Universal Diesels....general thoughts

[pwilletts]

What is the background / thoughts on Universal diesel engines....

[Snore]

My personal boat is a Tartan 33 with her original universal 5424. IMHO as long as you take care of a good diesel they are fairly bulletproof. My 5424 is a “marinized” Kubota. Aside from the water pump">raw water pump, and gold paint- still not sure what was changed.

But as with any older boat- you buy not only the boat- but the use/abuse and repairs of all prior owners. So if the oil was not changed on schedule, or she was run hot (not maintained heat exchanger)- the engine may not hold up.

[Steve Bean]

I understand that Westerbeke now owns Universal. The engines are built on a Kubota block. A tractor store can supply some of the parts, at "tractor" prices. I have the list of Universal Engines, with cross-reference to corresponding tractor models.

[Orion Jim]

As stated a Universal is a marinized Kubota. When I bought my boat in late 2006 the diesel was seized (PO passed away two years before and the widow didn’t have it winterized). I didn’t want to get into the rebuilding a dubious diesel business so I replaced it with a Universal M25-XPB. Great engine. Eleven years with nothing other than routine maintenance after 864 hours.