Engine compartment

[Daniel Grantham]

Hi I’m looking to buy a narrowboat and I have came across one which I like the lady has sent me pictures and I asked for ones of the engine bay , to me their is lots of rust under engine and the engines paint has been stripped and also it looks like their are air filter and parts missing can anyone advice thankyou 

[Alan de Enfield]

It is not perfect, it's not even 'very good', it is actually very clean, but, believe me you will see far, far worse in your hunt for a NB.

 

The fact the 'engine hole' is dry is a big plus and surface rust can easily be removed and the steelwork painted - the only problems are when the rust has gone all the way thru' and the hull thickness is 'zero'.

[Flyboy]

9 minutes ago, Daniel Grantham said:

Hi I’m looking to buy a narrowboat and I have came across one which I like the lady has sent me pictures and I asked for ones of the engine bay , to me their is lots of rust under engine and the engines paint has been stripped and also it looks like their are air filter and parts missing can anyone advice thankyou 

It looks like it's been caused by leaking deck boards to me. As for the missing air filter you will have to ask the vendor why it's missing.

[Tracy D'arth]

Isuzu like this did not have an air filter, The air inlet is down besides the rocker box and exhaust header tank..

 

Very common to have bilge rust, its usually only surface rusting.

 

The paint is missing off the engine because someone has been in the habit of standing on it, quite common.

 

Probably the lady was not overly keen on getting down and dirty maintaining in the engine 'ole, again, common.

[Bee]

Looks like the top of the engine is some sort of alloy that the paint has flaked off. The rust really does look like surface rust but check those corners and edges, you might find its a bit worse there. The rest of it looks properly installed, exhaust bandage clean etc, I would personally prefer to see a PRM gearbox but as Alan says, you will see a lot worse.

[Sea Dog]

Apart from the stuff mentioned above, when was that filter last changed? It looks like it's been there since the old King died, so I'd have alarm bells about the engine's service history. What other maintenance hasn't been done?

[dor]

You don't really need an air filter as the engine intake is not going to be subject to dust and grit.  Having said that, it needs something to stop you dropping a nut or spanner down the air intake.   Vetus engines (e.g. M4.xx) had an air filter box, but no filter in the box.

On a previous boat with a Thorneycroft Mitsubishi, I actually got better fuel consumption when I threw the air filter out.

[robtheplod]

Love engine bay pics.... good on you for asking, so many just look in the boat.....

[BWM]

Elderly Isuzu engines do tend to suffer from head gasket problems and the parts/gaskets are extremely expensive. 

[Athy]

Daniel, what did you mean by "lay of the weed" in the other, now locked, thread which you started?

[robtheplod]

1 minute ago, Athy said:

Daniel, what did you mean by "lay of the weed" in the other, now locked, thread which you started?

lay off the weed?

[Daniel Grantham]

42 minutes ago, Athy said:

Daniel, what did you mean by "lay of the weed" in the other, now locked, thread which you started?

Sorry some chap was talking nonsense about cannibals and stuff so that’s why I said that comment apology 

[Mike Adams]

I would not be too concerned about the paint on the engine. The Isuzu is good engine but the marinisers did a very poor paint job.

[Daniel Grantham]

Thank you

[Daniel Grantham]

Had a test drive of the narrowboat I noticed that when I put it on full revs water was coming up from the Tyler ; what steers the narrowboat their was 3 of us on the back would this be due to weight or would their be rubber on the bottom to stop the water shooting up.

[MartinW]

The single(? can't spot another)alternator looks newer, which is probably a good thing, but might make one of the many electrical experts on here ask supplementary questions. If you like the boat, an indefinable quality that only you will recognise, get a proper survey and all your questions will be answered (plus you'll get a whole lot more questions and answers you needed to ask, but didn't know to!)

[Cheshire cat]

Our shared boat used to push water through the tiller bearing housing at full throttle. I found out when going hard astern. Didn't seem to do any harm.

 

I think you will find that rainwater has got in the bilge and although it's brown it's probably a superficial mixture of mud and light rust.

[Alan de Enfield]

26 minutes ago, Daniel Grantham said:

Sorry some chap was talking nonsense about cannibals and stuff so that’s why I said that comment apology 

You haven't been here very long, for the vast majority of members who have been on the forum since 2016, and mainly within the last 12 months the comment is easily understood.

 

 

 

.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[Ray T]

Our boat is 1998 vintage and the paint is coming off the cylinder head covers.

Doesn't affect the way the engine runs.

I wouldn't worry about the paint. Of more concern would be the engine hours run and any maintenance / servicing schedule, if any.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Ray T

[Ray T]

1 hour ago, Daniel Grantham said:

Had a test drive of the narrowboat I noticed that when I put it on full revs water was coming up from the Tiller; what steers the narrowboat their was 3 of us on the back would this be due to weight or would their be rubber on the bottom to stop the water shooting up.

A way to cure this is to get a neoprene ring, larger than the rudder stock shaft and fit it around the rudder stock itself below the counter when the boat is next in dry dock.

 

Sorry don't have a photo.

 

Not my boat. Picture courtesy of  κουκουβάγια 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Ray T

[bizzard]

49 minutes ago, Daniel Grantham said:

Had a test drive of the narrowboat I noticed that when I put it on full revs water was coming up from the Tyler ; what steers the narrowboat their was 3 of us on the back would this be due to weight or would their be rubber on the bottom to stop the water shooting up.

This can be a very good feature for folk with smelly feet, continual washing them whilst underway.

[Alan de Enfield]

23 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Our boat is 1998 vintage and the paint is coming off the cylinder head covers.

Doesn't affect the way the engine runs.

I wouldn't worry about the paint. Of more concern would be the engine hours run and any maintenance / servicing schedule, if any.

 

 

 

And its brother.

 

Our 1998 boat (4-cylinder Lister engine)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

27 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Our boat is 1998 vintage and the paint is coming off the cylinder head covers.

Doesn't affect the way the engine runs.

I wouldn't worry about the paint. Of more concern would be the engine hours run and any maintenance / servicing schedule, if any.

 

 

Lister paint Blister, all too common. Its caused by painting aluminium without etching primer.

[jonathanA]

Mine too! seems to be a common trait of those listers... I have a tin of engine paint which I will  use to restore it to pristine paint condition one day not hard to sort or expensive....

 

To the op: isuzu seemed to be engine of choice for hire boats when they were available 

Edited January 11, 2021 by jonathanA
Add comment

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, jonathanA said:

Mine too! seems to be a common trait of those listers... I have a tin of engine paint which I will  use to restore it to pristine paint condition one day not hard to sort or expensive....

Mine was certainly caused by standing on the heat exchanger - the actual engine was fine.