I've been hoping for boatdiesel.com to come back, but looks like it's gone for good. New-ish owner, twin 3208 TA 375's, with a few questions... Are the aftercoolers salt or coolant cooled? I assumed salt so never looked closely, but somebody told me they might be coolant cooled on the 375. I'm out of town for a bit, otherwise I'd just go look. First 50 hours observed essentially no oil burn. Just had the oil changed, they switched from CAT to Total Rubia. My daughter (much shorter than me) checks the oil and she thinks it dropped a good bit over a few hours of run time. I mostly cruise around our bay at 1000-1200 rpm, with an occasional 2000+ run for several minutes to keep the engines cleared out. What might cause a sudden increase in consumption? I assume that's not due to using a different oil? No leaks apparent. We normally check the oil cold before start. Does it matter much if it's hot or cold? I'm aware of the dipstick calibration issues but assume ours are good since it didn't seem to blow any off during the first 50 hours. Assuming a lot of slow bay cruising with an occasional Catalina trip, how hard, how long, and how often should I exert the motors to keep them cleaned out? TIA
IMO checking cold is preferred. Level rite at the full mark. At least let them sit a while before checking. Let the oil dip sit a few seconds before pulling back out also. BoatDiesel is gone. I recall they were sea-water cooled air coolers. Coolant cooled was an option on some of the later ones.
It is crazy how the older air coolers last (and keep lasting) so long and the current air coolers are junk and require replacement on a schedule. As far as I know, My Detroit's still have their original (47 year old) S W intercoolers, two per engine.
