Cummins QSB5.9 experiences?

[trialframe]

I'm thinking of buying a 7 year old Selene trawler yacht with a single Cummins qsb5.9. The engine has 550 recorded hours. Having never had experience of any Cummins engines I would be pleased to hear of other owners experiences.

 

[SEARANGER ANCASTER]

I'm thinking of buying a 7 year old Selene trawler yacht with a single Cummins qsb5.9. The engine has 550 recorded hours. Having never had experience of any Cummins engines I would be pleased to hear of other owners experiences.

easily one of the best engines to have. 550 hours is nothing ,providing its been looked after. Parts are relatively cheap too.

 

[volvopaul]

A very nice engine to service . The only downside of this engine is the sea water pump,if you buy carry a spare as your single engine . Latestarter on this forum is our cummins expert there is nothing he doesn't know about them so he may be along to give some more input .

 

[SEARANGER ANCASTER]

I'm thinking of buying a 7 year old Selene trawler yacht with a single Cummins qsb5.9. The engine has 550 recorded hours. Having never had experience of any Cummins engines I would be pleased to hear of other owners experiences.

Keep laughing when I read this post and feel I should share it. When I was seriously ill last year , they gave me morphine and tramadol when I was in hospital. This obviously made me halucinate as I woke up one night and rang the bell for the nurse . When she came I asked her why I was in a ward with 5 other sick men as I was a diesel engine. I was convinced what I was saying was true and I went on to explain to her that I was a Cummins QSB5.9 and i had pistons inside my chest ( as I pointed to my chest and ran my hand up and down !). I told here to contact a great local engineer Gavin Nimmo ( who has actually been dead for years) and he would hone me out and put me right !

Very weird experience and I was convinced what I was saying was the truth.

 

[Ocean Star]

Can't comment so much on the QSB series but we run a QSC and that's been a great engine for us. 2300hrs so far in 7 years.

 

[Harpsden]

I'm thinking of buying a 7 year old Selene trawler yacht with a single Cummins qsb5.9. The engine has 550 recorded hours. Having never had experience of any Cummins engines I would be pleased to hear of other owners experiences.

I've had one for 18 months now on a swift 34 and so far very pleased with it. It had a leak from the water pump at the time of the pre-purchase survey and this was replaced as part of the purchase. No leaks on the pump since.

As mentioned in the other thread on daily checks, I do check all the levels etc before every passage but never had to top anything up.

The cummins website is also very good for information once you have an engine serial number and a login.

Latestarter1 is the expert.

 

[rafiki_]

The QSB is used in th later Azimut 39's, from qbout 2006 onwards. Mine is a 2002 with the Cat 3126. There is a 2006 Azi 39 at our marina, and the owner has had 39's with both engines. I have to say the QSB's sound fantastic, well they hardly sound at all, little diesel cackle etc.
As others have said, Latestarter is the forum expert on these and rates them very highly.

 

[IDAMAY]

We have a Trader 42 with twin QSB 5.9. They have just under 1200 hours and run quiet and clean. We average around 8 kts and 1.5 mpg. The only problem we have had is with one of the raw water pumps that was replaced at around 1000 hours. We didn't buy the replacement from Cummins UK but from Seaboard Marine in California. It cost less than the original part (even after freight and 20% VAT) but is built to a stronger spec. At the same time we had the after coolers and raw water heat exchangers serviced. As a precaution we also changed the fuel coolers to the latest spec as we had heard of an isolated failure in the original design. Other than that it's just been routine servicing which, as others have said, is not too expensive. The engines do not need oil topping up throughout the season.

I can also vouch for the advice of Latestarter and the expertise of VASI Marine in Southampton, recently appointed Cummins dealers in the area.

Good luck with the Selene - great boats.

Richard.

 

[tinkicker0]

Top motor.

 

[penfold]

We have a Trader 42 with twin QSB 5.9. They have just under 1200 hours and run quiet and clean. We average around 8 kts and 1.5 mpg. The only problem we have had is with one of the raw water pumps that was replaced at around 1000 hours. We didn't buy the replacement from Cummins UK but from Seaboard Marine in California. It cost less than the original part (even after freight and 20% VAT) but is built to a stronger spec. At the same time we had the after coolers and raw water heat exchangers serviced. As a precaution we also changed the fuel coolers to the latest spec as we had heard of an isolated failure in the original design. Other than that it's just been routine servicing which, as others have said, is not too expensive. The engines do not need oil topping up throughout the season.

I can also vouch for the advice of Latestarter and the expertise of VASI Marine in Southampton, recently appointed Cummins dealers in the area.

Good luck with the Selene - great boats.

Richard.

I'd second this; my limited experience with QSBs is that they are trouble free apart from the seawater pumps, and the alternative improved pump is available which is more durable.

 

[aquapower]

One of my favourites, would choose QSB over VP D6 any day, very smooth and quiet.

 

[trialframe]

Thank you all very much for your very helpful and positive comments

 

[Nautical]

As others have said, great engine, no known issues. 550 hours is nothing, expect 1000' s of hours before any serious work. As with all diesel engines service record important, even if not been used needs an annual check over (actually probably more so than if been used all season) . Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[Latestarter1]

We have a Trader 42 with twin QSB 5.9. They have just under 1200 hours and run quiet and clean. We average around 8 kts and 1.5 mpg. The only problem we have had is with one of the raw water pumps that was replaced at around 1000 hours. We didn't buy the replacement from Cummins UK but from Seaboard Marine in California. It cost less than the original part (even after freight and 20% VAT) but is built to a stronger spec. At the same time we had the after coolers and raw water heat exchangers serviced. As a precaution we also changed the fuel coolers to the latest spec as we had heard of an isolated failure in the original design. Other than that it's just been routine servicing which, as others have said, is not too expensive. The engines do not need oil topping up throughout the season.

I can also vouch for the advice of Latestarter and the expertise of VASI Marine in Southampton, recently appointed Cummins dealers in the area.

Good luck with the Selene - great boats.

Richard.

Richard,

Re your comments regarding changing to later design of fuel cooler, never seen failure on QSB however I have seen the issue on QSC's in Poole which were over 10,000 hours and dealers in the U.S remove coolers completely as a precaution with no obvious impact on power.

I now have access to the improved raw water pump, major difference is that pump had a proprietary John Crane seal (same as Jabsco).

DIY or third party servicing with no impact on warranty can be a bonus, on a re-power done near two years ago owner who is a retirement live aboard wanted freedom of self servicing as he was going though French canals to the Med and was wary of French service bandits. Close to two years and finally reaching Italy encountered minor issue, Italian dealer came out fixed the problem without quibble.

In the U.S. some owners like the ability to be able to own their own service tool and purchase Quickcheck http://quickcheck.cummins.com/products/qc5200.html and some non franchised dealers set themselves up with laptop based INSITE Lite which has less functionality than full blown INSITE used by authorised dealers however is still powerful diagnostic tool.