B361 Westerbeke idle speed

[bshock]

Hi all,

I'm not at my boat and can't check the model number of my engine, but I'm wondering if it is the 30B3 Westerbeke model. It's a 27hp and the boat is USA made.

This is the situation; the boat is new to me and I just launched it on Friday. I had the surveyor perform the in-water part of his survey Saturday morning and he indicated that the idle rpms were much too high at 1,200. He said the engine should be idling at around 800 rpms. so he adjusted the engine to that setting. At that setting however, the engine was running much rougher and sounded as though it was shaking.

I talked to an authorized Westerbeke service mechanic recommended by the broker who sold me the boat, and he said that if the engine is indeed the 30B3 model that the stated idle speed in the manual is 1,100 to 1,200 rpms and that lowering it to under 1,000 would result in the rougher, rattling sounding engine.

Can anyone confirm this? Thanks so much!

 

[joker460]

Go to the westerbeke website and download the manual.

http://www.westerbeke.com/products/onlinemanuals.aspx

 

[Ron20324]

...I talked to an authorized Westerbeke service mechanic recommended by the broker who sold me the boat, and he said that if the engine is indeed the 30B3 model that the stated idle speed in the manual is 1,100 to 1,200 rpms and that lowering it to under 1,000 would result in the rougher, rattling sounding engine.
Can anyone confirm this?...

If you don't believe him, who are you going to believe

 

[bshock]

Who am I going to believe if I don't believe the mechanic? I'm not saying I don't believe the mechanic, but I don't know this guy, and he's got a relationship with the broker who sold my boat. I could see my broker warning this guy that I was going to call and to tell me what he wants me to believe. The broker seems more concerned with finalizing this transaction than with looking out for my best interests. So I don't think I'm out of line looking for a second opinion or corroboration of some sort. I did download the manual, so thanks for the link. I wish I had thought of looking online for that before I posted.

 

[joker460]

No problem:dance:

 

[BCDurbin]

Be careful with that Universal RPM gauge. Or did he check it at the engine? My Universal gauge seamed stuck the other day!

 

[Mike B]

I had the 30B in our last boat a 2002 361 and kept the idle speed at 1000rpms. Any lower and it ran rough at idle. Any faster and the transmission would clunk when engaging forward or reverse. It's an easy adjustment with a locking screw at the end of the throttle cable. Adjust your's according to how the engine/transmission react.
Mike

 

[suttonski]

Hi, I have a 361 with the 30B3 and I have original delivery spec for the engine. The idle speed was set at 1150 rpm. I have tried to lower it because I found that I was going too fast coming to my slip. If you reduce the rpm the engine will stat to knock, which is really not good. I spoke with Westerbeke and they confirmed that the rpm must be set aroun 1150rpm. I bought a Digital laser rpm and adjusted my tachometer, then I adusted the idle speed. I can find the details on Digital laser if you need it, about $25.
Hope this wil help.

 

[bshock]

Thanks all. BC, we had checked the idle rpms at the instrument in the cockpit. I'm going to adjust the idle speed back up to the correct setting. Thanks so much, all, for your help.

 

[Meriachee]

The idle speed needs to be somewhere between 1000 and 1200, but the finesse is to figure out relationship between the lower idle speed for smoothness and the clunk when engaging the drive. I currently have a 20b2, and it idles quite nicely at 900. That said, it does run like a proverbial pos until it warms up. The trick is to warm up the glow plugs, and leave them on for 10-15 seconds after the engine starts. It settles down quite nicely after that.
If you lower the idle too much below 1000, the engine will gum up as the fuel doesn't burn well.