Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Jones
Looking at a boat with a D2-55C. Believe it is a 2004 model.
I know nothing about the history of the engine and it will be hard if not impossible to get any history on it.
The motor has 3000 hours on it. At this stage I dont know the condition of it (how it starts, does it blow any smoke and if so what color smoke).
I believe this is the Perkins block. At 3000 hours IF it was well looked after the motor has plenty of life left in it.
Particular to my situation I am considering overhauling the motor. I am not decided yet and it will depend on a report of the engine. I will be doing a compression test and a cylinder leak test. If its really solid then I will just put new injectors in it and have the injector pump taken out and serviced. I would have the valves adjusted to the correct backlash. If its the least bit low in compression readings I would have it overhauled. The reason why is this;
......the boat is being taken off the sea and transported inland to a very remote location where there are no facilities for repairing yachts.
While it is expensive to overhaul the engine while its at a seaport where there are LOTS of facilities to repair anything on the boat, once it goes remote it would cost 4 or 5 times more to do anything to it once there.
I would have the raw water impeller replaced, the fresh water pump replaced and would have to take a long hard look at the heat exchanger given this motor has been in service for nearly 20 years.
My questions to those who either have or know this engine are,
Do you think at 3000 hours it makes sense to just bite the bullet and recondition the engine?
Does this engine have sleeves or do the bores need to be machined to an oversize and oversize pistons/rings fitted?
Are these engines still available new? If so perhaps a short motor would be a better deal?
What other items/things should I consider replacing on this engine?
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I have a D2-55. I can't remember whether A, B or C. If it's attached to a
saildrive then one question will be a replacement of the rubber skirt that separates your
hull from all that seawater. Recommended at 7 yrs, my boat is a 2004 also and I haven't yet replaced it. However I did replace the exhaust elbow, with another cast iron one at around $NZ1100 . Apparently an after market
stainless steel elbow is available at a better
price than the cast iron one. When you do this be sure to take a good look at where the elbow faces the heat exchanger exhaust port. Mine had eaten completely out and it is a feature of these engines. Aluminium exchanger meets stainless
steel gasket meets cast iron in an area of hot exhaust turbulence,
salt water and all those different metals is a fight to the death and the most noble metal wins. The stainless
steel gasket was like new but the cast iron and the alloy around the exhaust port was blowing out saltwater and exhaust fumes everywhere.
Replace the plastic cable end holder of your remote engine controls where they enter the gear/throttle lever mechanism in the
steering pedestal or wherever it's mounted. Keep a spare, if you are doing some serious cruising in remote areas. It's such a pain when it breaks and you have throttle but it's locked into forward or reverse. It feels like it's still working but you will have to have someone go below and change
gear on the top of the
saildrive manually if it busts while someone topside navigates until repaired. Keep a spare or replace the
diaphragm on the
fuel lift pump, as well as what you intend for the injector pump and injectors.
They are a Perkins and
buying parts if you are reconditioning the engine that way rather than through
Volvo will probably be much cheaper. The manual that came with the boat, (or did I buy it separately on line ?) gives all the specs, clearances tolerances etc for reconditioning. They also have a little
electrical black box controller that for some owners, apparently has given trouble. A spare might be the ticket for that item also. Check what external
fuel filtering system you have on it, my one is not so common as
Racor, and I forward order for that reason.
In my view they are a pretty straightforward engine. I can't remember which rubber hose but found it impossible to replace one of them as they just don't seem to make them anymore. It may have been between the
raw water pump and the block I just can't remember, but check out those for spares. Mine has done less hours but fairly similar.
If it's running a sail drive replace the back to back bottom end
seals when you do maintenance on the sail drive, replace oil, and ensure the position is slightly different than where the previous
seals wore and you are less likely to develop a leak. Zincs of course need redoing annually on the hub if its a Volvo three bladed prop. And Maybe annually or stretched to biannual for the saildrive zinc behind the prop hub.
All the best with that.