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How many hours is too many


Aprilia

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Many boats ive been looking at seem to have between 1000-2000 hours on the engine, some less than that.

But how many is too many, what is the life expectancy form a normal Beta Marine 43BHP or similar.

I appreciate it will have something to do with servicing, how often & how well, but one I like the look of has 6,000+ recorded. I would be hesitant at this large number incase I catch a pup.

Am I right to be overly cautious in this way>

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Our Vetus installed 2005 was at  EH 15,462 a couple of weeks ago. Has an annual service. Gearbox needed it to come out of the boat three years ago. Top taken off while it was out, and the boatyard thought it perfectly good for at least another five years or so.

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I recall seeing (somewhere recently) a design life of 60,000 odd  hours for a Beta engine.

That's one of the reasons why I like Beta kit. Good and solid design and engineering, lots of fixings to fit all sorts of gubbins  and a helpful company when things go wrong.

(Oh the green paint looks good as well....)

 

ps: a large oil sump is available (? fitted as standard) to extend the interval between oil changes.

 

Accordingly I wouldn't panic over an engine that's done 6,000 hours - a lot better than one with low hours that's possibly never been really warmed up.

A 'short engine' = base engine for replacement is not hugely expensive anyway.

 

Thinks - how does 6,000 hours translate into vehicle miles - 30,000??

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Our Lister LPWS4 had 11,000 hours on it when we sold it - oil changed every 100 hours (to recommendation) and it didn't use (or lose) a drop between servicing. Kitchen roll on the floor under the engine never got a spot on it (except during oil change)

 

Service record is the key to a long life for a diesel engine,

Some taxi engines have done well over 30,000 hours.

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At 6000 hours it should be run in by now. We had lots of small diesel engines that would do 500,000 miles, That equates to about 15,000  road hours,  100 oil changes @ 5000 miles.  And a boat engine has an easy life compared  to a vehicle.

Edited by Tracy D'arth
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My Beta 43 has done 6500 hours over 13 years. Serviced every 250 hours. Never uses oil between changes. Quick puff of smoke when first started. Only thing that has gone wrong is the stupid fuse by the starter motor.

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3 hours ago, Aprilia said:

Many boats ive been looking at seem to have between 1000-2000 hours on the engine, some less than that.

But how many is too many, what is the life expectancy form a normal Beta Marine 43BHP or similar.

I appreciate it will have something to do with servicing, how often & how well, but one I like the look of has 6,000+ recorded. I would be hesitant at this large number incase I catch a pup.

Am I right to be overly cautious in this way>

6000 is just about run in.

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3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Are you sure ?

That equates to about 3mph as an average speed,

 

According to "Motiv Statistics" the average speed for a car over its full life is 18.6mph

 

Hmm. The gearing is different, is it not? (ratio of engine rotational speed to final drive rotational speed). 

 

 

 

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I tried to investigate this recently by doing a big www search and trying to home in on figures that came from reputable sources rather than just "forum talk", boasting and chinese whispers etc.

A big problem is that narrowboats are not good for diesels, diesels like to work hard, lots of light load/almost tickover running is not good for them.

 

50,000 hours is sometimes mentioned as an "aspiration", something that might just happen in a perfect world, but the consensus was that a well maintained heavy duty diesel will need a rebuild at between 12,000 and 15,000 hours. A narrowboat might not do this well, something like a generator set might do a bit better

 

I have had my JD3 from new and kept a close eye on it. Its now done 12,000 hours, the oil consumption is still zero and the oil pressure fine, but the blow-by has increased noticeably in the last year suggesting that a bit of bore wear is maybe setting in.

 

..............Dave

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I bought my boat from a cc,er 7 years old, Isuzu 42, counter didn’t work but he estimated it at 1000 hrs a year, I have been doing 1500 hrs a year, so 12 years old , and probably done 17500, as a guestimate, starts first time, purrs quietly, on tick over people have asked me is it electric because they can’t hear it. The original owner was an engineer by trade, and I make sure I do all the necessary oil change , filter changes etc.

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My last three cars, according to the on board display, have averaged 30mph.

 

Translating this to a boat, 1000 hours equals 30,000 miles. This would seem to be in the right ballpark as the service interval on a Beta 43 is 250 hours, equivalent to 7,500 road miles.

 

When I was working, my company often hired small plant equipment, such as mini diggers. Lots of these had the Kabota engine upon which the Beta 43 is based and many had in excess of 25,000 hours on them.

 

Both of the two shareboats I had needed new engines. The first had a 1.4 litre Mitsubishi, which needed replacement at around 8,000 hours. The second had a Turkish built BMC 1.8, which was replaced at 13,500 hours.

 

I would expect a Beta 43 to outlast these engines easily, provided the oil and filter are changed at least every 250 hours.

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57 minutes ago, cuthound said:

My last three cars, according to the on board display, have averaged 30mph.

 

Translating this to a boat, 1000 hours equals 30,000 miles. This would seem to be in the right ballpark as the service interval on a Beta 43 is 250 hours, equivalent to 7,500 road miles.

 

When I was working, my company often hired small plant equipment, such as mini diggers. Lots of these had the Kabota engine upon which the Beta 43 is based and many had in excess of 25,000 hours on them.

 

Both of the two shareboats I had needed new engines. The first had a 1.4 litre Mitsubishi, which needed replacement at around 8,000 hours. The second had a Turkish built BMC 1.8, which was replaced at 13,500 hours.

 

I would expect a Beta 43 to outlast these engines easily, provided the oil and filter are changed at least every 250 hours.

I was on the second share boat that Cuthound mentions just a couple of weeks ago.  It's a Beta 43 engine fitted 6/7 years ago and has just gone over 6,000 hours. It runs fine with no issues, but is serviced regularly.  Hopefully, it has many years of life to come.

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11 minutes ago, davem399 said:

I was on the second share boat that Cuthound mentions just a couple of weeks ago.  It's a Beta 43 engine fitted 6/7 years ago and has just gone over 6,000 hours. It runs fine with no issues, but is serviced regularly.  Hopefully, it has many years of life to come.

Engines on shareboats will have had a good life I suspect (hope!).... lots of hours up to temp plus no missed services......

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19 hours ago, Timx said:

I bought my boat from a cc,er 7 years old, Isuzu 42, counter didn’t work but he estimated it at 1000 hrs a year, I have been doing 1500 hrs a year, so 12 years old , and probably done 17500, as a guestimate, starts first time, purrs quietly, on tick over people have asked me is it electric because they can’t hear it. The original owner was an engineer by trade, and I make sure I do all the necessary oil change , filter changes etc.

Same engine as mine, I have just clocked 14,000 hrs and the engine is 15 years old, getting a service when I remember, usually around 300 hrs.

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We manage about 1000 hours per year. Our first engine was a Perkins MC42 which was basically a marinated fork-lift engine, designed to be disposable. After about 15000 hours, with regular servicing and frequent changes of rubber washers but no other work, it was deemed to be not worth trying to keep or rebuild. We swapped it for a Beta 43 which seems built to last (and repairable when it gets old); after 4500 hours it seems to be nicely run in and will probably outlast me as I don't believe I was designed to be re-buildable either.

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23 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

6000 is just about run in.

Our Beta has done just under 5000 hours, and I consider it nicely run in now.  The boat is 15 years old and had only done 700 hours when we bought it 10 years ago, so most of those hours is us.  It will probably see me out.

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My Beta 1505 has clocked just over 16000 hours over the passed 21 years. The head was sent off lasted year for the valve seats and guides to be replaced, had the base skimmed at the same time. After 15000 hours there was only a small leak on one valve which took over a hour for the diesel to,leak through. Only had three problems  over the years, it's gone through an number of theromstats, the same with the 2nd alternator, until I installed a blower and ducting to the outside to keep it cool. The other problem being the location of the oil filter, which is a pain to get to. Seems Beta have noted this and now have a remote filter kit. 

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37 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

My Beta 1505 has clocked just over 16000 hours over the passed 21 years. The head was sent off lasted year for the valve seats and guides to be replaced, had the base skimmed at the same time. After 15000 hours there was only a small leak on one valve which took over a hour for the diesel to,leak through. Only had three problems  over the years, it's gone through an number of theromstats, the same with the 2nd alternator, until I installed a blower and ducting to the outside to keep it cool. The other problem being the location of the oil filter, which is a pain to get to. Seems Beta have noted this and now have a remote filter kit. 

Did you have a look at the bores while the head was off?   and how were they ?

 

..............Dave

10 minutes ago, blackrose said:

So in summary what everyone is saying is that marine diesel engines can do a lot of hours. 

12 - 15,000 hours ?

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