Vetus engines

[mrsmelly]

Not that I've heard of.

 

What I have heard of is that the Technodrive box is splash lubricated by the output shaft, and that running in neutral for extended periods is "not good for the box"

 

 

 

Most of the above are indicative of poor installation or maintenance, which can affect any engine!

 

• Knackered mounts is something that any boat with soft mounted engines will eventually suffer, and I see no evidence that the Vetus K series mounts are poor quality.
• Electrics on our Vetus are imaculate, so that is an installation issue.
• I have never heard of a sinking that is down to the Vetus stern gear. I have heard of sinkings due to greaser stern gear

Vetus engines do have faults, you just haven't listed them;

 

 

• Drive plate is poor quality
• Rear engine legs prone to fracture

 

Thanks again all, which as I now appear to be buying said boat with vetus engine I dont intened to wait for the problem to appear so can anyone recommend a supplier of a decent drive plate or failing that will a prm 150 fit without loads of mods ? any ideas ?

 

Cheers again

 

[mayalld]

Thanks again all, which as I now appear to be buying said boat with vetus engine I dont intened to wait for the problem to appear so can anyone recommend a supplier of a decent drive plate or failing that will a prm 150 fit without loads of mods ? any ideas ?

 

Cheers again

 

 

R&D drive plate is about 80 quid from Midland Chandlers (Part number 22B37 for a technodrive box on an M4.15)

Steel rear engine legs are £25 each from Kings Lock, and worth preventative fitting, because a broken aluminium leg will mean buying a new R&D coupling and new flexi mounts.

[mrsmelly]

R&D drive plate is about 80 quid from Midland Chandlers (Part number 22B37 for a technodrive box on an M4.15)

Steel rear engine legs are £25 each from Kings Lock, and worth preventative fitting, because a broken aluminium leg will mean buying a new R&D coupling and new flexi mounts.

 

Enormous thanx for that I will contact em its a 417 suppose they will still get the bits.

 

Cheers

 

Tim

 

[mayalld]

Enormous thanx for that I will contact em its a 417 suppose they will still get the bits.

 

Cheers

 

Tim

 

 

 

I think the fitment is identical (spline 22 and backplate 37), but the higher torque of a 4.17 is too much for the "B"

 

You might want a 22W37 or a 22AA37

[mrsmelly]

I think the fitment is identical (spline 22 and backplate 37), but the higher torque of a 4.17 is too much for the "B"

 

You might want a 22W37 or a 22AA37

 

[Guest]

Not that I've heard of.

 

What I have heard of is that the Technodrive box is splash lubricated by the output shaft, and that running in neutral for extended periods is "not good for the box"

 

 

 

Most of the above are indicative of poor installation or maintenance, which can affect any engine!

 

• Knackered mounts is something that any boat with soft mounted engines will eventually suffer, and I see no evidence that the Vetus K series mounts are poor quality.
• Electrics on our Vetus are imaculate, so that is an installation issue.
• I have never heard of a sinking that is down to the Vetus stern gear. I have heard of sinkings due to greaser stern gear

Vetus engines do have faults, you just haven't listed them;

 

 

• Drive plate is poor quality
• Rear engine legs prone to fracture

I think most diesels will tend to glaze bores when run off load.

 

Vetus told me to battery charge at 1200 rpm, which I assume is to chuck some oil around the gearbox. I rarely do this TBH and use a genny.

 

I know of a couple that have broken rear engine mounting legs.

[dor]

The rear engine legs breaking was limited to an early batch on the M4.17s. Check with Mick Sieveright at Kings Lock if yours is affected. I think they were ok 2007 on, maybe earlier. ThePRM 150 is a pretty straight replacement - I;'ve done it. The difference is 5 mm on drop& 9 mm on length. One other difference - the forward/reverse lever works the opposite way, so you need to change the cable fitting on your morse/teleflex control.

 

If you want to do it, PM me and I will send you the content of a WW article I wrote about the swap when I did it. The PRM150 really is huge improvement over the Technodrive.

[mrsmelly]

The rear engine legs breaking was limited to an early batch on the M4.17s. Check with Mick Sieveright at Kings Lock if yours is affected. I think they were ok 2007 on, maybe earlier. ThePRM 150 is a pretty straight replacement - I;'ve done it. The difference is 5 mm on drop& 9 mm on length. One other difference - the forward/reverse lever works the opposite way, so you need to change the cable fitting on your morse/teleflex control.

 

If you want to do it, PM me and I will send you the content of a WW article I wrote about the swap when I did it. The PRM150 really is huge improvement over the Technodrive.

[waggers]

i agree with dor's statement as i had the technodrive replaced with a prm150 on my vetus a few months ago and its a vast improvement and no more loud clunk.

my 1st post after lurking at this excellent site for a long time now, learnt alot so thanks to everyone here

[Guest]

Have a Vetus 4 cyl in our 1989 boat and up to now it has been fine , runs well is reasonably quiet when on the move and uses no oil at all.On the comments about the gaerbox when we bought the boat it would go into gear with a clunk but since we changed the morse control for a new Vetus item this has improved a lot. this is the second vetus we have had in a boatand both have performed well., also living in Middlewich helps as we have agood supplier of parts nearby

That is interesting; I have often felt that the morse type remote on my boat was making the Vetus box go into gear too quickly (for the want of a better word.) I have always intended disconnecting the remote and trying engaging gear manually, but like many things, haven't got around to it yet.

[Smelly]

No problem getting cheap filters for my Isuzu 35.

 

Where from? I asked inline and they came up stumps & our local auto factor couldn't match them either.

 

Have you got manufacturers and numbers?

[robdalej]

That is interesting; I have often felt that the morse type remote on my boat was making the Vetus box go into gear too quickly (for the want of a better word.) I have always intended disconnecting the remote and trying engaging gear manually, but like many things, haven't got around to it yet.

The new vetus control also made the boat handle a lot better at slow speeds , with the old one the boat was harder to control at low revs and would spring back to neutral if you tried to approach anything at anywhere near tick over but now the boat will move along slowly with no need to keep adjusting the control

[mayalld]

The rear engine legs breaking was limited to an early batch on the M4.17s. Check with Mick Sieveright at Kings Lock if yours is affected. I think they were ok 2007 on, maybe earlier.

 

Our m4.15 has broken rear legs twice.

 

Most certainly not restricted to the m4.17

[Iain_S]

Our m4.15 has broken rear legs twice.

 

Most certainly not restricted to the m4.17

We had a spate of broken legs on Copperkins a few years ago. None since the cast alloy ones were replaced by the bent steel ones, though.

I suspect one of the causes was lower engine mounting nuts slackening off, leading to the opposite leg breaking. Come to think of it, we haven't found any slack nuts for a few years now, either.

 

Iain

[Robin2]

Where from? I asked inline and they came up stumps & our local auto factor couldn't match them either.

 

Have you got manufacturers and numbers?

 

Sorry - I forgot to watch this thread.

 

Oil filter - Coopers Fiamm FT5447 Z1142 (both numbers on packet) or WIX WL7171

 

Fuel Filter - (IIRC this is the big one) WIX WF8042

 

Fuel Filter - (the other one IIRC the one on the engine) MANN WK 815/80

[Guest]

We had a spate of broken legs on Copperkins a few years ago. None since the cast alloy ones were replaced by the bent steel ones, though.

I suspect one of the causes was lower engine mounting nuts slackening off, leading to the opposite leg breaking. Come to think of it, we haven't found any slack nuts for a few years now, either.

 

Iain

We had the "slackening mounting nuts" syndrome. It used to be a pre cruise ritual to tap them with a spanner (they make a different noise if loose.) Nylock nuts on top (M16 IIRC), and ptfe tape on the bottom threads (or paint) does the trick. I have also heard of putting a jubilee clip under them; can't see why it wouldn't work. Ideally double nuts, but a lot more faff.

 

The back legs I have seen broken have followed a loosened lower nut as you suggest. When I put a proper gearbox on, I am going to change the rear legs (and the drive plate, and try and fix the leaking heat exchanger etc.etc.)

[mrsmelly]

We had the "slackening mounting nuts" syndrome. It used to be a pre cruise ritual to tap them with a spanner (they make a different noise if loose.) Nylock nuts on top (M16 IIRC), and ptfe tape on the bottom threads (or paint) does the trick. I have also heard of putting a jubilee clip under them; can't see why it wouldn't work. Ideally double nuts, but a lot more faff.

 

The back legs I have seen broken have followed a loosened lower nut as you suggest. When I put a proper gearbox on, I am going to change the rear legs (and the drive plate, and try and fix the leaking heat exchanger etc.etc.)

 

Blimey you lot, its been great to listen to all your helpfull replies and I am going to spend a few bob and do the necessary things you have all suggested. Another question I should realy ask though is at the price of these units ( Not cheap ) why do people fit them when they can get a brilliant Beta/Isuzu unit without inherent faults ?

 

cheers

[Tony Brooks]

Blimey you lot, its been great to listen to all your helpfull replies and I am going to spend a few bob and do the necessary things you have all suggested. Another question I should realy ask though is at the price of these units ( Not cheap ) why do people fit them when they can get a brilliant Beta/Isuzu unit without inherent faults ?

 

cheers

 

 

I would suggest because:-

 

a. the boat builder can get an "all in" package including the stern gear for a good price.

 

b. Vetus has something of a name for quality in the lumpy, bumpy market.

 

c. potential owners do not do much research.

[Gibbo]

why do people fit them when they can get a brilliant Beta/Isuzu unit without inherent faults ?

 

And which are also painted in the right colours.

[JamesF]

The rear engine legs breaking was limited to an early batch on the M4.17s. Check with Mick Sieveright at Kings Lock if yours is affected. I think they were ok 2007 on, maybe earlier. ThePRM 150 is a pretty straight replacement - I;'ve done it. The difference is 5 mm on drop& 9 mm on length. One other difference - the forward/reverse lever works the opposite way, so you need to change the cable fitting on your morse/teleflex control.

 

If you want to do it, PM me and I will send you the content of a WW article I wrote about the swap when I did it. The PRM150 really is huge improvement over the Technodrive.

 

Hi, I have followed this string regarding Vetus engine and technodrive gear box as we have a similar problems with ours. I would be interested in your WW article about swapping gearboxes - can you let us know which WW mag it was in?

Cheers,

JamesF

[dor]

Hi, I have followed this string regarding Vetus engine and technodrive gear box as we have a similar problems with ours. I would be interested in your WW article about swapping gearboxes - can you let us know which WW mag it was in?

Cheers,

JamesF

 

Pretty certain it was Feb 2010. If you have any problem getting it, PM me with an email address and I will send you a draft.

 

You will need to get your post count over 5 to use the PM though.

[JamesF]

Pretty certain it was Feb 2010. If you have any problem getting it, PM me with an email address and I will send you a draft.

 

You will need to get your post count over 5 to use the PM though.

 

Found it! Many thanks we will have a read

JamesF