5.7L Mercruiser inboards, 1997 vintage. Full closed fresh water system. Rear mounted heat exchanger.
While recently replacing exhaust manifolds and risers, decided to remove the engine heat exchanger and have it cleaned and pressure tested.
It looked nice, but radiator shop said 2 tubes leaked. Had them block those off, but further pressure testing revealed 4 more leaking tubes. Radiator guy told me he said a prayer for the heat exchanger when he realized it was not savable.
As there are 2 identical engines, we're going to replace both heat exchangers.
Went pricing and found aftermarket in the range of $550 each. Mercruiser is about 2X the cost. Is there any reason to avoid aftermarket engine heat exchangers? Is the metallurgy different? Would like to use aftermarket if equivalent to Mercruiser.
If I was a betting man, I'd guess one or more of the aftermarket guys OEM to Mercruiser.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
...bill
While recently replacing exhaust manifolds and risers, decided to remove the engine heat exchanger and have it cleaned and pressure tested.
It looked nice, but radiator shop said 2 tubes leaked. Had them block those off, but further pressure testing revealed 4 more leaking tubes. Radiator guy told me he said a prayer for the heat exchanger when he realized it was not savable.
As there are 2 identical engines, we're going to replace both heat exchangers.
Went pricing and found aftermarket in the range of $550 each. Mercruiser is about 2X the cost. Is there any reason to avoid aftermarket engine heat exchangers? Is the metallurgy different? Would like to use aftermarket if equivalent to Mercruiser.
If I was a betting man, I'd guess one or more of the aftermarket guys OEM to Mercruiser.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
...bill