Carver Owners Forum

I have Crusader 6.0 fresh water cooled engines. When I purchased the boat in 2017 I changed the risers because she was losing antifreeze.
My question for the crew: Do you schedule a change in risers as part of your maintenance schedule? If yes, how many years between changes. If no, when do you bother replacing them?
I had an issue with a tranny cooler once and had to replace the transmission due to the cooler failure. I plan to have those changed out along with the engine oil coolers every 5-6 years. I don't want to wait for those to fail because it's a very expensive proposition.
Just wondering your approach to this issue.
Thanks

Every 5-7 years is a pretty standard benchmark if you don't use a freshwater flush after each run. Any longer than that is running on borrowed time.

There is definitely a lot of debate around this. The beauty of these engines is they are entirely fresh water cooled. The closest raw water gets it where it's injected into the exhaust at the back of the riser. The previous owner of my 2004 6.0s changed out the risers... I may still change them but again, I'm not completely convinced it's necessary. I'd be further inclined just to inspect the exhaust injection point for mineral buildup.
For the oil and tranny coolers, I'd do every 5-6 years...though they do seem rather well engineered so maybe longer? On the mariner 360, two are easy to change...the other two, not so much. And don't get me started on the fuel filters...
Feel free to reach out to me if you ever want to discuss anything... the 2004 and 2005s are virtually identical.