4000 hours on an engine

[Bob Noodat]

I am looking (from a distance) at an A25 that has a Westerbeke 40hp engine with 4000 hours on it.

The present owners have had the boat for half its life and seem very fastidious about general maintenance. When they first bought the boat the engine had very low hours, had sat unused, and the crank shaft seals had dried up and hardened, so they had those replaced, and the main and connecting rod bearings were checked at the same time and judged to be good. They later had the injection pump rebuilt. Along the way they have also fitted a new alternator and low pressure fuel pump. The heat exchanger is only two years old. Rings, bearings, bores, pistons, and all valve components will be original.

My question is, how far off major overhaul is this 4000 hour engine likely to be, assuming regular, documented oil changes and re-zincing? 1500 rpm is its normal running speed.

[dkirsop]

It will probably need a valve job. Regular maintenance is key to long engine life. If the engine was well maintained you should be able to get about another 6000 hours out of it with one more valve job at the 8000 hour mark.

[dkirsop]

P.S. My engine is original to the boat and I rebuilt it about 4 years ago so it was about 44 years old at the time. I have no idea what the hours would have totalled as it did not come with the required records and the hour meter was not original. However a total of 10,000 hours would not have been out of line based on my own annual usage.

[Dieselram94]

Is that westerbeke actually a Perkins? I believe some of those are rebadged Perkins.

[Bob Noodat]

Thanks dkirsop, that is good information.

Dieselram: That I am afraid I don't know. Just that it is something like 20 years old and called a Westerbeke 40hp. Should have pictures soon though.

[Bob Noodat]

I am assuming that this would be a re-power, is that correct? Or could it be OE?

[Bob Noodat]

More: thanks Dieselram for that information. It seems you must be correct about the 40 being a Perkins. No doubt a good engine, but sounds like a very heavy lump to put in an A25. Maybe over 600lbs, certainly well over 500, is that right?

[Norseman]

If it is a Perkins it could last forever.
I had a 4-108 on previous boat, great engine. A friend ran charters in
St. Croix with the same model engine, he overhauled it at 15,000 hours, not because it needed it but because the high hours made him nervous,

[Dieselram94]

More: thanks Dieselram for that information. It seems you must be correct about the 40 being a Perkins. No doubt a good engine, but sounds like a very heavy lump to put in an A25. Maybe over 600lbs, certainly well over 500, is that right?

Your welcome, I have a Perkins 4.108 in my Albin 25, I has around 2500 hrs on it (can’t remember exactly) and runs perfect. A previous owner has it installed about 1993. 4000 hrs would not make me nervous as long as it’s in reasonable condition and runs well. A oil analysis can be revealing as well. I hope it works out for you! Any pics of this motor?

[Dieselram94]

Picture of my Perkins 4.108

[WillieC]

Not OE, for sure. The eary ones were Albin AD21. The later early ones were VP MD3B, the middle later ones were VP MD17C.

I have been known to provide non-answers in the past, and make the disclaimer that perhaps, just MAYBE, as the company was winding down they slipped in other engines they had laying around.

I suspect the Westerbeke is a repower, but who can know these things? Our boat came with a dying MD3B that I think, but have no way of knowing with absolute certainty, that it was original. It had over 5000 hours on the (original) Hobbs meter, another mystery number. If true, that works out to about 125 hours per year. (Not sure of the metric equivalent.) That number is close to what we do now, and I suspect there were several years of complete neglect. Just a hunch.

Those are hard hours on an engine that is not lovingly laid up for non-use, depending on storage conditions. On the other hand, well-used by long running, fully warmed up periods and decent care when laid up, I agree with Mr. K's assessment. The worst problem with any of these engines is neglect and idleness.

The engine in question seems like it was taken care of, especially noted by the replacement of leaky seals. A working, accurate oil pressure gauge is a good check of bearing condition and may have been the basis for the summary in the OP. Tear down for visual inspection is a bit involved. Good report on injector pump service. I'd pursue that boat...depending...

[Dieselram94]

More: thanks Dieselram for that information. It seems you must be correct about the 40 being a Perkins. No doubt a good engine, but sounds like a very heavy lump to put in an A25. Maybe over 600lbs, certainly well over 500, is that right?

Your welcome, I have a Perkins 4.108 in my Albin 25, I has around 2500 hrs on it (can’t remember exactly) and runs perfect. A previous owner has it installed about 1993. 4000 hrs would not make me nervous as long as it’s in reasonable condition and runs well. A oil analysis can be revealing as well. I hope it works out for you! Any pics of this motor?
Not sure on the weight, but I don’t think it’s 500 pounds. I am judging that based on me baring mine around last summer as I redid the attachments for the motor mounts and realigned the motor. It just didn’t seem that heavy to me, but the cover just barely fits the motor! Lol

[Bob Noodat]

Hopefully pictures next week.

Sounds as though the hours are nothing to fear, and I presume you still have some freeboard with the 4-108 in there?

15,000 hours! Well, I guess that might get me through a couple of seasons.... 2x365x24=17,520 hours..... getting on for two years then.

[Bob Noodat]

Not OE, for sure. The eary ones were Albin AD21. The later early ones were VP MD3B, the middle later ones were VP MD17C.

I have been known to provide non-answers in the past, and make the disclaimer that perhaps, just MAYBE, as the company was winding down they slipped in other engines they had laying around.

I suspect the Westerbeke is a repower, but who can know these things? Our boat came with a dying MD3B that I think, but have no way of knowing with absolute certainty, that it was original. It had over 5000 hours on the (original) Hobbs meter, another mystery number. If true, that works out to about 125 hours per year. (Not sure of the metric equivalent.) That number is close to what we do now, and I suspect there were several years of complete neglect. Just a hunch.

Those are hard hours on an engine that is not lovingly laid up for non-use, depending on storage conditions. On the other hand, well-used by long running, fully warmed up periods and decent care when laid up, I agree with Mr. K's assessment. The worst problem with any of these engines is neglect and idleness.

The engine in question seems like it was taken care of, especially noted by the replacement of leaky seals. A working, accurate oil pressure gauge is a good check of bearing condition and may have been the basis for the summary in the OP. Tear down for visual inspection is a bit involved. Good report on injector pump service. I'd pursue that boat...depending...

Oil pressure said to be 50psi warm and normal rpm's. Oil changes every 200 hours, which would work out to average a little more than once a season apparently.

... known to provide non-answers...

Oops......

You are right. It's all a guessing game at that age. Even honesty forgets.

[WillieC]

Seriously, I wish our original MD3B had such good care. We puttered around the Canal near our home never trusting it (or me) to go far from home. Then DA started bugging the heck out of us to get out there. So I started pushing the 3B to see how dependable it was. The PO said he never ran it over 1600, but the book says much higher. It started losing anti-freeze (it was equipped with an aftermarket HX and pump, these were all rawwater cooled) and I wasn't really pushing it. I tried everything, then finally sent in oil for testing. Sure enough, anti-freeze in oil.

On to the spare engine, see long thread elsewhere.

There's a remote idea for you. Pay for the owner to send in an oil sample for testing. I know sampling is best done with a baseline and then regular follow-ups, but you could learn something useful. Maybe, maybe not. I am most definitely not pooh-poohing the Westerbeke. A runner is a runner and remember, all these boats are gold in the eye of the owner, as much as I hope there are realists in the mix. At least they admit to 4000 hours on the engine, mostly theirs. That is a good thing.

(I missed the earlier reference to oil testing. My last original thought was when I was 16 years old and that didn't go well. And it wasn't even original.)