bertram31.com

John.....Mine are stainless from the factory. That doesnt mean they wont go bad but will last a long time. I suggest removing the ex. hose and look up the pipe at the little water relief holes for any thin areas. You can poke around with an awl also. Regards Troy

I understand that Cummins used elbows made of Stainless Steel as well as Cupronickel.

The Cupronickel elbows have a longer life expectancy.

You can't tell much about the elbow condition from the outside. All of the damage and corrosion happens on the elbow that actually carries the exhaust.

Here is a pic of a Stainless Steel elbow off of a 6BTA........I believe the elbow to be about 13 years old.......and I believe that it had been leaking for 4 or 2 years before this pic was taken...............and by the way this failure destroyed the back cylinder and certainly did not do the rest of them any good.

When the elbow fails you will get water intrusion back into the engine.

If you are in a position to remove it, I say do so.........then clean all of the carbon off the inside tube so that you can get a real look.

Like Drifter said...........poke around.......try to poke a hole in it....make a serious effort to poke a hole in the corroded areas.

It seems to me that Cummins wants about $1300.00 for the elbow

Harry

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I have the cupronickel elbows on my 6BTAs. 20 years and 2500 hours, good as new. I do cheat by keeping the boat in fresh water most of the time.

UV

Ive got a couple 6" ss? Elbows for sale ..
Came on my remans..
Wayne
949 642 0687

How can you tell if they are cupronickel or stainless ? Also are there any symptoms that they are leaking? Thanks in advance Russ

Use a piece of sandpaper to remove a small area of paint from the outside of the elbow. The exposed metal will be Silver color if the elbow is Stainless steel and the area will be a light Copper color if the elbow is Cupronickel.

To my knowledge there are no real evident symptoms if the elbow is leaking........at least on a diesel engine I don't know of any symptoms

Harry

The cupronickel ones have a slight copper tone to them vs. the very shiny stainless. The first clue of a bad elbow is overheating that you can't fix at the usual suspects, like water pumps, thermostats, etc. A complete failure like Harry shows would result in water in the oil or hydrolocking the engine.

UV

Thanks guys. I've got the ss ones. At 1300 apiece i hope they last a long time. Russ

John,

I finally had to replace mine last year at 4600 hrs and 14 years. They were not all the way through, but when I lightly glass beaded them the one went. Spent many days pricing around to find the same prices you have but then got a killer deal from Tony @ Seaboard Marine (see boatdiesel.com). Everyone else was 1200 per elbow and up just for the elbow, his price was $2000.00 for the pair inluding bolts, gaskets and shipping from the weird (west) coast. I needed 3.5 inch which were a little hard to find but Tony's the man! I have seen these on ebay every now and then, mostly new and super cheap, but most are 5" and up.

Dan
www.finchasersportfishing.com

i sold a pair of 6" cummins to someone one this board for a 600.00 donation the capt patrick.he never wrote back to tell me how he made out.they were real clean about 1000 hours.

Tony Athens is one of those rare fellows that make owning a boat a lot more pleasant. I've bought a good bit of stuff from him, such as his aftermarket Sherwood pump parts, and he always has exactly the right stuff. Plus his wife is a Coonass from down the bayou and I send them some Coonass care packages now and then. Some of us met him at the FLL boat show a few years ago and he's as nice in person as on line.

My next project is to order up a complete set of hoses for my 6BTA 250s and change out all of them on both motors and use upgraded clamps. I've got a few odd ball silicone elbows like a 1-1/2 to 1-1/4. I'm just going to go over an engine and pull all the hoses one at a time, measure carefully, and spec out my own set. Any better ideas?

UV

UV,

I got many of the small elbow hoses at Car Quest. You have to trim them down but they fit perfectly afterward. Tony sells that high end "blue stuff" at good prices as well. I was able to match about 3/4 of all the hoses at the auto store and I think my total bill was something like $25.00 per side. Heck, that wouldn't even get you one of the "blue ones". Did the same thing the last change and at 2300 hrs they looked great but I relaced they anyway, perhaps wasted money??

Dan
www.finchasersportfishing.com

That's pretty much what I have now for spares, some auto parts stuff ready to cut plus some blue hose in various sizes. I like the blue hose and the cost pales in comparison to the misery of changing a speewing hose on a hot engine in rough seas......

UV

Hey Bob,

You sold em to me.
Didn't work out so good.

UV,

Have you upgraded your fresh water fitting to 1" sizes on your heads & turbo yet before you start with new hoses? Some of the 250's have either 1/2" or 3/4" fitting that needed to be upgraded.

DQ

Doug - if you are talking about the banjo fitting hose that connects from the head to the turbo, no, mine is stock 3/4". I've pulled both of them and they looked fine, so on "the enemy of good is better" theory I left them alone.

You still chasin' tuna fish out of Venice? Lump season ought to be getting underway, if it happens at all this year.

UV

not you jp i gave another pair to someone down south for a donation to capt patrick i keep no records of that sort of sale i don`t even remember 1st or last name .-----senior moment i have had at least 3 pair i don`t use this set up i go up and over with 41/2" id. 316 ss hot pipe wraped and then on the downside i put the sprinkler head.number one if it wears water can`t slug the engine and more performance (less back pressure h.g.)

UV,

Roger that, Tony wanted me to upgrade both of those fitting to 1" and also on the front right head fitting that goes to elbow fitting on the front right just below the alternater.

Went over to Venice last Thursday evening and fished Friday for Wahoo but no luck, got a little bumpy Friday afternoon and also damn full moon and the tides didn't play into our favor.

DQ