cheap alternatives for diesel parts

[portvasgo]

I have a new boat, about ten years old. The first I have owned with an inboard engine, a Nanni 2.50HE.
I am in the process of learning how to winterise and service the engine. I'm a complete novice, but enjoying the learning process, and I want to be familiar with the engine so as to be able to carry out basic work - a necessary safety factor I believe. The engine currently has genuine Nanni oil and fuel filters. On sourcing these to buy, I was struck at their high price, £12 ansd £10 respectively. On reading some articles on inboards in general on the forums, I picked up that some people use alternative filters, like Fram. As I say, I am a complete novice at this, and cannot figure out how to find out what is the equivalent say Fram filter as a repalcement for the Nanni parts. I live remote in the highlands, and can really only search via the internet (Nanni engines dont seem to come up on sites selling filters for cars!). How do I work out the filter type I require? Is it a wise thing to do? I certainly will use Nanni impeller and alternator belts, but surely it would be ok to use other filters? Any suggestions please? Keep it simple! Thanks in advance.

 

[Slipstream 34]

A quick search on ebay -

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=...l1313&_odkw=Nanni+2.50HE+oil+filter&_osacat=0

Good luck

 

[sailorman]

I have a new boat, about ten years old. The first I have owned with an inboard engine, a Nanni 2.50HE.
I am in the process of learning how to winterise and service the engine. I'm a complete novice, but enjoying the learning process, and I want to be familiar with the engine so as to be able to carry out basic work - a necessary safety factor I believe. The engine currently has genuine Nanni oil and fuel filters. On sourcing these to buy, I was struck at their high price, £12 ansd £10 respectively. On reading some articles on inboards in general on the forums, I picked up that some people use alternative filters, like Fram. As I say, I am a complete novice at this, and cannot figure out how to find out what is the equivalent say Fram filter as a replacement for the Nanni parts. I live remote in the highlands, and can really only search via the internet (Nanni engines don't seem to come up on sites selling filters for cars!). How do I work out the filter type I require? Is it a wise thing to do? I certainly will use Nanni impeller and alternator belts, but surely it would be ok to use other filters? Any suggestions please? Keep it simple! Thanks in advance.

Oil 15 > 40 CF or above

filters will be the same as for the Beta equivalent ( Kubota ) engine
Nanni dont make belts or impellors ( impellor will be Johnson or Jabsco )

 

[neil_s]

Perhaps the thing to do is buy the Nanni parts this year and then research cheaper equivalents before you need them again. £10/12 sounds like standard car parts X 2 which I could live with for a while. The important thing is to keep it running reliably!

Neil

 

[oldfatgit]

Wise words from neil s. Nanni use a marinised Kubota block just like Beta Marine. I had the latter on previous boat and was very impressed; would have bought Nanni save for the fact that when the boat was out having osmosis treated there was a Beta Marine agent/mechanic/installer on site. All that aside you have an excellent engine, so splash out now on "Genuine" Nanni parts and research alternatives at your leisure.

Working through most of the common bits and bobs:

Fuel system, Fram do the in-line filters for fuel/water separators as fitted to agricultural tractors, so pop into your local farm suppliers and see if they can help. Fram might do the filter fitted to the engine, however, you will have to find out for yourself, Kubota engines are used for things like site tipper trucks (you know, the little ones you see on building sites nipping around dumping soil or delivering sand to the inaccessible locations and you always wanted to drive as a kid). So there may be an alternative source at much reduced cost.

Oil filters, well, the same applies. If you can find a Kubota source it might be cheaper.

Water system, impeller is for the relevant Johnson (?) pump.

Alternator belt, well it has the original manufacturer's details on it, so Google the part number.

Pencil anode, possible to buy zinc rod then drill and tap ends so as to be able to fix to brass nut using an old stud from a previous anode, but as management says “B****r all might be rather more fun”.

I had a problem with the water pump, oil seal failed leading to excessive water leakage. Didn't buy Beta part but bought equivalent seal from one of the many suppliers on the internet. It fitted, worked and I was happy.

 

[TheBoatman]

Many years ago?

In my business I deal with companies that manufacture cardboard boxes and I once had to go to a small company that had problems with a wire stitcher (machine that makes staples and inserts them into boxes). When I arrived this small company was producing all sorts of oil & fuel filters on a sub contract basis and then packing them into bulk boxes.
On the bulk boxes was written Vauxhall, Ford, Perkins, BMC (that dates this memory), Gardiner, Fram, etc, etc.
The moral of the post is, this one small chap was producing the filters to be sent off and re-packaged into "genuine" parts boxes. Since then I've always tried to find "equivilent" cheaper parts because undoubtably they are all probably manufactured by some small guy out in the sticks. In this case none of the engine manufacturers make filters ~ they're all bought in.

Peter.

 

[status]

Found this link quite useful.

http://www.inlinefilters.co.uk/index.php?main_page=page&id=9&chapter=0

stick Nanni in the search box comes up with a list of filters. Once you have a generic replacement other sites will let you cross reference to other makes etc.

Stuart

 

[ksutton]

You don't have to buy filters with engine maker printed on the box. But make sure the alternative source is very reputable, avoid imported parts from the far east. When living in Bahrain 25 years ago, friend had an engine fail on a Datsun car. Fault was caused by loss of oil pressure. Diagnosis revealed a non genuine oil filter had disintegrated internally, (piece of silicone sealer had stuck under the oil pressure relief valve). I have the picture imprinted in my mind for ever when cutting open the filter case to examine it, seeing a roughly perforated tin sleeve, still with the printing on it, "pineapple slices"

I have an issue at the moment with a prematurely failed raw water pump on Yanmar.
I refuse to pay over £400 for a new raw water pump, some engine manufacturers parts dealerships either live on another planet, or they think most yacht owners do.

 

[Rafiki]

Found this link quite useful.

http://www.inlinefilters.co.uk/index.php?main_page=page&id=9&chapter=0

stick Nanni in the search box comes up with a list of filters. Once you have a generic replacement other sites will let you cross reference to other makes etc.

Stuart

Very interesting site and good prices almost exactly half the motor factor I use (who seem to invent prices based on how much they think you will pay), but the £7.5o delivery charge is the killer, on the other hand 25lites of oil for less than £50 is very good and might mak ethe delivery worhwhile

 

[gardenshed]

Have no hesitation in used non OEM oil and fuel filters, as long as they are from a reputable other supplier such as cooper, fram etc. Agricultural engineers, good motor factors and good chandlers (traditional harbour based fising boat suppliers rather than pure yachty ones) will have reference books that give equivalent part numbers.

 

[Tranona]

Is it really worth the hassle? Unless you are doing huge numbers of hours, Oil changes are once a year. what are you going to "save"? £5 a year? I agree on other items such as seals for water pumps where the savings are huge, but not on consumables where the price difference is small.

 

[Trundlebug]

Alternator belts needn't be OEM either! Like filters, they don't make them in-house but buy from the main manufacturers.

Most have a set of numbers on them (e.g. 1166x22, or similar from memory) which indicate length, thickness, profile or something similar. Just quote the dimension numbers, or remove one, measure it up and contact your local motor factors. Again, as long as the belt is from a reputable supplier (e.g. Gates) you really can't go wrong.

As others have said, if you have a sample in your hand you can take the time to research cheaper options. Once you've found them and made a note of the details, you're quids in!

I'm afraid I don't agree with the "Just pay up you don't use it enough to save anything significant" approach. Servicing is an annual cost, and contributes enormously to engine longevity and reliability. Add up the savings over a few years and to many, it really is significant. It's OK for some who can afford to throw money away, but for many owners it can make the difference between affordable boating and unaffordable boating (i.e. not having one).

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Take the parts you plan to replace to a commercial motor factor (old LSUK type place) and they will happily sort out their brand of generic filter/belts etc. As many posters have said, engine manufacturers dont make thes things but buy them in (as cheaply as possible) so you are doing exactly the same thing.

 

[Tranona]

I'm afraid I don't agree with the "Just pay up you don't use it enough to save anything significant" approach. Servicing is an annual cost, and contributes enormously to engine longevity and reliability. Add up the savings over a few years and to many, it really is significant. It's OK for some who can afford to throw money away, but for many owners it can make the difference between affordable boating and unaffordable boating (i.e. not having one).

Suggest you add up the difference in price of filters and belts you use a year and compare with your other costs! My Yanmar 1GM costs about £25 in parts and fluids for annual service, using genuine Yanmar parts. Non Yanmar parts save about £7 on that! Perhaps that is why it has run for 22 years with only one failure (water pump). If that makes a difference between owning and not owning a boat then you really are on the margins! Where "marine" parts are expensive is in the items that are difficult to source elsewhere or are less likely to be needed and there big savings can be made. (Water pumps, starters, alternators etc)

If it is easy and convenient to buy pattern parts then OK but don't get obsessed with trying to save small sums - concentrate on the "biggies".

 

[jason -and the arguenauts]

When I wanted this info for my current boat I simply rang Fram and asked their tech department. It was interesting because there were several apparently identical filters than wouldnt suit but one that would.

Whatever belt you want you can get from Fenner Power Transmissions. Need to be careful about just using car spares cos different belts have slightly different profiles eg 13mm vs 12.7mm and the result can be slippage.

 

[Refueler]

Google Donaldson Filters ... they produce reputable filters for most fuel / oil needs ....

http://www.donaldson.com/en/engine/lube/index.html

or other such as this 3rd party site that reckons to have most .......

http://www.inlinefilters.co.uk/?gclid=CPyfmYj6np0CFcmEzAodQFfv2g

No need to buy another expensive one - the old will have Part number on ... that + company name stamped on the filter will identify it well enough .....

You will also find that many of 'our' marine engines use same filters as many cars ... my Perkins uses same fuel filter as a Ford Probe, ( I never knew they had a diesel one ! ) and oil is a generic Donaldson .. plus some Mondeo Diesel variants !

Good luck

 

[Refueler]

Is it really worth the hassle? Unless you are doing huge numbers of hours, Oil changes are once a year. what are you going to "save"? £5 a year? I agree on other items such as seals for water pumps where the savings are huge, but not on consumables where the price difference is small.

Agreed - but many people do not have spare cash at any time and most servcicing happens at an expensive time of year ... lift out, christmas and new year parties, lift in ... these strain the old wallet making each penny count ... yes penny.

If cost can be spread out over year into monthly budget - then fair enough. But for me even with no mooring costs and only crane in / out costs to cover - I still have same problem to reduce service costs as much as possible.

As others have said also - there are NO engine manufacturers who manufacture these parts themselves - they are bought in at cheapest possible price and then upped in price because of name on box. They trick you with rubbish about invalidating warranties if non-genuine used - I would love to see that in court - let them PROVE your 3rd party item is worse than THEIR 3rd party item - especially if you buy from same as them ... ie Donaldson, Crossland, Fram etc.

There was a spate of a high performance 6 cylinder road car that used to destroy gearboxes. 3rd party service people quickly cottoned on that there was a lub oil drip feed missing to one of the lay-shafts ... simple remedy was to strip the box and bifurcate the nearest oil feed ... but was expensive and tricky job. The Car manufacturer though claimed it was a batch fault and would fit THEIR recon box with a change of oil grade..... initially they used a gear oil, but the recon had normal engine oil - WITH THEIR brand name on ... still failed - so they supplied recon kits to the dealers and also a change oil spec again to hydraulic oil ... WITH THEIR brand name on. Of course if you did the job properly by 3rd party solution, or didn't use their 'special' oil - you invalidated whole car warranty. Took ages to get that manufacturer to finally climb down on that ... probably because it got so expensive trying to get around it instead of fixing at source ...

just thought I'd add that little story ... I know it to be true - because I had not just one but two versions of the car ... one went through 2 gearboxes and a further 1 recon in just over 1 year ....

So personally ? knickers to buying Named Brand ...

 

[portvasgo]

thank you

I was already inclined to go with the genuine parts for this year, just to keep things simple while I'm learning.

Interestingly, I have just ordered the parts from Peachments, and the very nice bloke on the line told me that, if I am ever stuck up in my part of the world for the parts, then simply to go to a local car dealer who should be able to source replacement parts. He even suggested that this is the case with alternator belts as well as filters. So once I have taken off the existing filters i will get into my local car part supplier to see if i can source cheaper replacements for next year.

Thanks again for all your replies - there is so much knowledge out there - a real comfort to mechanical novices like me.