I agree completely with all the points about not throwing a band aid at this problem. Tearing this
engine apart, honing the bad liner and throwing new rings on the bad piston and then putting it all back together does not strike me as a good long term solution. I plan to own and
cruise this
boat for many years, I want an
engine I can 100% depend upon and that will be a plus to the
boat, not a detriment.
So that leaves me with either a full
rebuild of the existing engine, or a re-power. After looking at both options going the
rebuild route takes lots more time and effort, has the boat out of commission much longer and does not cost that much less. So I am leaning toward re-powering with a new
Yanmar 4JH4-TE, the
current 75hp model.
My biggest hesitation with this is that the engine would be coming from Mastry, the Regional
Yanmar distributor and I honestly am not happy with them. I spent a great deal of
money attempting to fix the old engine based upon the diagnostics of
Marine Consulting Services, a Yanmar dealer in
Jacksonville (Jim Hendricks) and Doug Dykens at Mastry. Doug insisted all along and basically still insists that all the problems with this engine go back to the max prop and the engine being overloaded by the prop.
First off, this 4,000 hour engine had at least 3,000 hours of its overall use running out of
gear at 1,200rpm turning a fridge
compressor and
alternator at
anchor. How is the max-prop causing the wear then? The vast majority if not absolute majority of the remaining hours the engine was run at 2,000-2,800rpm pushing the boat along at a good
cruise speed of 6.5-7.5 knots showing no smoke or issues at all.
The problems- black smoke and inability to produce max
rpm plus
fuel dilution of the
oil, did not begin until we left the
dock after 6 months of extensive
refit work on other systems. The engine failure symptoms came on suddenly. How is the max prop to blame for sudden onset engine failure symptoms?
MCS inspected and diagnosed the engine and said I needed new injectors, cleaned out the intercooler and then
sold me a turbo…. All without a simple
compression test. I hauled out and reset the max prop based solely on the insistence of Mastry, again without the engine having been really properly diagnosed. All told I am out over $3,500 because none of these guys were willing to accept that a Yanmar could have an internal engine failure.
Well… clearly it has. I have asked the Mastry guys to give me credit for the turbo against the
purchase of a new engine, but that’s a no go. I am also going to have to pay for yet another
haul out to reset the max prop AGAIN back to its correct settings for a 75hp engine. Relative to the turbo, they say I have to contact MCS…. Who is back in
Jacksonville and has not returned any of my last calls. Basically, all the
money I spent so far is just gone… too bad. THAT leaves a very bad Yanmar taste in my mouth.
(anyone want to buy a used 4JH2- HTE with one bad cylinder a bad injection
pump but new injectors, and a brand new turbo???)
The prop thing really gets my goat. YES… the prop was overpitched you could say. The boat would not make the engines rated
rpm. But the reason the rpm was not possible with the prop
pitch that was set was not because the
pitch was too high…. It was because the supposedly 75hp engine was probably only giving 45hp because it was dead on one cylinder! Of course its over-pitched for an engine dragging a dead cylinder around. Yet, that was never considered a possibility and instead it was repeatedly insisted that the problem could only be the max prop being over-pitched.
Arrrghgghhhhhhhhh
If I could find a new
Westerbeke or other engine that would drop right in and bolt up to the same overall footprint of the old Yanmar I would walk away from Yanmar and never look back.
I may call Mack Boring and see if I can buy a Yanmar through them and have it shipped down here. I am also going to keep trying MCS until I do get a reply and try to return this turbo that should never have been
sold to me.
The lesson for people to learn here is very simple: REAL mechanics DO have the tools and skill to conduct hard testing in order to obtain real numbers and diagnostic information thus allowing effective
repairs and not expensive guesses. NEVER
work with a shop or technician who is not prepared to do such tests. I made this mistake and it has proven very expensive.
Terry