1990's diesel engines which make overall is the best

[Mike3888]

This has most likely been a posted before.

We are looking at going from gas to diesel in our next boat. Trying to look at a little newer (mid to late 90's) and larger boat, we are currently in a 1989 bayliner 3888.

I have NO experience with diesel engines all I know is that in most boats over 50 foot diesel is the norm..

Was looking to the experienced folks on what makes/brands of diesel to look for and just as important which to avoid..

Thanks in advance for any input,

Mike and the Admiral Karen

 

[Blissboat]

Interesting that your Bayliner 3888 has gas engines. - most that I have seen came with Hino diesels, which have a pretty good reputation.

Folks on this forum have many and varied preferences about engines. My tastes run to Yanmar, Cummins, Perkins and in some cases Caterpillar.

 

[DavidM]

Ok, its been a while since this question was asked, but here are my answers, from best to good, none are really bad:

1. Cummins- The 6Bs in their various states of tune are rock solid, six cylinder engines in the 200-400 hp range.

2. Yanmar- With a range of 18 to 370 hp (without going to the Scania based engines) the Yanmar covers the field with good engines. The 6LYA 370 hp is a pretty good match for the Cummins but the bigger displacement and other design features give Cummins the edge. But under 200 hp Yanmar has them all beat. Some of the bigger engines have had problems like the 6LYA2 440 hp and the 6LP with its bad valves.

Volvo and Caterpillar round out the field but at a step lower than the above two. Lehmans and Perkins don't make the list because they were designed well before the 90s and were largely supplanted by Cummins and Yanmars.

David.

 

[Comodave]

I like Cummins the best. Never had a Yanmar so I can’t say good or bad. I am going to do a survey and sea trial on a boat tomorrow that has 420HP 6CTAs in it. I will not own another Volvo. I don’t even look at boats that have them in the boat.

 

[firehoser75]

I agree with David. The Cummins 6B series are rock solid, dependable, and there are lots of them out there. Parts are usually readily available, and most mechanics are very familiar with them. For ones that are aftercooled, have that component checked out as they are high maintenance items, but if maintained will perform fine for many, many years. Check out the exhaust system to ensure it was properly designed (suprisingly can be many problems with that on boats in general), and maintained. To me, the biggest issue is how was the engine used (overloaded?) and was it well maintained. Overloading often equates to over propped, and that happens more than might be expected.
A friend has a 2001 Cummins 6BTA 330 hp engine that has over 10,000 hours on it and still going strong. Owned it from new and has been carefully maintained. Operated at about 50% throttle most of the time so mostly lightly loaded.

 

[Mike3888]

All,
Thanks MUCH for the input so far!