Engine Survey Yanmar 2GM20F. help

KD3PC · Jun 5, 2011

you could easily spend 10% of your purchase price in parts alone to see if the engine will run. More to run reliably. About half of your purchase price just to fix those things you know about already. Unless you are familiar with shaft alignment, shaft seal and couplings you can easily spend the purchase price on that alone....as indicated by the price for the engine survey, you live in an area that gets premium prices for services.
YOu can not adjust motor mounts correctly on the hard. Whether on the hard or in the water for three years, the drive line should be properly maintained and run...

Yanmars should be able to sit for that long, with proper maintenance and other than a battery jump should start right away.

Your best bet is to walk...dishonest or not, a sea trial and engine running, and a survey are critical to a good decision and the seller should KNOW that. You may have not asked the "right" question.

Personally I can do all those repairs, given adequate parts and a place to do them. But at $100 an hour for shop repair....to have them done. Not a good deal in any way.

Too many boats out there

John T1594 · Jun 5, 2011

It would not be unusual for you to put a certain amount of the purchase price into escrow pending the successful starting and running of the engine. Alternately, you could negotiate a new price that reflects some part of the repairs needed on the engine. You have the engine survey as evidence.

Ed Schenck · Jun 5, 2011

Do you have a friend with some engine experience? And is it located where you can get a hose to it? It is not difficult to remove and clean the "exhaust riser". With a hose, and if the marina allows, you could try starting and running the engine.

Steve Dion · Jun 5, 2011

The impeller needs to be replaced. (est $20)

The belts are worn (est $30)

The forward engine mounts are loose and the surveyor recommends realignment. (est $250-300 labor)

The wrong type of antifreeze was used in an environment that gets below the protective value of the antifreeze. (est $20 + (labor $150-200) if you need help bleeding cooling system - needs total flush)

The engine oil is low and really dirty (est $15 for oil, needs trans oil changed too) and the propeller shaft/ transmission coupling is corroded and leaking at the packing. (est $10 for packing).

All of the hoses need replacement. (est $200).

Mixing elbow (est $250)

You can do most of this work yourself. Mack Boring can provide you with all of the parts in your area. While you are at it, I would change the fuel hoses from the tank to the engine and do not forget the fuel filters.

If you don't know what you are doing the engine alignment, problems with the motor mount and flushing the entire cooling system to use Dex-cool seem to be your biggest problems. The rest of it just takes some time and effort.

Most of these issues are general maintenance that you will probably want to know how to do so it is a good time to get your feet wet (so to speak).

robertsapp · Jun 6, 2011

You never mentioned how the compression test turned out. If you had good compression, then I agree with Steve. Belts, hoses, impeller, filters, new fluids - these are all things that you should plan on doing whenever you buy a boat unless you know the previous owner was meticulous about maintenance. Exhaust elbows are a maintenance item and should probably be replaced. The two things you've mentioned that seem troubling are "loose motor mounts" and "leaking at the packing." Do the mounts just need to be tightened? Or has the rubber decayed and mounts need to be replaced? Or have the mounts pulled free from the stringers and you need to yank the engine and rebuild the engine bed? Quite a difference in cost between those options. Since the boat is on the hard, the packing you refer to must not be the shaft packing - is the rear transmission seal leaking? Because I'm not completely sure, but I suspect that if it is, that's also something that would require you to yank the engine - not sure if you could repair that seal in the boat.

robertsapp · Jun 6, 2011

JDB said:
Thanks for all the input! The compression check came back at 27 bar, 395psi minimum recommended compression is 315 psi.

As far as the packing referred to this is what the surveyor wrote "Transmission/propeller shaft couplings heavily corroded. Suggests shaft packing leaking resulting in corrosion noted." I assume that this is shaft packing?

The surveyor did not mention that the mounts were bad just that the top nut is loose.

If you had 395 psi reading in both cylinders, then you know your valves, rings, pistons, connecting rods and crank are all in good shape. That's very good. So any starting problems would be related to fuel, air, or exhaust, which are must easier to deal with. Based on what the surveyor said, you're right, it sounds like he suspected the shaft seail is throwing some salt water around and corroded the coupler. Personally, I'd consider that an "I couldn't find anything else to say, but I had to list something" comment on the part of the surveyor. You might be able to fix the problem by just tightening the packing nut a bit, although if the boat has been on the hard for three years, you probably want to replace the packing. Not that hard, check Mainesail's excellent guide to packing replacement for more info.

jsgonz · Jun 6, 2011

JDB, I thought I was reading my own post. I have a 28.5 that I bought with pretty much the same story. I took my time with a complete redo of my boat that included interior and exterior. Too much to go into here as I lost myself doing all the things that I wanted to do but now it is a great boat.

Regarding the engine. Before I bought it I made sure it was running. I changed all hoses, belts, impeller, fuel and air filters, replaced the fuel lines and mesh fuel line to the secondary filter, fuel strainer as the treads were not holding the bleed screws or fuel line, new racor, replaced oil and transmission fluids, thermostat, exhaust elbow, and the fitting it goes on, cleaned out the heat exchanger, exhaust hose from water muffler, cleaned oil pan with new gasket (oil in bottom of pan had no grit) and most importantly, & something I have not read about the 2gm from others, recalibrated the fuel injector pump. The engine is now awesome. Cranks the second the button is pushed. The injector pump was the last thing I did and it made all the difference in a smooth running engine. Yes I put some money in the engine, but I have no worries. If and when I need to motor 30 miles to get it to a safe harbor during hurricane season, I can do so without a problem. I had a mechanic do this work reasonably ($45 an hour) and was worth the money. Don't try to get the injector pump out yourself unless you are mechanically inclined which I am not. The other things I may have been able to accomplish but I had the man come in to ck it, order the things it needed and got it done all about the same time.

Shafting, my bronze shaft and strut had electrolysis damage, so I replaced with SS shaft and new bronze strut, shaft log as it was worn irregularly, coupler and PSS seal. I have no leaks sitting still or under way. My bilge is dusty. Putting in the shaft is the tricky part because you must set the strut correctly otherwise the shaft will not align with the output flange of the engine and the motor mount adjustments will not be enough to align correctly. This I did myself and I have only a little vibration at 2700 RPMs. The boat has been in the water now a month and I will have a someone from the local boat yard that knows what he is doing, make the final alignment.

If the boat is in otherwise good shape, you can do this but it won't cheap. If you buy it at the right price, putting several thousands into it will not hurt so much and then you have all this new which may not the the case in another used boat. In any event, good luck if buy. By the way, it is a good sailing ship but so are other boats.

jtm · Jun 7, 2011

I'm with Steve and John T - perhaps try negotiate a deal with some contigent escrow amt. You're already in for the compression test- and most of the new hoses, belts, filters etc are things you'd prolly do anyway - most of the jobs are doable yourself. I'd also mention you attend Mack Boring's (Rt.22 in Union NJ) engine maintenance class/course where you will learn stuff that will pay( at local yard rate of 100/hr) for itself in short order - best investment I've made.