Offshoreonly.com - Stainless Steel T-Stat Housing for 502

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Just so everyone knows. Not only were the Sierra tstat housing mounting holes not correct, the hole that the tstat sits in was several thousandths larger than OEM. It was a pain to try and get the tstat to not fall out. However, we got it mounted. Tested it out and ran fine at the dock, no leaks. Launched and took a little turn around the lake boat running good. Decided to check the riser temps again. Opened up the he hatch and saw water everywhere. That housing leaked like a sieve. It would not seal up. So, luckily I had just gotten my OEM housing back from the powder coater and installed it. Also, decided to change the circulation pump (water pump) just in case. We found that it was leaking even though there was no indication of it at the weephole.

Now, anybody need a good heavy SS fishing weight?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shunter2005 (Post 4630636)

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.

If you do a search for Hardin stainless pump on here there are tons of threads about them having flow issues. I was going to buy one to avoid getting rust in my cooling system but after reading up on it I decided against it especially at $400+. One of the threads the guy from Hardin/CP responded that "they've never had a problem" but based on the number of threads to the contrary I think they're been a bunch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mohavvalley (Post 4637553)

Mine seems to have plenty of flow, but I don't really know for sure. I will take another look at it next week when I test it again. If the flow is off, I am prepared to take it off and replace it with the OEM pump and be done with it. The old pump is in perfect condition, so it would be an easy swap.

You happen to know where any of those thread might be. i looked but didn't find any.