Cummins 6cta83m 450 oil change

[Matt]

Okay it's time to do my first oil change on these engines. I have not done it before and have no operators manual for information.
I poked around the net and have come up will little to help me.
I did find a spec that the pans take 4 gallons of oil and that I should use 15w40 rotella t or equal.
I also fine three filter on each engine two look like lube oil filters and one secondary fuel filter.

I assume that I fill the lube oil filters up with new oil when replacing them.

But before I do this are my stats correct? I don't want to make a mistake here.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[1000islander]

Matt,

I just changed the oil in my 420. I have 480ce engines, I put approx. 23 quarts of oil in each engine, this includes oil filters. I used Fleetguard filters @ $34 each and Valvoline Preium Blue oil @ $66 for 5 gal pails. It went real smooth with on board oil changer.

 

[whiskywizard]

The 6CTA's have 3 filters, but only one is lube oil. One is secondary fuel and the other is coolant. The oil filter is the Fleetguard 9009.

 

[Trinity]

it is not too hard
one oil filter
one antifreeze water filter
one fuel filter
all on the engine
plus your racor filters
plus your pencil zincs in each engine
takes more than 4 gallons per engine more like 6
find your closest cummins dealer and call the service desk

 

[Skip]

I use Shell Rotella T 15-40 in my 03 6CTA 8.3M3 450 Cummins Engines. It is ~$9 a gallon at Wal Mart. I prefer the gallon jugs, for ease of transport only.

To change the engine oil, I will run the boat for 20 minutes or so until the engines are up to operating temperature. Once back in the slip, I position two five gallon gas cans in the ER-cans are labeled "waste oil". using the reverso pump I pump all the old oil into the cans, then add about a quart of clean oil and pump until clean oil comes out of the reverso drain hose. I then remove the old oil filter. I add about a gallon of new oil to the new filter, and reinstall the oil filter. I then reverse the flow on the reverso pump and add back fresh oil until the dip stick is in the middle of the safe range. You can top the engine off so that the dipstick shows oil at the top of the safe range, but what I learned in the first two years of ownership is that the engine will quickly burn off two quarts of oil (in about 40 hours) if the crankcase is filled to the top of the dipstick. This year, filling only to the middle of the safe range, I have run 100 hours without having to add any oil. Of course you will want to coat the gasket on the new filter with clean oil before installing it. I like to have a plastic kitchen garbage can, with two heavy duty plastic bag liners, under the oil filter as I remove it to catch any drips, and to drop the used filter into during the job. I also keep a spare reverso impeller on board, in case the reverso pump craps out in the middle of the task. (hat tip to Gary).

Tranmissions: (applies to ZF 280 Series IVs only) If your boat does not have the trannies as part of the reverso pump system, you will need a 12V pump and tank. I use a Jabsco flat tank model witha 12V pump. Once you have pumped the old transmission oil out of the tranny, use a 22M socket to remove the oil filter cap and copper crush washer. You will want to position a catch pan under the filter cap to catch any drips. Remove the filter. it is a small metallic mesh sleeve about 1.5" long. Wash the filter out in mineral spirits. Use a magnet to check for ferrous material in the mineral spirits-excess ferrous material (from bearing surfaces, etc) is not a good thing in your transmission oil. As an example, at 407 hours last year, (and 165 hours since oil changes) my trannies had zero ferrous material in the filters. Dry and reinstall the filter and filter cap; use new copper crush washers to prevent leaks. Add 4 quarts of oil (I use Rotella 30W).

Mains and transmission oil change is about a two hour job. As a final step, I take a red sharpie marker and annotate the oil change date on the filters, as an easy reference for annual service dates.

I also sample the oil annually to monitor overall engine health....and I owe painless oil changes to what I have learned from fwebster and four suns.


regards
Skip

 

[Four Suns]

Skip,

If you keep adding 2 quarts of oil and let it burn off every time you go out, you'll never have to change the oil... You miss that post?

 

[Four Suns]

One more note... a serious one...

You only have to change the water filter depending on what a test of the coolant tells you. Changing the coolant filter with what was on the engine before is NOT the right thing to do. There are different filters that put different Supplemental Coolant Additive (SCA) levels into the coolant and the filters are available from "none" to "a whole bunch". The only way you know which to put on is based on a simple test with some Fleetguard test strips. The coolant filter put on when the engine was new was based on brand new coolant in the engine. Your engine ain't new anymore....

The supplier I use is at the bottom of my blog site.... They carry all the Fleetguard products you need as well as the test strips.

 

[Skip]

I thought that if I added two quarts of oil AND flushed the heads I was good to go. Am I missing something?

 

[ImpulseIII]

You also neeed to run the microwave to make it all work...Common Skip, you know that!