last of it. The CCV system on the engine has some type of filter which appears to be non serviceable. On my boat, it connects to a hose which simply points straight down, and is showing no oil/puke coming from it or below it. That makes me think p…
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1 ReplyApril 5, 2018 at 6:26 am Hello James, Pics of YOUR engines and setups are always super important to understand exactly what you are dealing with. But to answer your question, yes there is an Envirovent setup for the 6CTA…simple and affordable. See these links below: https://www.sbmar.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/C-Series-Envirovent-Installation.pdf https://www.sbmar.com/product/envirovent-ccv-kit-6cta-8-3-qsl-9-series/Last Post by:
posted: 6 years ago
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Block heaters in Florida?
This topic has 9 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by
6 years ago March 29, 2018 at 9:33 am Is anybody using the block heaters in Florida, and are you finding a positive impact during the summer? My engines are 6cta 400’s with nippon denso pump. They fire on the first revolution, but do smoke a little bit. Given they are 27 years old, I intend to do anything I can to make their lives easier. thanks Jim
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9 RepliesMarch 30, 2018 at 2:48 pm Keep it safe and leave the Christmas crap in the attic….. should run 24/7 anyway, that’s how you get by with low wattage..Last Post by:
posted: 6 years ago
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Turbo's
This topic has 12 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by
March 5, 2018 at 4:19 pm Sorry, no pictures right now due to computer frustration and access issues on the boat. I’ve pulled the exhaust elbows off of my 6cta 8.3 400 nippon denso 1994 era engines. Inspection of the Turbo’s show zero signs of corrosion and zero tip erosions. There is a nice healthy coating of carbon, which is what I expected to see. My simple question is, should I use this as a chance to clear the carbon off and do a quick cleaning with B…
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12 RepliesMarch 10, 2018 at 3:43 pm Tony – I’ll cut an order with you folks with expedited shipping for the graphite gaskets. We are planning to put the new elbows on Wednesday or Thursday depending on shipping. My new mechanic, who is terrific, laid into me about the condition of those bolts, and I had to plead, I didn’t do it!. Due to your guidance on BD and this new forum, I’ve become a much more knowledgeable, owner and obsessive about engine room c…Last Post by:
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Easy question
This topic has 4 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by
December 7, 2017 at 2:52 pm I am about to change the oil on my 6cta engines. Typically I’ve had all the parts and oil on hand and have a mechanic I trust do the labor. A big yard bill for new bottom paint, cutlass bearings, engine alignment and prop tuning has really eaten up the budget, board of directors (my wife) is concerned. So, I’m going to change the fluids myself. Here comes the easy question. Should I pre-fill the filters with oil prior to start up…
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4 RepliesFebruary 21, 2018 at 5:58 am I did prefil the filters and was surprised by how much oil they held, close to 4 quarts, and how long it took to get fully saturated. Thanks for the tips!Last Post by:
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Installing New Elbows
This topic has 7 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by
February 16, 2018 at 2:41 pm We spotted some tiny weeping from one of the stock cummins elbows, and decided time to replace before big problems occur. We are going with a new design, but one that will fit pretty close to the existing foot print. The approach we are taking is a dry 90 elbow with insulating wrap, with a 4 inch long shower head at the end of the 90. That takes the injection point well below the turbo outlets, and ensures that gravity is always working on o…
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7 RepliesFebruary 18, 2018 at 3:30 pm Bill – I really appreciated and enjoyed your comments. My existing elbows completely drain, but a potential failure point in them is too close to the turbo’s for my comfort. What we are doing is taking the existing elbow geometry and constructing a dry section which is very similar. That is then extended another for inches for a shower head which is well below the turbo. The entire wet section is well below the turbo, so gravity i…Last Post by:
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Aftercoolers, good news, thanks Tony
This topic has 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by
6 years ago February 5, 2018 at 6:35 pm Over the last two days, I serviced my aftercoolers, which had been assembled 25 months ago via the SBMAR protocol. Cores separated from the housing with 1 tap of a mallet against a wood block on the core. Service was complete in about 3 hours including reassembly. 25 months ago, I tried to service the aftercoolers. Per receipts I received upon purchase, those coolers had been split and serviced 24 months prior. In that first instance, both …
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1 ReplyFebruary 6, 2018 at 4:38 pm james wrote: …..Point made, maintenance is cheaper than repair… Never a truer word spoken when it comes to this stuff. Thanks James!Last Post by:
posted: 6 years ago
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Grid matrix removal
This topic has 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by
6 years ago February 3, 2018 at 1:06 pm My engines are 6cta 8.3’s rated at 400 cpl 1282. I’ve got them torn down for service (After Coolers off, water pumps and gear coolers off). I now have a clear view of the intake manifold grid heaters, which are non operable, and I think they are just plain stupid. I’d like to take them and clear up some stuff. Any guidance on how to do this? I even heard from a mechanic, that he’s had to replace some alternators beca…
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1 ReplyFebruary 3, 2018 at 6:36 pm You leave the grid, but you remove all of the wiring and ECM plate.. Just start at the heater grid–Remove those 2 #4 lugs/wires and follow it.. Everything will come off in one large harness without cutting anything but some pull ties.. Very similar to the attache picture. Simple.. TonyLast Post by:
posted: 6 years ago
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Kudo's to SBMAR
This topic has 2 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by
6 years ago February 2, 2018 at 4:27 pm I’d like to share some great customer service items with the group. I have very old 6cta’s, the ones with the nippon denso pumps and the upside down sherwood pump. I’d done a rebuild on the sherwoods, 2 years ago for around 950 for both pumps, and they were failing again. Being frustrated with that, I decided to go the SeaMax route and bombarded Tony, Brad and Corey with questions. They answered every question quickly and a…
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2 RepliesFebruary 3, 2018 at 9:56 am Tony Itās your contribution and the contribution of your team at Seaboard that have laid the foundation of knowledge and continue to do so. I firmly believe that all of us here have the opportunity if not the obligation to build upon that by sharing our experiences, helping others as we go. All the while the ultimate goal is for everyone to operate their equipment as efficiently and as reliably as possible. There is no pressure to spend money, a…Last Post by:
posted: 6 years ago
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Silly question
This topic has 2 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by
6 years ago June 15, 2017 at 2:17 pm A friend of mine at the dock, prior to shutting down his Yanmar, gives it a very quick rev out of gear, then immediately shuts it down. He tells me the Yanmar manual says to do so to help clear water from the exhaust. Does this seems like a good practice??
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2 RepliesJune 16, 2017 at 4:19 am My thinking ????? If you “rev” the engine..the engine will just pump MORE raw water thru the exhaust…and a properly designed exhaust should drain naturally by gravityLast Post by:
posted: 6 years ago
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How long is it safe to let an engine sit??
This topic has 4 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by
6 years ago March 19, 2017 at 3:18 pm A friend of mine has 5.9 B mechanicals in his boat. Ā 13 months ago, he had a port side turbo rebuilt. Ā This weekend, he took the boat out, and the port side turbo would not spin up, was frozen. Ā I suggested to him that he has an exhaust design issue, but he was confident his exhaust is sound. Ā He blamed the issue on not using the boat much more frequently than once per month. Having just replaced two turbo’s on my 8,3 C Mechanicals, his is…
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4 RepliesMay 13, 2017 at 10:32 am My opinion on the genset is yes, it is a good idea as long as you put a good load on it (run A/C, water heater, etc.) so she comes up to thermostat opening temperature. Ā Let her run awhile (20-30 min) at normal operating temperature, then take the load off and let her cool down a bit before shutdown.Last Post by:
posted: 6 years ago
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6cta 8,3 Idle drooping
This topic has 4 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by
March 4, 2017 at 7:17 am I’ve got 8,3’s rated at 400 hp with the Nippon Denso pumps. Ā Engines are in good running order, but I’ve got a small frustration. Ā On my port engine the idle drops from 750 to around 500 when I put it in gear. Ā This worries me that I might get a stall at exactly the wrong moment while docking. Any help on how to correct this would be appreciated.
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4 RepliesMarch 6, 2017 at 5:37 am Thanks Tony, I’ll give this a try during the week. Ā Will be sure to get the engine reasonably warm prior to the attempt.Last Post by:
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Need to check something I heard
This topic has 2 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by
January 8, 2017 at 12:41 pm My boat neighbor’s boat was getting service done on the power plants. He has QSB 5.9’s on Zues drives, I think they are putting out 480 HP. While chatting with the mechanic, I mentioned that I had 6cta 8.3’s and that I take the Aftercoolers off every 2 years to disassemble, clean, lube and reassemble. The mechanic said that with they waited for engine temps to rise, then would take care of the process above. That seemed ve…
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2 RepliesJanuary 10, 2017 at 11:54 am Rob – You are correct, I believe in fixing things before they are broke and taking action at the first sign of trouble. I’ve got the aftercooler on and off thing down to about 30 minutes a side, that effort will end up saving me a fortune over time. Also, when detected black smoke at cruise speed (Faint, but noticible), we stopped running the boat on plane and spent a few months debugging. Turned out we had turbo’s which were…Last Post by:
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engine temperature guage
This topic has 2 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by
December 30, 2016 at 9:16 am Somehow during the installation of remote oil kite, the engine temperature gauge on Port side became non functional. Ā Has to be a wire bumped loose during the crawling around. Ā Can someone point me to the location of the temperature sending unit and save me some time hunting around. thanks
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2 RepliesDecember 30, 2016 at 2:55 pm Hey Rob – Yep, it was right where you said it would be, I could see the one wire hanging loose. Ā Of course, I couldn’t fit my hand in to reattach it with out some component removal. Ā At times I think the guys who design the service points on these engines need to spend a good year in the field. My favorite is the bolts holding the stock exhaust elbow to the turbo. Ā The configuration is such that you can’t get a socket on it, an…Last Post by:
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Oil sample results, worried.
This topic has 10 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by
7 years ago December 21, 2016 at 3:48 pm I got a verbal update from my mechanic today, oil samples on both engines showed elevation in Chromium and Aluminum, which has me worried. Ā The engines are running flawlessly with no smoke at any RPM and good load carrying, producing correct boost etc. Ā I will get specific numbers on the readings when the report is delivered to me. Last year, I pulled apart and replaced badly worn after coolers. Ā Even though I’d hit the two year mark to th…
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10 RepliesDecember 30, 2016 at 9:41 am If this is worth anything….when I bought my boat the oil sample failed in a few areas. A mechanic noticed the previous owners used the boat for 10 hours per year (really didn’t use it at all) and he said change the oil/filters etc and run the boat for 5 hours and retest. Ā They did and it passed. I could be wrong here but the theory was something like this. The boat sat, salt water air put a little deposit or rust on the walls, then w…Last Post by:
posted: 7 years ago
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Oil capacity
This topic has 1 reply, has 1 voices, and was last updated by
December 6, 2016 at 1:29 pm Hi – We just pumped the oil out of our 6cta 8.3’s cpl 1282. Ā The spec sheet says 18 quarts pan capacity, 23.2 quarts total system capacity. Ā We got ~ 4 gallons per engine, which seems low. Ā The dip stick was complete clear after we pumped the oil out, and the we have an oil changer system which pulls from the drain plug on the pan. Any ideas why my volume appears lower than the spec sheet? Ā Level was just below the top of the dipstic…
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1 ReplyDecember 6, 2016 at 3:37 pm Tony has a very nice writeup on oil pan capacities that I hadn’t spotted before. Ā That cleared it all up for me. Ā Best Ā JimLast Post by:
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Question on Starting, and some observations
This topic has 3 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by
7 years ago November 27, 2016 at 10:11 am Hello – We took our boat to the fuel dock today, and had an interesting experience during start up. Ā The boat had not been run in about a month. Ā The PortĀ engine had to spin for about 15 seconds before it would fire. Ā That is a first for this boat. Ā StarboardĀ fired right up. Ā Engines are 6cta 400 hp with nippon denso pumps. Ā The only thing different is that I had been using the lift pump priming handle on Port just to get a feel for it inc…
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3 RepliesNovember 28, 2016 at 5:49 am If the return line has a dip tube then it remains submerged in the fuel tank. Ā If the return line is submerged air cannot enter the system via a fuel drain back due to a weep in a check valve in the fuel system.Last Post by:
posted: 7 years ago
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Temperature creep
