fresh water flush

[tomcat rio]

..this works okay for me...i got a lid for my sea water strainer (at a local parts shop) with a hose connector and valve.
i don't think its a good idea to connect high pressure fresh water directly to the cooling system. that's waht's the bucket's for.

" ya turns the sea water off and ya turns the fresh water on."

it also has a 'saltaway' dispenser in the line...
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what could it hurt?
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http://static.flickr.com/86/247544766_dcf5e70077_b.jpg

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also, note the oil filter connector. i'm gonna attach an oil temp sender there.i will probably just stick the guage down there too.
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the zf63 transmission also has a port for an oil temp sender. gonna do that also

[tomcat rio]

...suds from the tail pipe. that's how you know when to shut down the engine.
no problem for the granola crunching whale huggers. its 'bio-digestable'.

http://static.flickr.com/80/247558486_239de3cfcb_b.jpg

[Mariner]

Under what situations do you feel it necessary to flush the engine? Does your engine have a heat exchanger or does it cool with raw water?

[tomcat rio]

the heat exchanger and the after cooler get flushed...nt

[tomcat rio]

...the after cooler is fwc. so all i flush is the heat exchanger.

[Mariner]

The heat exchanger should be protected by a zinc, so corrosion shouldn't be a problem. It should also always be filled with water, so salt buildup should also not be a problem. Marine inboard diesels, unlike common outboards or I/O's, are designed for saltwater service and should not require regular flushing.

Still, if it gives you peace of mind, more power to you.

[TonyAmalfitano]

When we removed my busted tranny, and trans heat exchanger, we found the exchanger half plugged with "stuff." Which leads me to think flushing the engine's heat exchanger ain't such a bad idea. However, I've been told to back flush it, Flow the flush in reverse of the normal water flow.
P.S. I did get a brandy new heat exchanger for the new trans.

[Veebyes2]

I dry store my boat in the winter. We never get even close to freezing so the boat is not winterized in the normal sense of the word. I do, however try to make a habit of running the engine every couple of weeks. This moves the water & slops the oil around inside which maybe makes me feel better than the good it does for the engine.

I made an adapter to go from the thruhull hose to the garden hose. Anything over 1200rpm & the engine tends to suck the hose flat.

I suppose I could remove the raw water impeller, don't even bother with the raw water, & make sure I shut the engine down before it overheats. At just above idle the Cummins needs at least 10 min to get up to normal operating temp.

[SpaceCoaster]

When I surveyed our 28TE my engine temperature gauges showed an overly high temperature at WOT. I had a marine surveyor and and engine surveyor on board. They both concurred that the likely cause was that the heat exchanger needed to be "boiled out". He went on to explain that when the boat is driven hard in salt water and turned off without giving it a chance to "cool down" at low RPM the remaining salt water in the heat exchanger could continue to boil (and evaporate). The remaining salt, and I imagine other critters/crud found in seawater, could potentially cause clogging in the exchanger if dried out in this fashion. The surveyors also recommended that I install a fresh water flushing system as you gents are describing in this thread.

This kinda made sense to me, but I've owned the boat for almost two years and boiling out the heat exchanger and installing the flushing system remains on my 'to do' list. Since then I've not experienced any overheating at high RPMs. I can only attribute it to the fact that whenever I take the boat out, I have approx 45 mins of manatee (idle) zone that allows the engine to cool down properly. So, if there was something clogging the exchanger maybe the crud became dislodged and washed out (?). In any case, it doesn't seem to be causing any problems.

BTW... I was told that any automotive radiator shop can perform the 'boil-out' of a heat exchanger at a reasonable price. I guess that means reasonable as compared to having a marine mechanic do the job.

Jorge

[JackK]

I had my heat exchanger "rodded" out this spring. When they first told me the name i thought they said "rotted" out ... heck no I don't want that.

The process involves applying some form of acid and then using gun cleaning rods to clear any debris.

I did it just as preventative maintenance but was told 5 yr intervals is a good idea. Mine is only 4 yrs old.

Jack

[chiefrcd]

Yep, I was having backpressure issues, not overheating issues. Had the heat exchanger acid cleaned and repainted by the boatyard staff. Installed two new hoses...all to the tune of $1400.00