Cummins 480 CE’s

mmcguire2002

Active Member
Mar 3, 2008
597
San Pedro, CA
Boat Info
Previous boat - 2003.5 Sea Ray 340 DA
Current boat - 2003 Mikelson 50
Engines
Cummins 480 CE
I’ve been a member here for a long time. I owned a 2003.5 Sundancer 340 and loved that boat. In December of 2001 I sold it and recently purchased a 2003 Mikelson 50. It is powered by Cummins 480 CE’s. Surveys and compression tests all came out well, but I’m learning diesels for the first time. This forum is hands down levels above any other boating forum, so I’m back here because I missed it and the knowledge base is so high. First question for anyone who has these engines, if I swap out the filters in the racors on a trip, do the engines need to be bled and if so, can anyone outline the process for me? I don’t see the pumps to do so. Thank you in advance as I try to learn these new power plants and happy boating!
 
I’ve been a member here for a long time. I owned a 2003.5 Sundancer 340 and loved that boat. In December of 2001 I sold it and recently purchased a 2003 Mikelson 50. It is powered by Cummins 480 CE’s. Surveys and compression tests all came out well, but I’m learning diesels for the first time. This forum is hands down levels above any other boating forum, so I’m back here because I missed it and the knowledge base is so high. First question for anyone who has these engines, if I swap out the filters in the racors on a trip, do the engines need to be bled and if so, can anyone outline the process for me? I don’t see the pumps to do so. Thank you in advance as I try to learn these new power plants and happy boating!
If you fill the Racor's to the top with fuel after the element change you should be good to go - no engine priming required. Shut the fuel supply to the Racor off before opening up the housing. This will prevent fuel overflow if the tank fuel level is above the filter or possible fuel siphon back to the tank if lower than the filter. If you have the dual Racor style then it's simply swap the filter valve over to shut off the side you want to change.
Someone else will have to outline the engine priming procedure - my QSM11's have no capability to be primed so it's always prefill the filters.
 
In a pinch you can puff a little starting fluid at the air breather to get it primed. It is not really a good idea to do this all the time. It will usually excite the engine enough to prime everything. That would be a technique if you happen to be on a trip and were having trouble getting it to start.
 
What Tom said. Depending on engine room layout, you may have to carry a small can of fuel to top off the racor filters if your filters will not gravity fill. The secondary engine filters need to be prefilled and there is a priming plunger on the lift pump that will help finish the prime. No need to prime when just changing the racors, no need to bleed when changing the secondaries unless the filter wasn’t changed and prefilled correctly. You will need the spare fuel to fill the secondaries.
I disagree on the comment above about the starting fluid. An engine in good health will not need any help getting started when the filters are changed correctly. These engines have an air heater grid in the air intake manifold that glows red hot when called upon. You don’t want to introduce an explosive into the intake.

Location of primer
0C2EFEC9-87FC-4A9E-8F9A-C1112DA0BA77.jpeg
 
Great replies. Thank you so much. I am down on the boat this weekend and will inspect the engine for the primer as indicated.
 

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