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etterridge · 17-03-2017, 18:52

Don't be too quick to condemn cheap Chinese parts (whoops) for your Westerbeke. We cracked a piston in ours two years back at Cat Island, Bahamas. We sailed to Eleuthera and spent a lot of money on beer in a WiFi bar trying to negotiate Westerbeke's alleged e-commerce site.

Having had the pleasure of being 'passed around' by Westerbeke through a series of 'downlines' previously, we hunted for alternative suppliers. Luckily, we were helped by friends on CR4 engineering forum, to whom we remain forever grateful. One of them gave us a link that we would likely not have found for ourselves. We purchased 4 pistons, 4 sets of rings, four pairs of 'big-end' bearings, a 'full' gasket set and a spare used connecting rod (not good condition, as it turned out - but inside the price) for the grand total of $330 US.
This was exactly the same price as one bare piston from Westerbeke (with a dilevery date of 5 weeks).
The parts arrived from Bee Auto on Alibaba.com in 8 daysto Governor's Harbour from China via Hallandale Beach to our XpressIt Account there. XpressIt had our cruising permit on file and immediately forwarded the parts to us. Shipping costs: DHL Pearl River Basin to Hallendale FL, 90$ US.
XpressIt came in at $62 US and they handled the customs things seamlessly. On day 9 I had the engine upside down and was changing out pistons.
I am not a mechanic! YouTube also gets credit here. I studied up.
Everything was back together in a few days - since we only work on the boat in mornings.
She started, she ran and as of today our mitsubishi K4D (early version) has 664 hours since that event. It was ALL educational, AND we got to hang out in a great Bahamian town with a whole bunch of great (and helpful) Bahamians.

Interestingly, Mitsubishi actually did NOT design that engine. The engines actual designers were British Leyland and its original use was in London taxicabs. My CR-4 respondents were able to furnish a long list of 'marinizers of the Mitsubishi engine, including Sabb, Vetus, Sabre and a number of others. Their exhaust manifolds would interchange with Westy's, without any issue. It is entirely possible that there is a Chinese marine manifold out there. If someone finds one then let me know. There must be over a hundred thousand of these engines in service,and most of them are in Asia.

In a previous life I was a commercial fisherman in Nova Scotia. The scoop on the dock there was that you should expect 40,000 hours from your engine so long as you don't put a wrench on it. If mechanics touch it, it's all over. At 40 thousand hours you toss it and buy new. Detroit 6-71's were rated on the dock at 10,000 hours, and likewise Cummins and Caterpillar. Only Rolls-Royce was comparable.
When I see someone posting allegedly high hours in the low thousands, I ask myself "are they really aware of how durable these things really are?"

When we changed those pistons the engine had over 2000 hours on it and there was absolutely zero wear in the bore. I bought standard sized pistons and rings. We could not even get our hands on a cylinder hone or a ridge reamer. It turned-out that we did not need either tool. Two-thousand hours is literally nothing to a well designed and maintained diesel engine.

**GordMay** · 18-03-2017, 05:07

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, etterridge.

Steven UK · 18-03-2017, 08:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallingeggs

I feel you on the Westerbeke. I have a 33. If (or when) I get to the point that it needs a rebuild, I'll just be repowering because the cost will be the same (or even cheaper). I can tell you I won't be repowering with a Westerbeke, even though they do seem to be well built and long lasting. The gouging on replacements is just annoying. I'd rather pay the "real" price when I install the engine and when it needs parts.

That said, it is possible to find some parts outside of the Westerbeke network. For example, I just picked up a water pump for $50 when the dealer price was $550! I haven't installed it (its a back up), but I'm 97% it will work. I also sourced all new injectors for $300, well under a forth of the dealer's price. The heat exchanger, water pump">raw water pump and alternator can also be sourced for much, much less. It just takes a lot of Googling. However, I can't find an exhaust manifold, so I'm trying to patch up the current one. I'm not paying $1,200 (one tenth of the price of a new engine!) for a new one.

If you can figure out what block your Westerbeke is (it's probably out there on the web somewhere) and take this info and the part to a good diesel shop, they might be able to help you out. When I went in with my injectors, the guy immediately recognized the brand and had new ones shipped the next day.

I would be interested to see the exhaust elbow to see if fabricating some would be practical, if anyone has good photos or a part number of the most common style (if there are more than one) I'll,look into it...

Steven UK · 18-03-2017, 08:13

Never mind just checked, prices seem to be well under $200

Lepke · 18-03-2017, 11:09

Ebay is a good place to look for parts, new and used for any engine. As others said, tractor and industrial suppliers for engines sold for those purposes.

China parts: Many major engine manufacturers now have parts made in China, India or other low labor cost countries. Some still assemble the engines in their home plants. Most of the foreign parts offered online are made by the same factory producing the oem parts. Copyright doesn't mean the same thing in China.

Tar34 · 18-03-2017, 11:21

I have a Westerbeke 46. Is this the Mitsubishi 4DQ5? I would like to acquire a spare raw water pump but all my attempts to find a pump outside of Westerbeke themselves has been a failure. Retail from Westerbeke dealers have the price listing from $950 - $1000+ for this pump. I successfully rebuilt the pump for under $300., but would like to find a parts source outside of Westerbeke.

pesarsten · 18-03-2017, 11:47

Does anyone know what my 1981/1982 W27 is based on?
Paul

Valmika · 15-04-2017, 08:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallingeggs

I feel you on the Westerbeke. I have a 33. If (or when) I get to the point that it needs a rebuild, I'll just be repowering because the cost will be the same (or even cheaper). I can tell you I won't be repowering with a Westerbeke, even though they do seem to be well built and long lasting. The gouging on replacements is just annoying. I'd rather pay the "real" price when I install the engine and when it needs parts.

That said, it is possible to find some parts outside of the Westerbeke network. For example, I just picked up a water pump for $50 when the dealer price was $550! I haven't installed it (its a back up), but I'm 97% it will work. I also sourced all new injectors for $300, well under a forth of the dealer's price. The heat exchanger, raw water pump and alternator can also be sourced for much, much less. It just takes a lot of Googling. However, I can't find an exhaust manifold, so I'm trying to patch up the current one. I'm not paying $1,200 (one tenth of the price of a new engine!) for a new one.

If you can figure out what block your Westerbeke is (it's probably out there on the web somewhere) and take this info and the part to a good diesel shop, they might be able to help you out. When I went in with my injectors, the guy immediately recognized the brand and had new ones shipped the next day.

Hey Steve. Where did you get that waterpump. The last one I ordered was a Vetus but it was a bit over $100. (still better than Westerbeke)

ABJ87 · 16-04-2017, 01:48

Johnson pump? My w18 was westerbeke branded pump so I rebuilt with seals and bearings from napa.

For the other stuff:

Once you figure out the block (sometimes cast in below the injection pump). You can order the part from tractor supply houses.

I have had excellent luck with these folks.

https://www.ncwtractorparts.com

etterridge · 16-04-2017, 04:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by pesarsten

Does anyone know what my 1981/1982 W27 is based on?
Paul

Mitsubishi K4D

That code is cast into the block in relief ( meaning it stands out) near the injection pump.

sailah · 16-04-2017, 04:58

I've recently had to do the Westerbeke dance after my intake valve issue. It pays to do your home work and find out the block, in the case of my 44B it's a Mitsubishi S4L2 which is very common for some tractors and generator sets.

I found the most helpful is to download both a service manual, found for free, and a parts manual that I had to pay for. Hole punch and tab for easy access. But you get access to part numbers. Then it s a matter of using Google to search for those factory part numbers.

For my engine I found that I could order parts from a cub cadet tractor at about 1/4 Westerbeke prices. The other source I found is Mack Boring which is the Northeast distributor of Yanmar also carries industrial Mitsubishi parts. I plan on using them going forward.

I found a complete factory gasket set on eBay in England that I bought, big savings. But having the factory part numbers is key.

I did have to buy a formed hose from westerbeke grudgingly but I made up for it with using Gates Rubber online PDF of coolant hose shapes. Matched up the other 2 formed hoses with their stock sizes and got on Amazon Prime for $8. I will have to trim a little from the length but the bend and hose size were dead on.

NGK has many of the glow plugs too, Beke wanted $50, Amazon wanted $9.

I don't like going around Westerbeke, they are located about 20 minutes from me and they are super friendly when I have gone to get things before or on the phone. But their gouging on parts that they don't even make is just insane.

ValiantV · 17-04-2017, 11:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailah

I've recently had to do the Westerbeke dance after my intake valve issue. It pays to do your home work and find out the block, in the case of my 44B it's a Mitsubishi S4L2 which is very common for some tractors and generator sets.

I found the most helpful is to download both a service manual, found for free, and a parts manual that I had to pay for. Hole punch and tab for easy access. But you get access to part numbers. Then it s a matter of using Google to search for those factory part numbers.

For my engine I found that I could order parts from a cub cadet tractor at about 1/4 Westerbeke prices. The other source I found is Mack Boring which is the Northeast distributor of Yanmar also carries industrial Mitsubishi parts. I plan on using them going forward.

I found a complete factory gasket set on eBay in England that I bought, big savings. But having the factory part numbers is key.

I did have to buy a formed hose from westerbeke grudgingly but I made up for it with using Gates Rubber online PDF of coolant hose shapes. Matched up the other 2 formed hoses with their stock sizes and got on Amazon Prime for $8. I will have to trim a little from the length but the bend and hose size were dead on.

NGK has many of the glow plugs too, Beke wanted $50, Amazon wanted $9.

I don't like going around Westerbeke, they are located about 20 minutes from me and they are super friendly when I have gone to get things before or on the phone. But their gouging on parts that they don't even make is just insane.

It's amazing that I'm seeing alternative part sources of tractor and other "Ag" suppliers like Cub Cadet mentioned.

As someone who has to maintain some of these items, I find the tractor and ag suppliers to be gouging and marking up.

Believe it or not, some guys who work on tractors go to Yanmar marine suppliers to get better prices!

At any rate, eBay and Amazon can be serious money-savers IF you have the OEM part number. Saving 60% on "generic" stuff is pretty typical. Saving even more on "rare" parts is common.

Folks on eBay are pretty resourceful as well. I even found a guy that buys brand new Stihl chainsaws at retail, then strips them to sell parts at lower prices than Stihl dealers are allowed to.

ak5609 · 07-02-2021, 17:00

The Westerbeke 42B is clearly marked as a mitsubishi K4F block.

QUOTE=basssears;2349537]Odd there is very little info on this engine when you Google it...

Your best bet is if possible to find out what block this is based on so you can find parts directly from manufacturer of the block.

For example, most of the Westerbeke "Universal" engines (which yours does not seem to be) were based on Kubota blocks... our experience with needing a new water pump for our Westerbeke M40 (really a Universal 5432, really a Kubota block) was difference between out of stock $500 "Westerbeke" water pump and in stock $150 Kubota pump.

I wonder if there is a Leopard forum somewhere that has built up a list of compatible parts or can help you determine which block these are based on?[/QUOTE]