Sp225

[mondofromredondo]

Hello all,
I'm new to the Trawler forum.
I'm looking at a Monk 36 with twin SP225 Lehmans.
I've had difficulty getting a good review of these motors as they are not as plentiful as the 120's and 135's. Does anyone out there have first hand experience they can share with them. Strengths and weaknesses. These motors are 30 years old with 1200 original hours. But they appear to be spotlessly clean. I haven't seen them in person or heard them as of yet. I just want to know what I may or may not be getting into. They are of course turbo charged. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I chose this forum to ask as I'm thinking a group of trawler folks are gonna have more experience with these particular lehmans than other forums.

Keith

 

[BobH]

We have two on our Present 38, 2700 and 2900 hours. We haven't put many hours on them, maybe 150-200. Other than leaks the only problem has been a corroded injection elbow.

I did find a reference to some issues with intake valves. Seems they used two different suppliers and one of them had a tendency to drop valve heads. We did get an engine survey. One engine had been documented that the head had been worked on but I showed the engine surveyor what to look for on the other engine.

Also if you do your own work, there is a mistake in the manual for doing valve adjustments.

 

[mondofromredondo]

Thanks for that Bob,

I'm presuming your SP225's are turbocharged. Have they proven to be reliable and cool well? I've heard they come on at about 1750 rpm. Is that what yours do? And do u get up above 1750 often. Do you think your fuel burn improves a lot with turbos kicked in?

Thanks for the insight on the valve adjustment. I'll look into it.

Keith

 

[Bensjoy]

SP225 Lehman

Have a single SP225 in my 1985 PT35
With about 1800 hours.
Runs great. Rated at 2450 rpm wot.
I max out at about 2350.

 

[Comodave]

We have a President 41 with twin SP225's. I was looking for one with 120s or 135s for better fuel economy. I found this one with the 225s and bought it in spite having the 225s. Now that we have them, I am very happy that we got the 225s. We can cruise at 10 knots and get over 1 NMPG. If I slow down the MPG will double. It makes it nice when you have a small window due to weather that we can run faster. So far no negatives... We have put almost 1000 miles on it in the last month running it home to Michigan from Virginia. There was a problem with the intake valves. Talk to Brian at American Diesel and he can tell you how to check them. As a matter of fact, he and his father can tell you anything and everything about them. The aftercoolers are not available anymore. If you have one go bad, you can pipe around it and then you have a 180hp engine.

 

[Bensjoy]

Had valves checked prior to purchase in 1992. At one point,
Wrong valves were installed in some engines. They were identifiable by logo on valve stem.. heard they didn't last 300 hours.
I usually cruise at 1600-1800 rpm very economically

 

[mondofromredondo]

the motors on this boat have 1200 hours. I'm hoping that if they have the wrong valves it would have been determined by now or failed by now. Its a shame about the poor availability of the aftercoolers though but I'm glad to hear that they can be routed differently if worse came to worse. Thanks for that excellent info !!!

Keith