Yanmar 440's

[Bistpro]

I am selling a 48 convert able with 2004 Volvo 715 hp engines that have been flawless and am looking at a gorgeous 42 Sabre with 2005 Yanmar 440's. I am shocked at all of the bad reports about these engines. Are they true of all of them or are there a few disgruntled owners out there. These Engines only have 880 hours of saltwater use. Can anyone advise me?

 

[SameDirection38]

I have a buddy on here that works on Yanmars. He doesn't bad mouth there product publicly, but has told me many times about issues with Yanmar engines and dealing with Mack Boring. Parts are 3 days out. Calling Mack boring for tech help a joke, and engines not well laid out and difficult to work on.

 

[djmarchand]

That engine was installed on Hinckley picnic boats with a jet drive that swallowed valves and scuffed cylinders due to overloading.

Tony Athens on boatdiesel says to prop them lightly to reach 3,500 at wot in gear and cruise them at 2,800 or less and you will be ok.

The question is: how did the PO use them?

David

 

[BillD]

Most marine diesels live good long lives if you don't overload them, don't feed them sea water through the exhaust turbo, always feed them clean water free diesel fuel, always maintain the salt water cooling side of the engine and always maintain the after coolers.

There's more to the list of getting 5,000-10,000 + reliable hours out of a marine diesel but you get the point !

Lots of very good information in these articles.

Tony's Tips - Information about Marine Diesel Engines and Boats from Tony Athens

 

[Dave Wynn]

I have a 440HP Yammar in my 32HH. I have NO issues with the engine at all. Grant it I service the engine oil every 100 Hours and change the fuel filters every 50 Hours. The Zinks are change out on every oil change. USE OEM PARTS ONLY!! The early engines had some valve issues due to over loading the engine. The valve seats use to burn up. This was corrected by Yammar a couple of years ago. they started using larger valves so the exshash has less restriction. There was also a vibration Damper change out. (Up Grade) The biggest reason why there where problums with these engines, Was putting the right prop on it. Cant over prop the engine. My 440HP is a 3300RPM engine. I run the boat at at 2600RPM and cruse at 16 to 17.5 Knots @ 10 Gallons per hour. My top RPM is 3425 and I top out at 26.5 Knots. I belive I swing a 24 X 29 inch prop. I live in Brooklyn NY I deal with Mack Boring and the other local dealer too. I never had any issues at all with any of them. They are both eager and willing to help me. Just a note I was never a Yammar guy I love cummins and cat engines and Still do. So far I never had any issues with this motor at all.

 

[Ripcat]

I have twin Yanmar 240's in my boat and LOVE THEM! Granted they aren't the engine you speak of but there were comments in this thread about Yanmar in general. Parts are really easy to come by, I find them easy to work on...these were my first diesels and I've already serviced the entire cooling system myself, adjusted the valves...guess my point is that they aren't hard to figure out. I've never had to deal with Mack Boring so can't comment. As with anything mechanical and expensive...it's all about maintenance.

I would agree with others regarding the fact that they need to be propped correctly.

This site is a wealth of info so don't hesitate to ask.

 

[MDI45]

My friend has one in a 31 JC and the motor is flawless.....I know they got a bad rap....like they have tea cup pistons......but I think you will always find someone that has a problem...with any motor

 

[pugsley]

My friend has one in a 31 JC and the motor is flawless.....I know they got a bad rap....like they have tea cup pistons......but I think you will always find someone that has a problem...with any motor

except a volvo

 

[captainlarry84]

Not true. The 440 Yanmar is a great power plant. There was a bad run of soft valve stems that did lead to engine failure. However Yanmar did stand by the recall. You need to get the engine #s. Call Yanmar & see if these motors were part of the recall. Next see if they were updated. Next see if these motors if effected are still covered. The only thing on the 440 is that they do not have sleeved piston liners like the 370 did. Even without the liners it is not really a negative factor.

 

[eyschulman]

The 6ly 2a series of 440s had some problems. If the motors were not over propped (very sensitive to this)and the exhaust geometry did not allow moisture back to turbo and valves and with lower rpm use 2600 they can give long life. The specs call for 1,300 degrees at WOT much hotter than most other diesels.The cylinder walls are tempered aluminum and can not be re bored or rebuilt thus a throw away motor. I had one blow at 273 hrs and that was not that rare Hinklys had a great deal of trouble. These are light compact very high output motors. The early valves were suspect but no final decision on that. Changing the oil is a messy horizontal filters and an impeller change is a real challenge. They tend to smoke and slick at start up and idle not a clean machine(not like my new JDs). I could live with them If I had to. Given a choice Id rather have Cummins-JD-Cat-Volvo etc.

 

[Rockasauras]

Not sure about all....

I am selling a 48 convert able with 2004 Volvo 715 hp engines that have been flawless and am looking at a gorgeous 42 Sabre with 2005 Yanmar 440's. I am shocked at all of the bad reports about these engines. Are they true of all of them or are there a few disgruntled owners out there. These Engines only have 880 hours of saltwater use. Can anyone advise me?

...but back around 2005 ish I had three (3) separate individuals on my dock who had these power plants in their boats. One was a Silverton, another a 35 Jupiter and the last one a repowered Blackfin. All 3 boats experienced major engine failures due to valve issues at or around the 500 hour mark. If I recall they (Yanmar) did eventually address the issue after some back and forth...Funny thing though, each successive failure was greeted with a response "this is the first time this ever happened".
.

 

[South Shore Boatworks]

Yanmar

We had a similar reaction from Mack Boring on a By 180 engine that we installed at the customers request. The engine series had a lot of problems. cooling, turbo chargers, and the electronic processing unit. The technicians from Mack boring made 10 trips to the boat and Yanmar paid us to remove the engine, have it shipped to Mack Boring in New Jersey to fix the issues then reinstall. Mack boring did make good on the situation but it was very frustrating that a brand new engine had so many issues. This was also treated as though this an" isolated problem". As the builder, This made for a very uncomfortable situation.

 

[Bob Turcotte]

As with all things made this day and age what does not have some sort of issues. Look at all of auto recalls. Yanmar are good products and the parts are avalability "world wide" and I have not had any of these issues with any of the boats I have spect. them on. I have had them in a lot of mydesignsover the last 15 years and I stay in contact with the owners who are happy with them.

 

[eyschulman]

The issue is not with all Yanmars only the 6ly 2a series. Yanmar has replaced that series with the 6ly 3a with 24 valves and that has solved some of the problems. The motors are still very light and high output for the displacement with lots of heat at the exhaust valves. The cylinder walls are still tempered aluminum and a rebuild problem. The motors are still very sensitive to overload and moisture coming back to turbo and exhaust valves. I would not buy a used one unless I was certain of the previous use (no over propping and high rpm running). I would also need to have turbos opened up for moisture inspection for if turbos have been wet the valves are suspect and may already have crevice damage. The combination of high heat and salt water is a metal killer. Since the 6ly is a low profile motor(one of the lowest) it is often installed with little overhead room thus a likely poor exhaust geometry leading to the above situation of salt water and heat. Most marine diesels made for recreational boats are classed as M4 use I personally would make an M6 class for the 12 valve Yanmar 6ly 2a 440 hp motors. They are mechanical marvels to get so much HP in a light compact unit, but they should come with a warning label USE WITH EXTRA CARE AND CAUTION

 

[steveinak]

" If I recall they (Yanmar) did eventually address the issue after some back and forth...Funny thing though, each successive failure was greeted with a response "this is the first time this ever happened"."

Why do the dealers and factory reps have to lie to the public when there is a design flaw with a engine series and won't honor their warranties. Funny they can tell ya each and every boat that likes the engine ?? Thats why i don't trust any of them !! When i was shopping for a repower for my bowpicker i was at fish expo in seattle, stopped by the volvo booth and asked about both the 41 & 42 series motors, when i asked the factory rep (from Sweden) if they had any problems with the higher horsepower 42's he looked me straight in the eye and proudly said "absolutely no problems its a wunderful engine" I sez to him ok so why has just about every 42 in the Cordova fleet blown up at least once, it was well over 100 of the 42's that had blown up with less than 500 hours on them. Mr Rep looks at the floor & ceiling, not in the eye any more and sez "oh you know" ! I sez yes i do know all about it you lieing sack of shit and walk away. Same senario as the first i've heard about it. I took a class action law suit to get volvo's attention the fishermen won and volvo ended up buying nice new cummins motors for many of the guys !!

 

[eyschulman]

I think they figured that if they denied anything was wrong and only replaced the motors that went bad it would be a lot cheaper(bottom line stuff) than a full recall and less bad press. Hinkly had a lot of pull and got Yanmar to replace many valve trains with some weak excuse that those boats had a particular engine room moisture problem or something like that all other boats were on their own trying to get blown motors cared for.

 

[pugsley]

i think when they say tempered aluminum cylinder walls, the discussion should end. that is nothing more than code for pos.

 

[Rockasauras]

"As with all things made this day and age what does not have some sort of issues. Look at all of auto recalls"

Let me say just this. I have no dog in this fight, just passing on what I know to be issues with these engines in the time frame (2005)specified by the OP. Three different boats on the same dock with 2005' engines is fairly telling in my opinion.

 

[mudhake]

hey dave, I will be starting a new build for the guy we originaly built the boat you have now. it is a 36 by 15 h+h hull. we will be finishing the # 2 hull at that width with a 575cat, gen set, air conditioning; four bunks, galley, head with shower,fish hold,and whatever. It is going to look just like yours but just a little bigger. call me when you get a chance, stebve

 

[Dave Wynn]

I will call you is a little bit Steve