PhillM
Well-known member
Easy job. Buy a service kit from Beta.
With my previous boat, I never dismantled the heat exchanger stack for cleaning during the 20 years that I ran the Beta 10:engine, however at the end of, every season I ran the engine for about 15 minutes with fresh water through the raw water sytem, finishing with a 25% antifreeze solution.
This flushing regime seemed to keep the stack clean, never had any overheating problems even after one long continuous 36 hour under engine run.
My new boat has a Beta 14 which had run for about 900 hours before I bought it, I have adopted the same flushing routine and as with my previous Beta have had no overheating, but will dismantle the the stack to check it just to make sure its clean.
So I'm new to this and thus 'treading lightly' given the (very welcome) expertise of others here, but:
My reason for 15 mins in an acid bath was not to have the shiniest tube stack in Christendom, but to help get rid of large amounts of scale that risked stopping the tube stack (and end cap ports, and a few other bits) from doing their job. The stuff fizzed and foamed away like a dying alien on Doctor Who and the scale fell away. I do accept that I may lose a £10 engine anode a little faster as a result. However I'd much prefer that to losing engine power due to overheating, or perhaps damaging the tube stack by cleaning it only by bashing, whacking, scraping, drilling or other mechanical means.
Prob good to remove stainless part it it's touching brass or aluminum.....While you're at it, it's worth removing the stainless steel tube that connects the heat exchanger to the salt water pump, and checking for limescale build up. I found loads this year at the pump outlet.
It's easy to do, on the Beta 20 anyway. Just hose clips and the plastic clamp on top.
Blue paper towel, such as they have on service station forecourts, shows up damp patches really well.Clean everything off with paper towel before refilling and then run a clean tissue round all the joints and check for dampness on it from any leaks.
Yes, I'm quite surprised. My previous boat came with a Beta engine and the relevant manual.A bit shocked at those who run valuable and essential engines but don't source or download a manual and read at least the maintenance schedule..
I’m totally lost on this. I’ve got a beta 25 with the single bolt configuration and the anode on the aft cap. From reading this thread it sounds like the o rings go on the inside of the housing but I’ve been putting them on the flange of the end caps and tightening until it “seals.” It just keeps leaking coolant and water and I can’t get a prime on my raw water pump. Help!!
Sounds like you may have the tube stack the wrong way around?
Beta Marine recommend changing the bolts every few years .