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After a long saga of overheating issues with our Perkins and the shed fire, we decided to replace our diesel engine with a new Beta Marine 43. The details of that process are chronicled in our blogs and the videos below.
When we bought the boat the Perkins diesel 4-108 ran pretty well, but after sitting unused for nearly two years there were a few things to do before firing her up again. Basic maintenance like changing the oil and filter and the raw water pump impeller were pretty straightforward and fairly easy to do. However, upon digging a little deeper, it’s apparent that more work was needed before we could run the engine again.
The heat exchanger at the back of the engine had corroded due to the previous owners not changing the zincs, and as a result, had been leaking salt water onto the port side engine mount. The steel engine bracket had nearly rusted away, and both rubber engine mount bushings were shot. Also, the bolts that secure the engine bracket were rusted off and I had to drill and tap new threads in the aluminum transmission case in order to fasten the newly fabricated bracket in place.
We upgraded the raw water strainer with a new Groco bronze unit, bronze full-flow pipe fittings, and new hoses from the seacock to the engine pump. Each hose also received double AWAB 316 stainless hose clamps.
The raw water pump on the front of the engine had a leaky seal, and the pump shaft was worn. We also changed the impeller since I already had it torn apart.
The old air intake screen was rusted out so we upgraded it to a K&N high-performance air filter. Clean combustion air for the engine, with the added benefit of quieting down that “sucking” noise the engine makes when it’s running. It’s also washable and reusable, and will probably outlast the engine.
We changed the oil and filter and needed to buy an engine oil change pump in order to suck the old oil out the dipstick tube.
And lastly, we replaced the worn out transmission shift cable with a new one.
We fried our alternator earlier this month when we took the boat out for a long weekend. When we got back to the dock Rich took it apart and found a lot of rust. This probably means the alternator was sprayed
with saltwater sometime in the past. We always thought we might install a bigger alternator, but it was more on the “would-be-nice” list than the “have-to-have” list. We decided to bite the bullet and fork over
the cash for a bigger alternator (150 amp) and serpentine belt conversion kit.
We ordered a new kit from PKY and it shipped directly from Balmar. After removing the old alternator, water pump, and crankshaft pulley, Rich discovered that what Balmar sent us didn’t quite fit. At this point, we’re still waiting for the correct parts to arrive.
So after shipping the parts back to Balmar (at our cost of $50), they sent them right back to us stating everything was within their machining tolerances. A little frustrating to say the least, but we made it work.
After a long saga of overheating issues with our Perkins and the shed fire, we decided to replace our diesel engine with a new Beta Marine 43. The details of that process are chronicled in our blogs and the videos below.
