Diesel Engine Hours

[Sandero]

1. Which diesel do you have?

2. How old is your diesel engine?

3. How many hours has it logged?

4. What percentage of run time was (guess) under load (underway)?

5. What major maintenance have you done other than regular oil and filter changes?

6. How many hours do you expect your engine to "last"?

5. Do you expect to repower? At what hr count?


1. Volvo MD 17D fresh water cooled
2. 24 yrs
3. 4300+/-
4. 75%
5. rebuilt head, new valve springs, replaced injectors, pumps, exhaust elbo, changed OEM to high output alternator, oil temp gauge.
6. 10,000
7. No (I hope the engine outlives me hahahaha)

[Islandmike]

Westerbeke 64A
3 years
365 hrs
95%
nothing....yet
10,000
I think the engine will outlive me..

[sailorboy1]

Yanmar 4JTE
21 years old
1875 hours
don't know
near as I tell no major work has ever been done (runs like a champ)
expect it to last at least 10,000 hrs
not going to "plan" on a rebuild based on hours

I was reading another thread and was going to start a new one about run hours but this 1 seems to already fit. Does engine run hours really mean anything as to engine life? I figure my engine operating in the NE for 19 years (was orginally not sold for 2 years) has an average yearly run hours of 98.7 hrs/yr during the 6 month season. Or 16.4 hrs/month. So assuming the boat mostly was a weekend boat it was run on avg 2 hours each day of operation. I know that I tend to operate it maybe 10-15 minutes a lot of times just to motor in/out of the mooring field and that this is a lot harder on the engine than running at full load for a few hours (try to load it up a while each time). But then sometimes due to conditions and schedule motor for hours, which other than the fuel I figure hardly matter to the engine much. So I got to thinking maybe a boat with low hours is not really a good thing if it is indicating low load/idling etc. So it seems to me that unless you have a log showing times that the engine was run under a good load to figure out the percent of load/non-load hours the total is pretty much a poor indication of the life left in the engine.

[Vasco]

Yanmar 4JH3E
5years old
1250 hours
100%
None
God knows
No

[Tellie]

Two Yanmar 2GM20F
14 years old
Over 10,000hrs each
Don't know the % of full load time run
I rebuilt the top ends on both
They still run great and I expect them to comtinue to.
I will rebuild them from the bearings up when they start giving me more repair work than the time or money worth chasing them with is worth.
I think at times of myself as Charlie Allnut when I'm working on them. "Ya just gotta love em Miss, so they'll love ya back"

[Zanshin]

Yanmar 4JHTE

~400 hours and 3 years old
100% was at load
No major maintenance, but extensive preventative maintenance (which probably caused more damage and lost parts than if I had left the thing alone)
10,000 hours before the engine expires.
No expectations to repower before I sell the boat.

[neilpride]

Perkins 4236
3500 hours and is 24 years old
90% under load
Cooling system cleaned , new raw water and fresh waters pumps , engine mounts.
15000 hours but i dont think im going to se 15000 hours.
No repower thinking, is wonderfull.

[gonesail]

yanmar 3GM30F
1988 model with 1400 hours.
90% under load estimated.
replaced exhaust elbow and lift pump so far.
who knows?

[Sandero]

We have engine drive refer, so I run it about 1 - 2 hrs a day to charge batts, make hot water and cool the refer. It's not strictly no load, but it's less than in gear I suspect. So a fair amount of the run time is for the above.

[mesquaukee]

1. 4236 Perkins
2. rebuilt in 1984
3. 4500 hrs
4. 95% under load (underway)
5. replaced cast iron exhaust manifold with an aluminium one
6. 10,000 hrs plus
7. rebuild it if and when it becomes neccessary

Couldn't imagine replacing it, just love its sound at its sweet spot. It still goes 200 hr between oil changes without needing to add oil.

I have heard of some 4236 lasting 20,000 hrs up in Nova Scotia, who knows.

[night0wl]

1) Yanmar 3YM30
2) Less than 1 Yr old (2008 Beneteau 343)
3) 59
4) 100% Dont run it to idle or charge batteries. Have shorepower for that
5) 50 hour service (dealer performed)
6) 5000 or 20 years
7) 5000 hours or 20 years!

[tackdriver]

1. Volvo 2003T
2. 20 years
3. Meter says 650, but I think more.
4. 90% (Its a guess but I have a generator)
5. Oil Cooler
6. I thought 5000 was good going
5. Nope

[Pblais]

Westerbeke 63b
9 years
3700 hours
90% Plus
Not much has been replaced
6000 before a rebuild is not uncommon
The boat was repowered 9 years ago but I'm not certain why.

[S&S]

Westerbeke 58
about 25 years
about 6000
60% (used to have engine driven refrig.)
New seals (I didn't put it in but the engine is pretty "tired")
I'd expect 10 to 12000 hours with a new engine- this one wasn't well maintained
I'd like to repower with a new 65A next year (if I can save the $$$)