To fix or not to fix the engine??

[Comodave]

That would make sense but he said it wasn’t run without oil. I also don’t understand a mechanic saying swap the engine for a bad oil pan, and also change engine brands which will lead to countless problems…

 

[STB]

A 78 y/o friend of mine fell in love with the "prom picture" ad for a sailboat. He made an offer, sight unseen, sold his boat, and showed up to get the new boat. It was a different boat in reality. But, he was still in love, so he renegotiated a bit and took a ton of someone else's problems home with him. His journey back with the boat could have been an action novel. But, he got it back.

The transmission "died" shortly thereafter. The engine had a good bit of blowby. He described the situation to a mechanic who gave him a price to remove, rebuild, and reinstall both the engine and transmission.

The mechanic showed up, disassembled and removed everything, and is now, in theory having a shop rebuild the transmission while he rebuilds the engine.

The mechanic never once turned the key to see how the engine was running. The mechanic never tried to shift the transmission. The mechanic didn't do a leakdown test to see if the engine had any bad cylinders or just even wear.

And the mechanic didn't wait before sending the transmission to be rebuilt to see if the engine, an extremely rare Westerbeke 52/Perkins 4.154 (strongly related to the Mazda R2), is suitable for rebuild. To make matter worse, none of the large Perkins legacy dealers will do the rebuild because Perkins no longer makes the kits for that engine and they've had fitment problems with the 3rd party kits available (I warned my friend about this in advance of buying the boat and had him call and talk to two dealers).

What's my point? Sometimes folks just want something. Maybe a fresh 0-time start. And, folks get to buy whatever they'd like to buy. If I show up to buy a tractor, they'll sell me one, even though I live in a city and have a postage stamp lawn. It is my right to buy one. If I ask for one, and they have one parked out front, why not sell it?

I think it was malpractice for the mechanic not to have the block checked before sending the transmission out for rebuild. But, beyond that, he offered a fair price for the job, and seems to be doing exactly what he was asked to do.

And, once it is done, my friend will be nothing but happy for having a reliable power train. Game on!





So, this mechanic has already been paid a bunch of money, and may get paid a bunch more money, to turn up with a rebuilt transmission for an engine that can't be fixed or replaced with like kind, so the transmission might not be needed.

And, maybe a rebuild was never needed. It could have just been late in life, but had years and years more to give as sailboaters use an engine.

 

[C lectric]

If the engine did not actually run out of oil then FIX it. A new engine of the same type will likely cost $50K.
A new but different engine I would guess you could add another $30K since NOTHING will line up. New engine mounts and locations, new shaft and maybe some hull work to get it all lined up, new gear box likely along with controls whether cable or electronic and more.

If the engine did not run out of oil then lifting, and a new pan will be far less.

 

[Slo-Mocean]

Went through this with my dads 6 year old Single engine dry stacked Wellcraft 20 years ago. Went down to use the boat when dad was gone for the summer and the marina said the oil pan had a leak from rust and service wanted $2800 to pull motor and replace it.

I jumped down under the hatch after running home and fetching my tools, 1/2hour later I had the pan off without pulling the motor and it was close for clearance but it cleared. Went down to the auto junkyard and found a oilpan for $50 that Mercruiser wanted $700 for.

Gasketed and Gooped up and Bolted it up in a couple hours Sunday morning and took our friends boating for the day .

 

[SteveK]

Went through this with my dads 6 year old Single engine dry stacked Wellcraft 20 years ago. Went down to use the boat when dad was gone for the summer and the marina said the oil pan had a leak from rust and service wanted $2800 to pull motor and replace it.

I jumped down under the hatch after running home and fetching my tools, 1/2hour later I had the pan off without pulling the motor and it was close for clearance but it cleared. Went down to the auto junkyard and found a oilpan for $50 that Mercruiser wanted $700 for.

Gasketed and Gooped up and Bolted it up in a couple hours Sunday morning and took our friends boating for the day .

Service would get a new pan at wholesale of say $500. $2300 labour for lifting engine to replace tank may be accurate for an overkill job having to disconnect and re connect the engine.
Kudos for DIY.