Replacement engine: Volvo or Yanmar? Common rail or mechanical?

[MicHughV]

There is an endless parade of posters on here that have had prior dealings with Volvo, myself included (two Volvo engines)......that have developed a dislike for these engines for various reasons. They seem to have some quirks, design features and habits that are unable to be fathomed, parts availability is questionable, and if you do find them, it generally requires robbing a bank first, etc, ad infinitum.

At the end of the day, we all want an engine that starts at the turn of the key, without any surprises or hiccups, is easy to fix and maintain, parts can be be found anywhere at reasonable costs and will run for 1,000's of hours.

Regular service and maintenance is usually an unknown factor, depending on the boat owner's ability and discipline, but that aside, there are several other possible engine selections besides Volvo, that feature lower initial costs, easier maintenance, more power, less expensive parts, parts available globally, and generally lighter and more compact.

In my various efforts to find a new boat, I would walk way from any boat sporting a Volvo diesel, regardless of how much I liked the boat, not that I think they are a bad engine, I just don't want to deal with them anymore, based on my own experiences.

Not trying diss Volvo per se, but if the option exists to consider alternatives, it would be a worthy exercise.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Dieseldude

If the age of the hull will allow it by emissions standards, better off to overhaul a simple old mechanical injection diesel. A good overhaul can be as reliable as a new one, or perhaps more reliable. You avoid the abuse that manufactures and dealers impose on their new gear. If opting for new though, it seems that you cannot assume what should be standard practice such as supplied manuals. Need to get those details settled before signing the purchase agreement. If they will not supply manuals without extra charge, I would just walk away. If they can't toss in a couple of books and a disk or free download, they are not worth dealing with. The goods are of no use without the info. And I would demand bound copies along with digital manuals. Engines that are widely used on land equipment may have good options for after market parts, or at least the network of dealers will be bigger.

I dont think you will meet with success "demanding" anything from a major distributor unless you are placing an order for a large number of units. A single engine purchase by a sailor is insignificant.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Dieseldude

When one considers that fairly capable OBDII vehicle scanners can be had a hundred to several to hundred dollars, this is Highway robbery, or better said, seaway robbery.

Well of course there is a massive volume difference with OBD...but no reason marine diesels could not be OBD compatible except profits!

[Dieseldude]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

I dont think you will meet with success "demanding" anything from a major distributor unless you are placing an order for a large number of units. A single engine purchase by a sailor is insignificant.

When a potential sail can be lost for the sake of tossing in a book to sweeten the deal, turning ones feet toward the door can be persuasive.

[chrisr]

have a friend who's cat has been stuck at a fairly major port for couple of months now (and likely to be a few more yet) after his electronically controlled engines (yanmar) were cooked by a lightning strike

if you plan to go more than 100 miles fm home, keep it simple

cheers,

[Dieseldude]

Originally Posted by chrisr

have a friend who's cat has been stuck at a fairly major port for couple of months now (and likely to be a few more yet) after his electronically controlled engines (yanmar) were cooked by a lightning strike

if you plan to go more than 100 miles fm home, keep it simple

cheers,

But electronics are so reliable that they seldom give any trouble.

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by Carl1956

My experience with Beta.
I bought 2 engines from Beta 50HP, A total refit on my boat which took longer than I thought. So the engines did not started for over a year.
So, when it came to start them , one engine would not fire. After some time I found that the mechanical lift pump did not work. To take it off I had to remove the cooling drain valve , drain the cooling liquid.

Dismantling the pump I found that the lever did not line up with the excenter , just needed a bid of bending . Put the pump and the drain valve back. I thought I test first if the pump works and if the engine fires up before filling the cooling liquid back in.

Primed the engine,.. engine, brand new , 0 hours, started and it went strait away to full speed. I could not stop it, so I closed the valve at the fuel tank. It still needed over 40 seconds till it finally stopped. I was in tears.. no cooling liquid in the brand new engine.
The cause: the diesel had solidified and the injection pump got stuck on full speed.
The engines should have been sold with " calibration fluid ".
Answer from Beta Marine , UK : Not our problem , warranty is only one year.
So I had to take the injection pump to diesel engine shop to get it cleaned and adjusted .

Not the end yet about Beta:
After 900 hours the damper plate , between the flywheel and gearbox blow up.

I contacted R&D in the UK for specifications of their damper plates.: offset to the alignment of the gearbox/ bellhousing max: 0.2mm.
The bellhousing , where the gearbox comes in, was over 0.5mm off to the flywheel.
Contacted Beta Marine in Sydney, they referred me to Uk, UK said contact Sydney. After several emails.. I got an answer... the usual one , " you are out of warranty. "
My opinion; The Kubota engine is really good, but Beta Marina absolutely sucks, I would stay away. buy a Nanni engine Kubota,

Good to hear a counterpoint to most excellent feedback about Beta, including mine with a Beta 50. What kind of gearbox were you running?

I also remember the instructions being very specific about engine needed to be run within 6 months of delivery or contact them for instructions. Maybe your case is what prompted that as I bought mine in 2018. An absolutely brilliant engine so far after 500 hours.

I’d be really nervous having my main engine reliant on electronics and sensors that could shut it down. I was also checking out the Yanmar 4Jh57 since the 4jh5e mechanical was no longer available but got really cold feet after learning about all of the complexity in the engine…

[Island Time O25]

+1 for a Kubota based engine.

Have a friend who was a head mechanic for many years at a large sailing club (80+ sailboats with various engines). Most of his horror stories involved Volvo engines. One that stuck in my mind ifeatured a Volvo tech (whom Volvo dealer sent as a repair requirement to the club) installing a transmission cone backwards. And how it took months to talk Volvo into discovering, admitting to and then fixing that problem.

[MicHughV]

That Volvo transmission cone was the bane of my life. I had times when the engine would not go in reverse. Finally bought a new cone.
With the naked eye, I could not tell the difference between old and new. If there was difference, it had to be in 0.0001 of an inch.
But the new one worked, and the old one didn't. It flummoxed me and ratcheted up my dislike of the engine to an y ever higher degree.
Volvo also used these peculiar rubber compression fittings. For the life of me, I could never install them so they never leaked.
etc, etc, etc, it was a pretty robust engine in many other respects, but all those little things just kept adding up.

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

That Volvo transmission cone was the bane of my life. I had times when the engine would not go in reverse. Finally bought a new cone.
With the naked eye, I could not tell the difference between old and new. If there was difference, it had to be in 0.0001 of an inch.
But the new one worked, and the old one didn't. It flummoxed me and ratcheted up my dislike of the engine to an y ever higher degree.
Volvo also used these peculiar rubber compression fittings. For the life of me, I could never install them so they never leaked.
etc, etc, etc, it was a pretty robust engine in many other respects, but all those little things just kept adding up.

I bought a cat with 2 new d2-50 and 130S saildrives installed by 2 technicians from the manufacturer volvo directly. I have the final check and handover report, biught cat with 19h on these engines.Due to report all fantastic installed and extensively tested...
Well....
- The throttle wires ran 90 degrees over the seawater pipes acting like a saw and cutting into the pipe on both engines
- first time anchoring, driving in reverse with both engines suddenly no propulsion any more. Why: both props fell off as they were mounted with the hardware for the old saildrives and no loctite used for installation. Old volvo have A bored through hole with a massive M10 screw mounted to hold the prop. The new 130S have a dead end hole, so a hollow M10 screw is needed so you can tight it down as the air or water can escape through the hollow center. To secure the screw loctide on screw and special washer that are bended to secure that screws.
Both props are special order as the engines are 2 numbers bigger then original engine mounted.
Volvo Sweden denied all responsibilities despite we had the signed protocols.
I had a local engine volvo specialist control both engines and saildrives whek i bought it, additionally to my surveyor. When Volvo sweden denied he took over responsibility, organized the right parts and a diver to recover the props and mount them correctly. He said he should have seen it when checking but because a factory technician certified correct installation he didn't check that part.

[MicHughV]

Here's a classic...I was informed by the Volvo dealer to only use Volvo oil filters doing an oil change....I don't recall the exact price anymore, but it was about 10 times the price of a regular oil filter. I took the Volvo oil filter to an auto spares shop and they gave me a list of about a half dozen similar filters at a fraction of the price.
Needless to say, I never went back to Volvo for more oil filters.
But the question remained in my mind. Why would Volvo charge x10 times as much for their oil filter ??? For what purpose ????

[Capt. Lace]

Volvo cheapest price per HP bust most expensive for parts. I'd go yanmar

[Capt. Lace]

Cause they got you psyched. Most expensive parts ever

[Shaneesprit]

Originally Posted by IL1333

I find myself in the Caribbean and our Volvo D3-110 has given up the ghost and needs replaced. 2 of 3 cylinders are dead.

This is a common rail, ECU engine. 110hp. It has been a great engine until now but I’ve never been comfortable with the technology…. Having to have a Volvo tech plug the vodia laptop in to diagnose anything. Other than changing the oil, I’m helpless to trouble shoot any problems with it.


My options are to replace it with the same thing…. A wonderfully smooth and technological marvel…… or switch to a Yanmar… which also offers a common rail option……… But, I am very much attracted to the Yanmar mechanical injection choice for its simplicity! It is something that I can fix myself I think!

What am I missing? What else should I consider?

At the end of the day, I’m hoping to get a motor that is super popular, easy to get parts and service and will run for years and years on any sludgy fuel that is dispensed in remote locations….

Thoughts??

Just avoid the common rail.

[Capt. Lace]

Go yanmar