Cummins 6bta muffler ?

[Spike Hunter]

Hey guys,

I need some help please. My port side muffler is leaking water at the connection between the 5 inch exhust and the muffler connection. It has two hose clamps that I have exchanged. The leak is a slow drip. I need to fix this issue asap. I think I will need to pull up the deck to get good access to remove the muffler.

Has anone had a similar issue? Any helpful hints would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Peter

[CaptPatrick]

Peter,

If you find that there is a crack in the neck of the muffler, it probably came from too much tension on the hose clamps and/or excessive vibration. Centek makes stainless steel crush collars that fit into the neck to keep this from happening. If the crack is not major, extending onto the muffler past outside of the hose, the crush collar can be installed with a layer of high temperature silicon adhesive to also help plug the leak.

Br,

Patrick

[Spike Hunter]

Thanks!

I will remove the deck and get a better look at the muffler. I noticed some spoting on the black muffler. The survey said that it may have some corrotion inside and that these white spots are a sign of that. Any ideas on that?

I appreciate your help!
Peter

[CaptPatrick]

Peter,

There really is nothing to corrode in a fiberglass muffler, unless it has crush collars already in place and they are really old. Doubtful...

Salt water, when evaporated leaves a white mineral deposit, mostly salt crystals, but also calcium deposits from micro organisims. You'll know more once you have the system apart and inspected.

Hope you're doing this with the boat out of the water. If not, you need really good water tight plugs locked into the exhaust ports before anything comes apart...

Br,

Patrick

[Spike Hunter]

Yes, we are planning to do this project in the water. We will be plugging the exhaust intake ports. Do you think that it is critical to take the boat out of the water? We are planning to be very careful with ther plugs.

Thanks again for your help!
Peter

[CaptPatrick]

Peter,

You don't need to haul the boat, but make very sure that your plug is well secured. After pulling the muffler, it's a good idea to also plug the inside as a redundancy. A five inch exhaust port will ship a tremendous amount of water real fast.

I've seen three boats sink at dockside. One from a dockside water hose, under pressure, breaking it's connection overnight. The other two sank overnight due to exhaust plugs with an open exhaust system. One using a wooden plug that apparently got washed out by boat wakes or bumping the dock, the other from an inflatable plug that leaked air & probably floated out once the pressure was relieved.

All three happened overnight on unattended boats...

Br,

Patrick

[Rawleigh]

Spike: Most plumbing shops have screw in rubber test plugs in all of the standard pipe sizes. Use a flanged one from the outside so that it cannot fall out. The water pressure will help hold it in the port. Make sure that it is a good fit. if you can get the rear portion of the rubber exhaust up through a deck hatch that will provide added protection. as Pat said, don't use the inflatable plugs.