The wonderful thing about a
diesel is indeed its long life. But to know just how many hours you trusty engine will last one must first think ....its not how many hours just what kind of hours were placed upon this unit.
To diesels don't like to run not under load so to leave your engine running while not in
gear is hard on it, it needs to reach thermal operating temp or you will get excess carbon and sludge buildup inside.
Most people just don't change oil enough. At 150-200 hours its ready for new oil and filters. The marine
environment plays hell on them and nothing can ruin it faster then
water in the
fuel injection system. NEVER store your boat with empty
fuel tanks or you will get water
condensation inside the
tanks. Speaking of the fuel system the injectors (easy to change) should be removed inspected and perhaps changed each 3-4 thousand hours of service. Look at the engine anti-freeze and if your using the green stuff you might want to think about
flushing the system and converting to the red colored longer life
coolant. NEVER mix the colors. Anti-freeze has chemical compounds that fight against electro
corrosion inside your engine and this stops nasty things like cylinder sleeves from being eaten away as well as oil and trans coolers. The red colored
coolant last much longer.
Don't run your engine at more then 75% of it rated output. Your dealer will have an engine
RPM power output scale if you don't already know what its is. For example an Isuzu C-240 60 HP engine will reach its max output of 60 HP at 2400
rpm. If you just use 40 HP of its potential you might be holding your RPM back to 1800 max. As long as the engine is reaching its running temps and sounds happy why push it so much harder when you will only get one more kt speed yet shorten your engine life.
With proper care a good engine can easy last 25,000 -30,000 hours before you are looking at a
rebuild. Your fuel injection system will last approx. 15,000 hours with clean fuel before the
pump should be pulled and inspected.
How long will it last ? Its hard to say given all the possible aspects. But with good care it will indeed last as long as you own the boat.