Anyone here with 3208 cat turbo 375hp diesels?

Max Simmons said:

My Perkins 6.534 do not have air cleaners, nor appear to have ever had them. Should I be worried?

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I just took the injectors & turbo of a friends 6.354 to a shop that I've used in the past and that I trust to do quality work. The air end of the turbo has no filter just a plate with holes drilled in it, while working on the boat I told him that if it was mine I would do something to filter the air because what he had would only stop objects larger than marbles. The guy who rebuilt it asked if the filters were in good shape & clean because of the crud on the intake side. When I told him there were not filters just the plate with holes that'll keep it from sucking up the pet cat he suggested filters would be a good idea. Pieces the size that can pass thru the holes will destroy a engine right away, the stuff you can't see just takes longer. Anyone who thinks the marine environment is clean enough that you don't need air filters stop washing your boat for a season & then tell me how pristine your boat is.

"high HP diesels are vacuum cleaners"
"keep it from sucking up the pet cat"

Thanks for the laugh guys.
A vacuum is a pretty good analogy. when I read it I had an instant mental picture of the wife firing up one of the 375hp monsters, hooking a hose to the intake and merrily going about vacuuming the boat. Blonde you know...... thankfully she doesn't read these forums.

Lots of marine diesels did NOT have air filters although they were the N/A. Mine was one of them, just a silencer box with a very coarse screen.
The old theory was that there is nowhere near the volume of dust and dirt in a boat that there was on the road.

However, I put one on and am glad I did. it's amazing just how much dirt of all types they catch. Agreed that unless something is seriously wrong that boats do not have to contend with road dirt but there are plenty of dirt sources aboard. Pest hair, people hair, sand tracked aboard, carpet fibres, other boat generated dust and so on.

Put a filter on.

Turbo anything needs a filter or you are asking for turbo damage. The turbo filters have some kind of a screen or wire support inside or the suction will flatten them. Some of them are not great but better than nothing.

The naturals were the ones that usually did not come with a filter but still had protection form larger pieces, just not the finer dirt.

Even with engines the same age though the turbo models had an air filter.
The turbo filter IS the air intake filter. On a turbo engine that is it.

Sea-Duction, this is one of the aftermarket filters I found, it is a drop in replacement for the Cat foam. Pricey but obviously a superior product.
Walker Engineering - What's New

There is another cone type I found that clamped right on to the end of the turbo, I liked it because you got to throw away the entire heavy filter housing assy which is always in the way when servicing. When I find the link for it again Ill post it but as I recall it was stupid expensive.

Capt Kangeroo said:

Sea-Duction, this is one of the aftermarket filters I found, it is a drop in replacement for the Cat foam. Pricey but obviously a superior product.
Walker Engineering - What's New

There is another cone type I found that clamped right on to the end of the turbo, I liked it because you got to throw away the entire heavy filter housing assy which is always in the way when servicing. When I find the link for it again Ill post it but as I recall it was stupid expensive.

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Thanks.