chinese diesel engines

[ironmaiden]

has anyone had dealings with a diesel engine which is known as the YSAD 380, made in china and are now being imported in to the uk for marine use.
the price of the engines are very cheap and as I'm ready to fit in my new build I'm considering buying one but would like to get some first hand info on them if I can.
Regards Rachel

 

[Topcat47]

Hi Rachel,

I've had no experience of Chinese marine diesel engines but chinese motorcycles have been around for a few years now and there are things to watch out for.

They are often copies of older Japanese designs, without the Japanese quality and certainly without the support organisation. The stuff they design and build themselves is also usually well behind the cutting edge. The materials poorer and the guarantees virtually worthless.

Give them another ten years and they may be competetive with the Koreans and Malasians, but you don't see people falling over themselves to import their stuff either in the Marine world.

That said, established international companies manufacture in China and give world class support for the products they sell, but even Mattel can get it wrong dealing with Chinese QA.

 

[Norman_E]

I would be very wary of saving money buying an engine with no track record, and very probably no real spares backup.
I have sent you a PM (click the flashing flag near the top of the page)

 

[moondancer]

barge dont pole touch

 

[steve_cronin]

In other words.....

...it is the very hell of substandard and often dangerous TATT!

But we foolish westerners have put our futures in their hands.

Silly bugges aren't we?

Steve cronin

 

[graham]

Personally If I couldnt afford new then I would prefer a rebuilt engine from a known quality manufacturer .A chinese motor may or may not be reliable,spares may or may not be readilly available also it would adversely affect the resale value of your boat one day.

 

[No Regrets]

I'm currently in the Motorcycle trade, and can assure you Chinese brands are total rubbish.

Worse still, unlike a Bike which will leave it's foolish owner stranded by the roadside, the possibilities for Boat engine failure leave me cold....

Absolutely no way. Chinese Genny's are pants too, when compared to a Honda, Yamaha or Kawasaki, even....

 

[Poignard]

Is there any reason to suppose their engines are any better made than their toys, foodstuffs, machine tools, hand tools, fastenings, Xmas tree lights etc?

 

[savageseadog]

It's a toy engine painted with lead paint

 

[cliff]

[ QUOTE ]
Absolutely no way. Chinese Genny's are pants too, when compared to a Honda, Yamaha or Kawasaki, even....

[/ QUOTE ]And on what do you base your statement on? Do you own one? have you run one beside an overpriced Japanese one?

See this thread
--------------------

"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"
sailroom <span style="color:red">The place to auction your previously loved boatie bits</span>

 

[srp]

I'd let someone else be the guinea pig personally, mainly because the popular makes like Beta, Nanni, Yanmar etc have established track records and good spares availability. I've no experience of Chinese engines, but the vertical milling machine we installed recently is poor quality - badly finished, innaccurate and bits drop off it regularly (if thats anything to go by). Gawd help us when they've put all the high quality manufacturers out of business.

 

[orizaba]

i have had abit to do with larger generators 40 kva with 4 cyl
diesel engine,
the engine was very robust and survived a severe overheat not due to its design but poor installation maintainance.'they remind me rather of the russian engines,heavily made a bit crude ,but do the job and arefairly bulletproof,that said i had 2 problems with one engine
there was a bad fuel leak from the injector pump,but i was able to get this fixed by lucas without any problem,
the top of a pushrod snapped off but i was able to modify a rod from a bedford tk to fit it.
genuine spares are not easy to get for them ,but i would not totally discount them on that basis,its something to check into with your supplier as is warranty etc
these experiences were 2 years ago and maybe the spares situation is better now with more in use.
the thing that may be of more of a downside is how much they weigh against other engines of the same hp etc, i would suspect more.

 

[halcyon]

Why do we go on about engine build qaulity, then use Chinese equipment to charge our batteries, control our navigation, and rely on it for emergancy calls if we get into trouble at sea?
What to-day in the UK is not made in China, bought a pack of Bosch drills, made in China !!!!, soon we are due to assemble MG's at Longbridge made in China.

Brian

 

[Bob_Ranft]

Re: chinese diesel engines [Re:ironmaiden]

I've worked in and out of China for the last 20 years. During which time most major motor manufacturers have set up shop over here. For the most part their products are well finished and appear to have almost equal levels of durability to their European, Japanese and American counterparts. The mix of virgin ore and recycled metal that goes into the mix for these products is obviously very well controlled. But when you drop out of this loop, metal quality, considering the vast amount of scrap metal that China is sucking up, can be very suspect.

I work in the metal printing / canmaking industry, we have several 2 year old locally made copy machines here that have suffered more wear and tear than the original 20 year old European machines that are still in constant use. Load bearing shafts etc. are always breaking on the local machines. Local bearings in electric motors fail very frequently.

For a boat the integrity of the hull, rig, rudder, steering gear, engine and stern gear must be bullet proof.

As mentioned by graham, a rebuilt unit from an established manufacturer is a more sensible approach. While many yachtsmen are not brand / image obsessed and will actively seek out good quality fit for purpose bargains, many are, and I think this will be reflected in a large mark down over a Chinese engine come resale time.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I don,t lnow the one you refer to but I have looked at a changfa which is imported into and sold into africa for use in rural areas.

I was looking to replace a farymann on my generator but didn't as I rebuilt the farymann.

My inperssion was biult like a brick sh*t house very heavy but old technolegy
details here or better here

 

[jaycee]

hello,i am old enough to remember in the 50's&60's the then emergeing japanese industrial explosion was considered very iffy in terms of reliability, spare parts etc.
so who knows?

 

[rogerthebodger]

Hi Rachel,

I am interesed in the name of your yacht as it is a local word to me and I wondered is it a name you selected and if so I would be interested in the reasons.

Still pondering over what to name my new yacht.

Distant Shaw's is current favourite

 

[ironmaiden]

First may I thank you all for your views on the engine topic and I think that most of you are right about going for a proven name so I will most likely go for my original choice which was a beta, I'm not to botherd about the possible drop in resale as simunye is going to be my last venture and I will most likely keep her untill she becomes my sons problem, besides I will work her hard as she is going to be my home on my travels.

Hi Rogershaw, with regard to the name "simunye" I chose it because of it's meaning. I came across the name from a multi cultural centre I used to go to that was trying to establish it's self in sheffield, this centre was a meeting place for the local residents in sheffield, they were trying to find a suitable name that would encompass everyone from all over the globe, one of the founders was from africa and of zulu origin, he came up with the word apparently from his native tongue which when translated meant "we are one". having spent many sea miles sailing single handed I could think of no other name that could discribe how I feel when alone on a long passage single handed, " my boat and I become one"

I hope that the translation of the word "simunye" is correct and it's not something offensive. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif please tell me your views.
Regards Rachel.

 

[pheran]

Don't worry - 'Simunye' does indeed mean 'we are one'. I have a CD of that name featuring the music of I Fagiolini and The SDASA Chorale which is trailed as 'Music for a Harmonious World'. Very uplifting - you should have a copy on board for your travels.

 

[ironmaiden]

whew .....I was starting to get worried there.... last thing I wanted to do was haul up in cape town or somewhere to be arrested for being offensive to thier nation.
thanks for the confirmation.
Rach . /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif