Rebuild or Replacement of Old Engine?

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Abo

Hi Lo2Jones,
A very good point regarding spares, although some others have said that they have no problems getting the parts for their engines. I wonder if the IZUZU engines would be easier to get parts for, they are about 1978 models, and fairly popular, although not a marine engine. These are still a four cylinder, but turbo charged and have a lot more horsepower so may be a lot better proposition, and seem fairly economical to run in a 4 wheel drive, but you would then have the connectivity issues to the original fittings.
Regards,
Abo

I had a Westerbeke W-46 which was a Mitsubishi forklift engine. You would think it would be easy getting parts for but not really that easy. As far as Perkins parts... there are dozens of aftermarket places online selling parts and rebuild kits. This is because there are 10's of thousands of them throughout the world performing duty as refrigeration units, tractor and forklift engines. There are atleast two remanufacturers of the Perkins engines. Maybe therre are companies that rebuild Yanmars too but I doubt it. So the "remote location" thing just doesn't stand up any more or any less than any other engine.

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

So the "remote location" thing just doesn't stand up any more or any less than any other engine.

The Volvo-Penta and Yanmar engines are by far the easiest to find parts for in distant cruising grounds, because there are dealers at all major yachting centers - at a price. While many engines, such as Perkins and Mitsubishi, are widely used and have parts availability the most common problems tend to be with the marinization, such as the heat exchanger. And these are not as easy to find. My old engine had great factory support but ultimately having to import parts myself into various countries was just too large a burden, and often took too long in customs plus often dealing with tariffs. V-P and Yanmar typically have local stock or will import for you, which is one less thing to worry about.

Greg

[Celestialsailor]

Well I guess "remote location" is left to the reader's imagination. When I hear the word remote, I think of a place like Vanuatu. In that case it would not mater what engine you had.That said...If in Mexico there are heaps of Perkins engines lying around. The Mexicans throw away nothing. There are ample parts (not necessarily new) to get you back on the road again.

[Wolverine]

I rebuilt a 4 cylinder Yanmar with parts on e bay. Was easier than expected

[lo2jones]

This is from volvo regarding D2 electronic parts.

Hi Larry,



i hope you had nice eastern holidays?

Thanks for your mail. I guess this text has been translated as it sounds a little bit “jolty”.

There is some truth concerning the injection and electronic part. The MDI Box, or so called black box is somehow the control unit, but not that complex, as it works more likely a relay. It is really basic stuff.

And yes, we had several issues concerning this MDI-Box in the past (mostly D1 engines), but that was depending on serial numbers, so not every unit was affected by this.

At this time Volvo raised a campaign and the MDI-Boxes that were faulty has been replaced piece by piece through Volvo dealers, each covering the areas based on location. I’ve checked our system and in our area we had no further complaints after this exchange program from Volvo so far, but of course, talking about electronic, especially in an engine room, it could happen that some boxes might have problems.

[stormalong]

All this talk about getting marinization parts in remote parts of the world.

With the exception of the sea water pump the marinization parts are unlikely to need replacing for decades so why worry? It is the basic engine parts that need replacement from time to time.

Both my Perkins 4-108 that was eighteen years old when I replaced it and my Beta 50 which is now over twenty years old have never needed a mairinzation part other than the sea water pump. I rebuilt the sea water pump on the Beta 50. Carry a rebuild kit for your sea water pump or a complete pump and you should be set for thousands of engine hours.

The beauty of a quality diesel engine is that as long as it gets clean fuel and regular oil changes they are very reliable.

[Abo]

Originally Posted by Mickeyrouse

Since I don’t know what gear you have, I can’t say. If you have the Paragon, the reverse gear shift linkage has a habit of failing- happened to me twice. There are two of them, and they are stamped and drilled mild steel. A capable machine shop could make them, but Paragon parts ( if they can be found) would be cheaper. Paragon is out of business and parts are, shall we say, scarce. It’s sure a lot easier to attend to it at thus point rather than later. If it’s coming out and you can find parts, I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity. But then, that’s the definition of “mission creep.”

Hi Mickeyrouse, don't think I replied to you earlier. Thank you for your input on the gearbox. I will take a close look at it and see what it looks like with the intent to replace anything that looks suspect and may break or show signs of excess wear in the next few years. As you say, much easier to do the reconditioning and replacement of parts while I am working on the engine and most of it is out rather than come back to it later and do a lot of unnecessary work that could be done now.


Regards,


Abo

[BBill]

Originally Posted by Abo

Hi Mickeyrouse, don't think I replied to you earlier. Thank you for your input on the gearbox. I will take a close look at it and see what it looks like with the intent to replace anything that looks suspect and may break or show signs of excess wear in the next few years. As you say, much easier to do the reconditioning and replacement of parts while I am working on the engine and most of it is out rather than come back to it later and do a lot of unnecessary work that could be done now.


Regards,


Abo

Paragons are pretty simple to work on so don't be shy about it...otherwise, the fastest way to trash one is motorsailing at too much angle.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by BBill

Paragons are pretty simple to work on so don't be shy about it...otherwise, the fastest way to trash one is motorsailing at too much angle.

I rebuilt one on a prior vessel. that dismantle was simple but some of the parts were tough to find.