VW TDI Marine Engine?

[oharag]

Hi. Looking into buying a sailboat. I’m interested in a Jeanneau 57. It seems like early boats (before 2015) have a VW TDI engine (140 HP). After 2015 it seems like they switched over to Yanmar engines. So searched for “Are VW Marine engines reliable”. I found a thread on this site stating that support for VW Marine engines is spotty, and parts are expensive. Considering that most boats come with Yanmar or Volvos. So my question to members is, Should I be concerned about a boat with a VW engine? Does anyone have experience. So I’m in USA so I think getting parts and even maintenance shouldn’t be an issue. I’m looking for VW are Crap or unreliable or okay engines yada yada

Thanks

[Oldwheels]

It has a car engine that has been converted. An orphan to most yards and boats.Built by somebody converting diesel engines from VW to marine usage. Why take on something that is not supported widely? Yanmar is world wide for boats.

[pcmm]

Look for "Pathfinder marine" diesel engines They marinized VW blocks in the eighties but I would be surprised to see a Jeanneau from 2015 with a vw marine engine.

[AndyEss]

Originally Posted by Oldwheels

It has a car engine that has been converted. An orphan to most yards and boats.Built by somebody converting diesel engines from VW to marine usage. Why take on something that is not supported widely? Yanmar is world wide for boats.

VW has had a worldwide presence for decades. Parts and experienced mechanics should be able to be found easily. The one area where you might run into problems is the heat exchangers which would be on only the marinized engines.
My boat came with a marinized VW Golf diesel (Pathfinder) and nearly 40 years later is still running fine

[boom23]

The Greenline 40 powerboat used the VW TDI engines until about 2014 (I believe). Also, I remember reading somewhere that Mercruiser has used the VW engines. Maybe Mercruiser places service them.

[Dsanduril]

You might PM Zanshin here on CF. They sail a Jeanneau 57 with the VW engine (marinized by Volkswagen-Marine in Germany and an alliance partner with Jeanneau for 5 or so years, not too fly-by-night). If you can’t reach them you might also peruse their blog, could provide more than just engine info since it’s the same boat you are considering.

[HankOnthewater]

The Amel 54 was also delivered with a VW engine for a while.

Maybe you can phone around in your intended sailing area, who can service that model of VW engine. If you were to buy the boat, that is what you need to do anyway. May as well do that before you buy it.