shunter2005

lmao!!!

shunter2005

Hmmm.... That's interesting. Well, Sierra is checking on it. Either it is a large batch of poor castings or they just assume that the purchaser will drill it and make it work. For the price of that housing, it should fit without having to enlarge the mounting holes. Just my thought. How much did you have to take out and how did you ream it out?

Do you happen to remember what you googled to find that info?

SB

Yup, they get big bucks for it and yes that is the correct housing.

Welcome to the parts world where we have been reduced to having to grind and reshape even many brake pads (amongst many other things) to fit customers cars,

Lots of Sierra things come from China. Some of there parts seem to be okay.

shunter2005

I know it probably won't matter, but I am going to have some fun with them about it. You are exactly right about parts. Seems like nothing fits out of the box anymore. Always have to modify things to make them work.

shunter2005

I talked to Sierra yesterday and they haven't really been to warm to my complaint. They were going to check on other housings and call me back, but alas, I have not heard a word yet. I will call back Thursday and try to reach some sort of resolution with their thermostat housings.

So, in light of that, I have decided to try and make this new SS housing work. I am going to shave about .025-.040 off of the inside of each of the bolt slots and hope the bolts will line up and tighten down. I still think its BS that we pay that much for something and then have to modify it to work properly, but I digress....

Just a couple of other things right now. If after running the motor and then checking the hoses, does it stand to reason that if the oil cooler is clear of any debris, the hoses and other coolers back to the sea pump are clear? Have you found any debris in either the fuel cooler or power steering cooler?

Has anyone EVER had any flow problems with a Hardin Marine SS sea pump? I have just been wondering if there is any possibility that this new sea pump does not push enough water to cool the motor and the manifolds. I have read online about possible issues with the Hardin SS sea pump in the past. I did not have this issue with warm/hot manifolds when I was using the old OEM sea pump. So, I am thinking about going back to the old OEM sea pump.

Just to be on the safe side, I took the old OEM t-stat housing to be blasted and powdercoated. It is not in bad a shape, so I thought I would keep it around as a spare for an emergency.

NOTE: Sierra called me back today. Said they had measured every housing in their warehouse (Really???) and they measured from the width of mine down to the almost exact size of the OEM thermostat housing. Said I could trade it out for one of the smaller ones or shave it down to fit. Said if I cut it down they would still honor the warranty if it was ever needed. I didn't know how long it would take to get a new one exchanged, so I opted to cut it down. Took me a couple of hours to do it, but I believe it will fit now. Evidently their quality control is pretty poor, but I will say that they were surprised to hear that I was not the only one who had found this problem. They said they had never had a complaint on this housing.

ph1971

shunter2005

Well, that's good to know. I am going to open up all the hoses again and make sure there is no debris. Really hope the t-stat solves the problem. Thanks for the info.

shunter2005

Used my Harbor Freight Dremel clone with a tungsten carbide bit and opened up the housing mounting slots some. Approx. .040 on each of the inside mounting slots. Went up today and it mounted like a breeze this time. So, new tstat and housing are on and ready to test. Couldn't test it out today, as it was just freakin' hot here. This old guy just can't take that intense heat anymore. Worked inside the boat stall and it's probably 10* or more hotter in the stall than outside (100* w/HI =109*). Anyway, testing for leaks will be one morning this week and then run to see if she runs cool or not.

SB

Make sure you orientate the plastic tstat spacer and t-stat correctly...many don't.

shunter2005

Thanks, I did. It is a pain since it moves if you move it at all, but I got it done.