Engine reviews Yanmar or Volvo

[coastalexplorer]

Volvo do seem to assume a slightly arrogant assumption of brand loyalty in the top head space of their past customers. The premise for considering this as potential fact is based on their policy of raising the prices of the spare parts of their 'older model' engines twice per year. until they are so expensive that scrapping the old and buying a new model becomes an obvious choice. Could this course of action possibly be an aspect of their marketing plan? The rhetorical question therefor which could be asked might be: Is this working for them?


However on most of their engines the fuel system is made by Bosch...So I buy these parts and service form a Bosch dealer.


replacement fuel hoses were about $280 CDN.. I had a Parker Racor dealer special order the materials and make them for under $100 ea.


Several companies seem to be manufacturing 'after market parts' such as stainless steel mixing elbows for $200 USD ?



Damper connection replacement a 'SUREDRIVE' from Nextwave marine systems inc. Qualcom beach Vancouver's island.


A different make of Alternator can be fitted, but make sure the pulley is the correct diameter also check the 'VEE' groove dimensions for the rev counter to work correctly. on 2000 series it is 76 MM diameter.



Does anyone know IF Tennco through their Federal Mogal division sell pistons. piston rings, or bearings? (Have not needed those yet by the way)


For some who can not have patience for sourcing the lower cost alternatives. it seems to be a case of either pay the price for the parts, buy a new Volvo, or writing a letter of quote inquiry to 17 Davy Way, Quedgeley, Hardwicke, Gloucester GL2 2AD, UK seems to be becoming a popular choice.

[Cheechako]

It would be interesting to see actual aftermarket prices on Volvo vs Yanmar. I know the impression is Volvo is terrible, but wonder if it's any worse then Yanmar...? I do know in the bigger diesels, not usually sailboat types, the Volvos are an impressive piece of iron! Hundreds of pounds heavier when I checked vs Yanmar years ago.

[Diesel3446]

Just be aware that if you purchase a new diesel engine, that it may be a tier 3 or 4 emissions compliant engine. If it has electronic fuel control then diagnosis and repair are not user friendly for owners. Pre emission Yanmars are bullet proof in my experience.

[wedivebc]

I have 44 years experience as a marine engineer. I have had some factory training on Volvo Marine diesels. My sailboat has a Yanmar and I'm quite happy about that.

[Djarraluda]

Yanmar are great, reliable engines and I certainly have nothing against them.

Volvo are ferocious on spares so you will suffer badly in years to come, over the years we have all suffered at their spares availability and price.

Kubota based variants such as Beta are great all round excellent value.
I have just repowered with a Kubota engine mated to my Volvo sail drive. Engine and mating supplied by John Witchard (Witchard Marine) in Mona Vale, Sydney. He has so many templates he can supply them with feet to match your glassed-in bearers and simplify the installation as well.
Roger

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by bela

I have wery bad experiances with Volvo D2-55.
The corrosion is the big problem between heat exchanger aluminium housing
and Exhoust elbow. Due to galvanic corrosion the Alu Heat exchanger flange at exhoust elbow disappiers, and a hole can be seen within 5-6 years salt water use.
The reparature is wery costly, (Replace heat exch. housing + Exhoust elbow + gaskets costing cca 4000 Euro!
I suggest use Solé diesel, You will never have corrosion problems!
www. solediesel.com

Best greetings,

Well lookie here......

Boat Engines - Solé Diesel
Solé Diesel Motores marinos, Grupos electrógenos, Accesorios › en-gb › engines
The Solé Diesel engine on KUBOTA base, the world largest manufacturer of diesel industrial engines, is specially designed to offer reliability as durability. This engine is suitable for displacement hull boats such as

[David B]

Originally Posted by MarDeLea

I am thinking of repowering. I would appreciate reviews of Yanmar and Volvo. These engines are readily available in Brisbane Australia. Which to choose? Comments about reliability, after sale service, and parts needed.

Yanmar are a very large group (and they have just tucked Flexofold into that group now too).
Looking at their success, one could argue they must be doing a lot of things right. We have Yanmar on our boat and I am very pleased about that. These engines are everywhere, as are their agents, spares seem readily available, and pricing seems to be OK (as OK as it can be for the industry …).

[blubaju]

20 years yanmar, 20 years no problems. I loved the security of the decompression on the old GM, but needed YM to register the new boat, well, new 10 years ago. One critic though, the Siemens made panels for the YMs are in no way UV stabilized, the thin lining cover breaks apart to 1000 pieces and the engine hours are lit, but the lcd numbers are faded away. The beeper is at the back, so you can't hear an alarm in front. I bought an actisense EMU, that brings 2 engine's data to nmea2000. Maybe they changed their supplier in meantime.


Yanmars engines are industrial/farming too and marinised in Europe. Don't buy spares from the marine stores, like usual, filters are common standard, airfilter I changed to some other agristuff, the lifetime of the foam is to short, regarding price it should be made of gold.


Despite that I'd go Yanmar again. There are many good diesels out there, but Yanmar is good and almost everywhere

[hamburking]

I have to agree with other posters...BETA marine engine would be my first choice.

However, I've owned a 1985 Volvo 2002, a 1994 yanmar 3gmf, and a 1982 yanmar 2gmf. All three engines ran flawlessly and reliably. The 2gmf needed a transmission repair due to a design flaw...slipping clutch plate, and was an expensive fix. I never had any trouble getting maintenance parts for any of those engines.

FWIW, I also owned a pair of Atomic 4s. They also ran very well and reliably. I believe any engine well maintained and not run at WOF all the time (as many people do), will run for a very, very long time with no trouble at all.

[Jim Cate]

I have just repowered with a Kubota engine mated to my Volvo sail drive. Engine and mating supplied by John Witchard (Witchard Marine) in Mona Vale, Sydney. He has so many templates he can supply them with feet to match your glassed-in bearers and simplify the installation as well.
R

Witchard's is a one man shop, and John is Da Man! He is there in person to answer queries and offer advice... and he's just a nice guy, has been helpful to me, and I wasn't even a customer. Rather different than dealing with Yannies or Green Demons.

But any of the marinized Kubotas will be good engines at heart. The big issue is the marinization parts. They are proprietary and can be very dear. Just had a tube bundle failure in my Nanni. Found that they no longer sell the tube bundle by itself... needt buy t he whole bloody heat exchanger (which incorporates the exhaust manifold). Price? around 3000 AUD. Owww!

From informal sources, Beta has a better attitude about such things, and I'm sure that John W does too.

Jim

[agb512]

I have a new Volvo D2-75. Perkins engine marinized by Volvo.

[Paul L]

I've had fairly long term relationships with 2 Yanmars and one Volvo. The Volvo was like death by a thousand paper cuts. Even living with the Yanmars for a longtime I never had to become intimate with their insides and normally private parts.

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

The big issue is the marinization parts. They are proprietary and can be very dear. Just had a tube bundle failure in my Nanni. Found that they no longer sell the tube bundle by itself... needt buy t he whole bloody heat exchanger (which incorporates the exhaust manifold). Price? around 3000 AUD. Owww!
Jim

Jim,

I'll bet you can find someone to custom make a tube stack for far less money.

[Sailor 99]

Originally Posted by NYSail

If I had to repower I would lean towards beta marine..... then yanmar. Current boat and last boat had yanmar engines and I could not be happier.

Good luck

Greg

I would have recommended beta too Greg until while researching information on my 5 year old beta 75 I found that indeed I was not sold a 75 HP engine I was sold a 66 hp engine.



How did I figure that out... Well the kubota serial number and sticker information tells me it is a 49.8 kw engine which translates to 66.1 HP. The Betamarine brochure shows 75 so obviously someone was creative with a pen or pencil because the engine plate definitely says something else.



I down graded when I bought this engine from an 86 hp Perkins to what I thought was 75hp but in fact is a 66 hp.


All of a sudden the problems we had getting a propeller for this new engine make sense. I told Flex-o-fold we had 75 hp. When the prop came we could not make max RPM. Overloaded. Very bad. We went down one size... Almost there not quite...


Flex-o-fold did not understand it.... I thought they did not know what they were doing.... In fact I have been sold a bill of goods.


No longer a beta fan

[Sailor 99]

I would also stay away from turbos. When the turbo goes your engine will not do much more than an idle. The air chambers are too small for natural aspiration and with the turbo not going it simply can not burn the fuel cause it can't breath.


Sucks.


In addition they are making horse power by boosting the air in a smaller engine. Eventually this leads to failure. The reason the old perkins were indestructible was because they had heavy enough blocks, pistons etc to take the pounding..


Go naturally aspirated on a boat.