Engine Hours

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sailaway78

sailaway78

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May 11, 2005
3,431
Seidelman S37 Slidell, La.
Have been curious for some time about how many hours could be realistically expected from a small diesel. Not any specific make, just a base idea. Got to thinking about my Mazda van, which is getting very close to 250,000 miles. Figuring an average liifetime speed of 40mph, which I have no idea how close that would be, is a little over 6,000 hours. So, maybe a base line. Then yesterday I talked to a captain with tow boats, and ask him about the Yamahas he was using. He absolutely swore by them and in the conversation he said they would easily go 3,000 hours if well maintained. So the question still remains, but seems to be much more that what is normally accepted. What is the opinions of the board, again assuming the engine is taken care of properly.
 
KD3PC

KD3PC

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Sep 25, 2008
1,069
boatless rainbow Callao, VA
I would say, based on experience and first hand knowledge, that with reasonable care, standard induction diesels will easily go 4500-6000 hours. SOme of the higher rev, turbo/super charged less. I have friends that have Lehman and JD inline diesels with 8000+ hours still going strong...

all the best, and if you find some facts or surveys, please let us know.

dave
 
RAD

RAD

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Jun 3, 2004
2,330
Catalina 30 Bay Shore, N.Y.
I have to agree that a well taken care of diesel could get 8000 hrs on it, I have an 78 Westerbeke in my ODay and on average I only put maybe 25 hrs on it per season because it just takes me in and out of the slip and I try to exercise it as much as possible.
It has about 1200 hrs total so given 30+ years I would say that it will out live the boat with hardly a dent in its life expectancy
 
Patrick S/V Shangra-La

Patrick S/V Shangra-La

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Sep 6, 2007
324
Catalina 320 Gulfport, Fl
Yanmar boasts 10,000 hours I will be happy with 6 - 8,000. At present the boat is 10 years old. The hours are 510. So I should be dead before the engine dies. ;)
 
E

Eddie7045

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Aug 16, 2006
281
Ericson 32 Oregon coast
The key to longevity is clean crankcase oil.

The good news is too that additive packages have improved over the years (now up to API-SM rating) to the point where engines in automobiles outlast the vehicle itself with regular oil changes.

There are a lot of myths out there. One is that crankcase oil in diesels does not need to be changed as much as an gasoline engine. If anything you might want to change it more often, especially if you want it to last indefinitely.

Remember that diesel crankcase oil must be rated for use in diesel engines and not for gasoline engines only.
 
G

Guest

Engine life

Eight to ten thousand hours from a well maintained diesel engine is a reasonable expectation. Our 1991 Yanmar 4JH2-TE has 1,400+ hours on it (630 hours when we purchased her in 2002) still starts on the first crank and runs as strong as ever.

Terry Cox
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,701
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
My buddy Darren

My buddy Darren owns a good sized excavating, irragation and landscaping company in Colorado and we talk diesels quite a bit. He has a good sized fleet of them and some of them have over 20k hours with no rebuilds. The last time I spoke with him he had one Yanmar block and one Mitsubishi block with over 20k hours. He bought both of these machines used with about 5k hours on them back in the late 90's.

Most of his smaller engines are either Yanmar or Kubota but he does have a few Mitsubishi's too. Most ofhis engines run all day and never shut off and they idle for long hours. Now granted these are not in a marine application but in well over 500,000 hours of combined run time on his fleet he has yet to rebuild any engine. All his machines run Shell Rotella and get changed frequently. Of course he buys his oil in 55 gal drums...;)

If heavy equipment running Yanmar, Mitsubishi and Kubota blocks can rack up 20k hours with no rebuilds then a well maintianed marine diesel should be able to do the same.

P.S. When we had the discussion about not letting diesels idle he just laughed and had never heard of glazing the cylinder walls. His comment was somehting like "Sh&t I better let my guys know not to let them idle". Course he'd already been doing it for 20 some odd years with no failed engines or rebuilds needed...
 
Bad Obsession

Bad Obsession

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May 23, 2004
3,319
I'm in the market as were . Colonial Beach
Diesels are tough engines that like to work and like to run. Leave a diesel sitting around and it won't be as happy as a diesel that has been working. I have a diesel truck with 175,000 miles on it and it still purrs. It is not uncommon for them to hit 250,000 miles and not even have an issue.

I only have 654 hours on my 1990 Catalina 30. That means that it has sat around some as well. No biggie because it doesn't sit anymore and it has been maintained well these days. She purrs :)
 
S

Steve Dion

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Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Yanmar guy told us that Yanmar rates their engines for 10,000-12,000 hrs., this was based on the GM series.

I believe this is based on "nominal" service intervals, clean oil, clean fuel and service when leaks occur. Change belts, filters and impellers on a regular basis (before they die).
 
Bad Obsession

Bad Obsession

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May 23, 2004
3,319
I'm in the market as were . Colonial Beach
Maintenance is a no brainer....it is not a place to cut corners and skip things. Do it and save yourself the big repair bill later.
 
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