Small Diesel engine life-span - 120hp and 165 hp

[doggypaddle]

Originally Posted by Mollers

Some farms around here have only ditched the Lister Startomatic gennies in recent years. A genny application is diesel heaven, light load, constant revs and a warm dry home. Just add fuel and occasional oil.

i got a few of them! brilliantly agriculturally engineered! they make them in india now!

I have a lister jp2, one of the first, made in 1930 from the engine number 18hp 500rpm it was one of the first batch of 100 made, and the second oldest known to exist. It ran a generator on a ship for a while, then went to a quarry to run a compressor, despite the dusty enviroment it still managed to run continuously from 1950 to 1990 sometimes 24 hours a day.
its had a rebuild at an estimated 70,000 hours in the logbook the quarry kept, and that was 70,000 on an already secondhand engine.
it was replaced in 1990 with a more modern engine, which lasted 2 years!!

[willk]

Originally Posted by Mollers

Some farms around here have only ditched the Lister Startomatic gennies in recent years. A genny application is diesel heaven, light load, constant revs and a warm dry home. Just add fuel and occasional oil.

Originally Posted by wildwords

If anyone has any experience as opposed to pillow talk on the engines below and their likely realistic life-span

What the hell, pillow talk it is so. I have a ancient Tatton Electric 200kva for work, Stamford alternator on a Volvo 120 AG (straight six & turbo). She ran in the UK for years before I bought her in 1994. Other than batteries and service items, she has never missed a beat. 8-12 gallons an hour - peanuts by marine standards

[LURCHER]

2000+ hours eats starters and alternators but fine otherwise , the 1.7 mercruiser is notorious for failures due to wastegate problems ,

[Searider]

Latest Volvo D4s come with stickers on them stating that for emissions purposes the service life is 1000 hours or 10 years.

So, I guess that Volvo reckon that their new technology engines might get a little smoky by then. Should still be perfectly serviceable after that for a fair while though.

[doggypaddle]

Originally Posted by Searider

Latest Volvo D4s come with stickers on them stating that for emissions purposes the service life is 1000 hours or 10 years.

So, I guess that Volvo reckon that their new technology engines might get a little smoky by then. Should still be perfectly serviceable after that for a fair while though.

God that is utterly rediculous! i fitted a tacho with an hour clock to my Isuzu 4jb1 2.8 in my landrover and thats clocked up 1000 hours in what seems like a very short time! probably 2 /3 years! i would be well miffed if it was unservicable now, even though it was a 100,000 mile engine when i fitted it. If it is really the case that modern marine high speed diesels are worn out in 1000 hours i will stick with the old agricultural technology and the plumes of smoke associated with it
it does seem though after doing some considerable research on the subject, that the reasonable life for a nasty revvy high speed modern diesel in a rib is around the 2000 hour mark, a more conventional marine engine, ie cummins B series, MWM, perkins Phaser, ford dorset etc should go for 5-10000 hours plus
and the normally aspirated versions......well you would get bored of it well before it wore out!

[mickyspec]

I personaly have put 1500 hrs on my yamaha 421 inboard without issue
and i have a friend thats done 7000!!!! hrs on a yamaha me 370 with zero
issues . the marinisation on small diesels is normaly what causes issues,
choked heat exchangers/ intercoolers etc."marine age "as apposed to usage
is the enemy imho

[nik]

Personally I would go for the redbay yamaha combo.
The mercruisers have less power and have had issues with the engines. The volvo will be expensive for spare parts.

Nick.

[wavelength]

twin volvos driving hamilton jets (600 and odd hp each) in use virtually every day, most of the time at full chat, both done over 4,000 hours with no issues.

[Roger Barr]

Life span definately comes down to maintenance. My old Redbay had 2400hrs on the clock but had the engine replaced due to no 4 piston breaking between the rings.

I rebuilt the replacement (already second hand) from the crank up when it decided to give up. Pistons / liners/ gudeon pins/ wee ends / big ends/ mains/ head skim / valve seats and guides / injectors refurbed/ turbo replaced with a garret conversion etc etc etc.

Probably down to infrequent oil changes looking at the wear on the gudeon pins. . Could also have been due to over fuelling out of the 8 injectors I had between the 2 engines only 1 was spraying the rest were pouring fuel in.
Having been down to and well past the knickers of the yamaha I have to say I wouldn't have any problem owning another one. Easy to work on simple engines, no electronics.
A big plus point for me is the gear driven cam and fuel pump, no belts to snap or trap moisture under and rust the teeth on the pulleys. based on the toyota 14B makes gaskets and engine parts much cheaper. Toyota valve cap £1.80, 2 day delivery yamaha valve cap £8 7 day delivery. Still havent found the one I lost!
Can't comment on the other setups have never owned any of them.

IF anyone has a workshop manual for a Yanmar 4LH - STE give me a shout.

Regards,
Barry

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Originally Posted by willk

Not my estimate but rather that of John Price.

Maybe not the day to call me willi either, thnx

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8535618.stm

oops, unfortunat typo!