[Paul Berkshire]

Each engine has two oil senders.  One is variable and gives you the pressure reading.  The alarm sender is binary (on/off).   The alarm goes off when the sender circuit goes to ground.  So its possible to have adequate oil pressure and still get a low pressure alarm if the alarm sender is bad or there is a path to ground somewhere else in the circuit. 

1 user thanked author for this post.

jjhjourney

[Paul Berkshire]

I see many posts referencing 600 rpm as the correct idle speed for a 6bta.  My data plate says “low idle rpm = 800”.  Which is correct?

[Paul Berkshire]

I’m confused but not the first time. You say drain pan and add 12 quarts and mark dipstick . The oil pan capacity chart says the low pan capacity for a 6bta is 13 quarts

[Paul Berkshire]

Following up on Rob’s comment, the strain in the bolt creates the clamping force across the joint. But every force has to have an equal and opposite resisting force and that comes from shear across the threads. So as Tony eluded to, the bolt needs to be long enough to spread out the load. All else being equal you might need 2-4 times the engaged thread length tapping into aluminum vs. steel to get the same clamping force without stripping out the hole.

[Paul Berkshire]

Hi Robert,
You’ve got the right idea but I again caution you about the current draw. I did find in my Cummins manual that that the air heater draws almost 200 amps in a 12V system so your fuse capacity could be too low. I don’t know the amperage capacity of that relay but it could be less than 200 amps if its a stock replacement. The original application used a relay for each element in the air heater but that could also be because the heater elements were cycled during operation. I think you would also want to verify that the relay is rated for continuous duty as the originals only ran for 5-20 seconds at a time. A high-current, continuous duty starter relay is pretty easy to come by if needed. I also added a red light on the dash to let me know when the heaters were on so I would know if the timer switch got stuck in the on position.
Paul

[Paul Berkshire]

I rewired mine as well pretty much like what Tony recommends with one exception. The picture shows both heater elements being run off one 100 amp fuse and relay. I haven’t been able to find a direct reference but I think each heater element might draw around 80-90 amps based upon info I’ve found about truck applications. So I’m only running one element now until I have a chance to do some rewiring. I’d have to pull the engine to install a pan heater so I haven’t but I’ve had pretty good luck with a magnetic one stuck to block

[Paul Berkshire]

Thanks. My problem is that the previous owner trashed the ECM so I don’t have the option of just interrupting the power supply to it. I either have to acquire a new ECM and the associated wiring or go with a completely manual system if I want an air heater

[Paul Berkshire]

Thanks Tony,
Is there any merit behind the “theory” the air heater is bad for your alternator when running? From what I’ve gathered the ECM cycled the air heater every few seconds versus a constant draw from a straight on/off switch

[Paul Berkshire]

It almost looks like you could cut off the flange and weld it on the other end and then 180 the piece

[Paul Berkshire]

That setup doesn’t look healthy. Luckily it looks like you have some room to go up and make a proper elbow and diffuser connection so when the diffuser fails water runs out and not in

[Author]

Replies