1989 Perkins Range 4 240

[Doucede]

I am interested in a boat with twin 240hp engines of the above type. Would appreciate any thoughts/experience,strengths/weaknesses,parts availability and anything else that might help. The engines are said to total less than 800 hours, look very clean and tidy with no rust or leaks.

[oscar]

Can't give you specifics on the model, but the brand, Perkins, has been around for a long time, has been installed in more boats than I can guess and I've never heard of ANY systematic issues, or parts availability problems......

So, same things that apply to all marine diesels.

1 Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. Oil changes, cooling system, (overheating ANY diesel will kill it), turbos (if installed)....... records are good. No records is bad.

2 Survey, including compression check, oil/coolant analysis and a thorough sea trial.

Are you aware of boatdiesel.com ? That's the place where you will get a LOT more feedback on this question.

[Turtle Blues]

Have a pair same year. Perkins is listing several serious cast iron parts such as after cooler barrels as nla. As these older engines reach the point that raw water contact parts need replacement it seems they are not supporting them.