bertram31.com

Has any one had any experience with Cummins 6bta 5.9m engines. thanks Russ

I forgot to add 330 hp.thanks Russ

Russ...

I have them in my B33.. as do several others in the B33 forum. In the diesel 33s who frequent the site there are probably more of them than Cats or Yanmars. There are also a couple of these engines rated at 370 HP. Those of us with the 315/330 HP version all seem to get nearly the same performance.. 23-25 knots at 2,600 RPM with 21-22" D and 22-24" P props, most with 1.5 : 1 gears. Our boats all weigh about 24,000-25,000 lbs. We all seem to get about 1 nm per gallon of fuel, total for both engines.

If you have any specific questions post them there and I am sure you will get lots of help. "Doug33" there has a lot of info on engines, etc for our boats... He might answer you here since he visits this site regularly.

Russ-
I have 2001(1900hrs) 330/315 HP 6BTA's in a 1969 36 Hatteras. I could not be happier with the engines. Boat weighs around 23,000 lbs. and cruises at 21kts loaded with 1.5:1/1.5" gear/shaft dia. and 20 x 20.5 x 5cup props. Rated RPM is 2800 and I usually cruise the engines between 2200-2400 RPM. Total fuel burn is any where from 17-20 gal/hr including the 5kw Northern Lights generator. The major issues I have researched and been told with the engines are the Aftercooler coils basically welding themselves to their housing due to a lack of lubrication from the factory. Many experts advised pulling these coils and lubricating straight from the factory. Also, they need to be added to your annual maintenance program. Also, the raw water pumps have issues which mine were replaced with some from sbarmarine and have given me no issues. Also, depending on the year of the engine the belt system had issues. One experts opinions are on his website sbarmarine.com and is a great place to research these engines. Tony is also very nice and helpful on the phone. Overall I have been very satisfied with these engines. They hold 13 qts of oil in the pan and are fairly easy to maintain and get parts yourself. The only major part I have had to replace has been the exhaust elbows. In my opinion like any marine diesel engine the raw water system is the major problem. I think freshwater with a stack sticking out the top would be the best minus the fire hazard and looks.

-ANDY

Russ-

I put the wrong website. It is sbmar.com

-Andy

Russ..

Andy is right.. the aftercooler core and housing stick together after a couple of years and it is somewhere between difficult to impossible to seperate them. The solution is to take them apart as soon as you can, even if they are new, and grease the mating surfaces well, then do this every two years or so.. I am about to tackle that issue this spring. And the raw water pumps are poorly designed.. PLUS.. (Andy note as well).. if you change a raw water pump there is an engine support bracket bolt that can't be removed until you support the port fwd corner of the engine and remove the damn bracket! I bought a rebuilt pump from Tony Athens (sbmar.com.. Seaboard marine??) who hosts the boatdiesel forum, and had one of mine rebuilt, so I will carry a replacement pump onboard. Someone told me they ground off part of the offending engine support bracket and solved that problem. If they were available when I bought my spare from Tony I would have bought two of his new pumps instead.

As far as I know there are no operational issues.. I never heard anyone complain about their performance.

russ what exact information are you trying to find?

Russ I'm also not sure what your looking for, but I would add that a 6BTA 330hp is about as good as it gets for diesel power in the 300hp range.

Ir,Andy,Bob,Scot,thanks for the information. I am looking at a B31 with this power and know very little about diesels and nothing about these engines. I was looking for any and all info I could get on them. My B31 has 454's and I can do a lot of the work myself. I wanted to know about the reliability of these engines and how much work I could do myself.Thanks Russ

If you can get the engine CPL number and build date it would help.

There is a lot less during the season work on them. Oil change at the end of the season, Racor and on the engine fuel filters at the beginning of the season. One zinc per heat exchanger and that's it. No plugs, points, timing adjustments, carburetor adjustments etc. Also, whether you're alone or with 6 people aboard with lots of equipment/ice/etc., your fuel consumption, speed at rpms will be the same. The boat will "feel" better and docking will become easier. No need for throttle while maneuvering in even the tightest of places. If your fishing needs real slow trolling, you'll have to do it on one engine or have trolling valves as the higher HP Cummins properly propped may move too fast for you at 800 rpm idle. I cut mine down to 650 and I do fine, but my engines are lower hp than yours. Hope this helps.

thanks for the input Walterk,it sounds like the engines have no inherent problems.JP I sent you a PM. thanks Russ

russ it actually comes down to ok with retraint (1988 to 1992) good (1993to 2004) and the best engine in the 300 to 370hp class from 2005 on that is the advent of the "storm block" . in mechanical form has all the refinements that cummins engineers built in to the qsb series at 2/3 the price. do not listen to hear say 2005 or newer has absolutely nothing what so ever to do with 1988 thru 1992 they may look similar but not one part # is the same other then fluid damper.

Russ-

My 2001 engines are Contol Parts List # (CPL) 1975.

-Andy

cpl 1975 gives you the most inportant aspects cylinder heads with 7mm injecters but most important rotators on exhaust valves,7100 bosch injection pump,new design serpintine belt and tensioner,redesign exhaust manifold.inproved heat exchanger and new design intercooler.the only upgrade is the block and pistons,camshaft.

Bob,where the cpl#, and mfg date be on the engine?Maybe I can get Integerty marine to look these numbers up ,thanks Russ

Russ,
Front left just below the x tank on the injection gear pump gear panel should be an ID plate with everything stamp on it.

DQ

Dq,Bob,and every one, the the cpl is 19750,thanks again for the help...Russ