[MikeElliston]

i just started on an 80' motor yacht with 3412 engines, while checking things over today i went to check the zincs, the first one i pulled the brass head unscrewed easily enough, however, the zinc fell down the exaust, and consequently i had to disassemble to remove the zinc, the remainder of my zincs are corroded onto the engine, i can remove the brass plug, but the zinc stays in place, not dropping, yet not coming out with the cap, is there any simple way to remove the zinc without pulling the exaust apart? and how could i prevent this from happening in the future ?

[K1W1]

Hi,

I don't know off the top of my head what size your anodes are can you see if you can grab the thread with long nose vice grips?

If they fall into the outlet i.e. on the way to the water muffler I would not worry about them laying there they will not do any damage.

[airship]

...and how could i prevent this from happening in the future ?

Inspecting / replacing the zinc anodes more regularly?! Also, I've heard that some engineers smear a dollop of silicone on the area between the threaded part and the main body of the new zinc anode before screwing it into the brass plug. Just enough to "seal the thread" from water ingress mind you, whilst still maintaining electrical continuity...

[C4ENG]

Zincs in the exhuast?
I don't know if I am behind the times but I can not recall ever seeing zincs in the exhuast systems. I can not imagine how zincs could work in a wet exhust system unless an area was completely sumerged under the water line and that would not be a CAT installed piece of equipment. I could appreciating some one telling me differently.

[MikeElliston]

K1W1, thank you for the advise, that is the same thing that my Caterpillar service tech told me, he also told me that with just a tad bit of the cap threaded onto the anode, you can wiggle it out, it just takes a while sometimes, and to prevent it from un-screwing from the cap, to tighten the anode on more than it comes from the factory,
Airship, if you read my original post in its entirety, you would have read that i am new to this yacht, and therefore the fact that the maintance has been neglected is the major problem that i am encountering, i will most likely be asking more advise in the future, but i will be taking things one at a time.

[CaptTom]

Mike,
I've changed zincs on the old 3208 Cat's and have had the same problem. First off, I don't use old plugs but use new plugs with new zincs (no corossion or dirt/salt buildup). Then I would snug the zinc to the plug by holding the zink with a pliers and a wrench on the plug. Just a little, don't overtighten or mess up the threads on the zinc. Add in the silicone that Airship mentioned and change regularly and that should help fix the problem. Next time you have the zincs out, look in the hole with a flashlight and make sure there are no old zincs or anything else inside to bind up against.