Engine Dilema - Perkins 4.236

[coopec]

Good morning you helpful people. Thank you for those two sites for Perkins parts, I will be looking into them later. If I were to replace the engine with a new one, I would like to avoid ones with the modern fandangly, electronic circuit boards and have something in the engine hole that I can actually work on without having a degree in engineering. Any thoughts?

I just did a DuckDuckgo search for you but if I had your approximate geographical location I could refine the results for you.

Used boat parts at DuckDuckGo

 

[Beneteau381]

Good morning you helpful people. Thank you for those two sites for Perkins parts, I will be looking into them later. If I were to replace the engine with a new one, I would like to avoid ones with the modern fandangly, electronic circuit boards and have something in the engine hole that I can actually work on without having a degree in engineering. Any thoughts?

Betamarine, the MD told me that they will not offer common rail (ie electronically controlled) engines in their range.

 

[Tranona]

Good morning you helpful people. Thank you for those two sites for Perkins parts, I will be looking into them later. If I were to replace the engine with a new one, I would like to avoid ones with the modern fandangly, electronic circuit boards and have something in the engine hole that I can actually work on without having a degree in engineering. Any thoughts?

Beta 75 is the most obvious replacement. 3.6L mechanical engine 75hp@2600rpm so very similar to the Perkins. Volvo are also still mechanical but with an electronic interface to the control panel, Yanmar are also mechanical in that size. however both are smaller higher revving turbocharged engines.

 

[PCUK]

My marina neighbour has the same engine on his Broom 37 and had a hell of a time finding a replacement oil cooler. He eventually found someone who was breaking for spares on the Broom owners club. I think parts for these engines are getting scarce.

Any oil cooler will do the job. No problem there.

 

[ChromeDome]

With the old Perkins, the boat would be motoring at 6kts at 1200rpm quietly ticking over and no strain whatsoever on the engine, a new Yanmar say, would be running at a lot more rpm than that.

When you happen to mention Yanmar it is a bit interesting that they (as the only one?) still have the option "Mechanical or Electronic Fuel System" as search filter on their website.

So there is indeed an option to avoid electronics - then there's just the budget issue of a new engine.

 

[PCUK]

I'm wondering if the Perkins factory made a Perkins 4.236 Marine Diesel. (They never made a marinised version of the Perkins 4.108. They provided the basic 4.108 motor and then about six(?) different "jobbers" marinised them to their own design}

Just looking at the photos here I suspect it may be the same with the 4.236.
marinised perkins 4.236 engine - Google Search

Sorry, you are totally wrong. Perkins supplied marine engines from the factory.

 

[coopec]

Sorry, you are totally wrong. Perkins supplied marine engines from the factory.

Can you elaborate? Can you back up your assertion at all?
Can you give me a link to a "Perkins 4.108 Marine Diesel Manual"??

Why so many completely different versions?

workshop
manual for
4.108 4.107 and 4.99
diesel engines
​

Page4 ~ Safety precautions
THESE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS ARE IMPORTANT. Reference must also be made to the local
regulations in the country of operation.
Do not use these engines in marine applications.
Do not change the specification of the engine.
Do not smoke when you put fuel in the tank.

http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/p1983uk.pdf

 

[ean_p]

Can you elaborate? Can you back up your assertion at all?
Can you give me a link to a "Perkins 4.108 Marine Diesel Manual"??

Why so many completely different versions?

Link in post 14

 

[PaulRainbow]

Can you elaborate? Can you back up your assertion at all?
Can you give me a link to a "Perkins 4.108 Marine Diesel Manual"??

Take your pick: Perkins 4..108M Series Manual - Google Search

For instance: Perkins 4.108M Workshop Manual (Page 4 of 135) | ManualsLib

 

[fisherman]

Thing about marinisation is they make a nice compact package. But if, for instance, you remove the heat exchanger, you could then fit the standard thermostat cover with hose tail, to the engine and under the heat exchanger, and use any suitable capacity heat exchanger mounted anywhere nearby. Same with oil coolers. Just a matter of pipework.
In some cases this makes life a lot easier in terms of access, eg to the alternator mountings and fresh water circulation pump pipe connections.

 

[Tranona]

Why so many completely different versions?

​

Because that family of engines was in production for over 30 years in a multitude of forms - for example in the original Ford Transit van, In a whole range of MF tractors, marinised and generators by Westerbeke in the States and a while host of industrial and traction applications. At the same time they produced their own marine version (the suffix M gives the clue) in a wide range of horsepower an configurations. Inevitably given the popularity of the engines and the ease with which they can be marinised you also see many non factory example, but they may not be to the same spec as the official factory ones.

Hope that puts your mind at rest. The OP has an official factory 4 236 built to meet Oyster requirements. (The 4 236 was not built in the same numbers as the smaller engines but was still a very popular engine well into this century.)

 

[penfold]

Good morning you helpful people. Thank you for those two sites for Perkins parts, I will be looking into them later. If I were to replace the engine with a new one, I would like to avoid ones with the modern fandangly, electronic circuit boards and have something in the engine hole that I can actually work on without having a degree in engineering. Any thoughts?

Beta Marine or one of the other marinised Kubota vendors.

 

[ean_p]

Good morning you helpful people. Thank you for those two sites for Perkins parts, I will be looking into them later. If I were to replace the engine with a new one, I would like to avoid ones with the modern fandangly, electronic circuit boards and have something in the engine hole that I can actually work on without having a degree in engineering. Any thoughts?

A look at the link in post 2 and others shows that parts are still quite easy to find for this engine. If you have it rebuilt by your sympathetic tame engineer then it'll see your use of the boat out.........

 

[CanePazzo]

Thank you all for your interest and time. I think I may have found a substitute second hand 4236, in good condition - well, better than my old one!! If not you have given me more than a few leads to follow up on. pares in Viareggio are pretty hard to come across!

 

[Beneteau381]

Because that family of engines was in production for over 30 years in a multitude of forms - for example in the original Ford Transit van, In a whole range of MF tractors, marinised and generators by Westerbeke in the States and a while host of industrial and traction applications. At the same time they produced their own marine version (the suffix M gives the clue) in a wide range of horsepower an configurations. Inevitably given the popularity of the engines and the ease with which they can be marinised you also see many non factory example, but they may not be to the same spec as the official factory ones.

Hope that puts your mind at rest. The OP has an official factory 4 236 built to meet Oyster requirements. (The 4 236 was not built in the same numbers as the smaller engines but was still a very popular engine well into this century.)

Not many people realise that the model number gives the size etc of the engine, so a 4 236 is a 4 cylinder one of 236 cubic inches capacity

 

[coopec]

Because that family of engines was in production for over 30 years in a multitude of forms - for example in the original Ford Transit van, In a whole range of MF tractors, marinised and generators by Westerbeke in the States and a while host of industrial and traction applications. At the same time they produced their own marine version (the suffix M gives the clue) in a wide range of horsepower an configurations. Inevitably given the popularity of the engines and the ease with which they can be marinised you also see many non factory example, but they may not be to the same spec as the official factory ones.

Hope that puts your mind at rest. The OP has an official factory 4 236 built to meet Oyster requirements. (The 4 236 was not built in the same numbers as the smaller engines but was still a very popular engine well into this century.)

Yes , Tranona (and others) you are right!
Perkins (Westerbeke?) did have there own marine version (some raw water)

This article was helpful Perkins 4-108 Marine Diesel Engine - SaltWaterDiesels

 

[fisherman]

I think Perkins once had the biggest market penetration for diesel engines.

 

[Tranona]

Yes , Tranona (and others) you are right!
Perkins (Westerbeke?) did have there own marine version (some raw water)

This article was helpful Perkins 4-108 Marine Diesel Engine - SaltWaterDiesels

Westerbeke is a completely different company but were big marinisers of Perkins engines for the US market. Remember that US had no smaller diesel engine builders and Perkins were a major player from 1960s on until the earl 2000s when the Japanese took over and Perkins went through a string of takeovers. The current small Perkins engines are made in both Japan and the original factory in Peterborough.

 

[coopec]

Westerbeke is a completely different company but were big marinisers of Perkins engines for the US market. Remember that US had no smaller diesel engine builders and Perkins were a major player from 1960s on until the earl 2000s when the Japanese took over and Perkins went through a string of takeovers. The current small Perkins engines are made in both Japan and the original factory in Peterborough.

Thanks Tranona.
I think you'll find Caterpillar now own Perkins.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

With the old Perkins, the boat would be motoring at 6kts at 1200rpm quietly ticking over and no strain whatsoever on the engine, a new Yanmar say, would be running at a lot more rpm than that.

It is said that diesel engines like it better when they are worked hard, i.e. a smaller engine that has to be run at higher revs is likely to be more reliable than one that spends its working life at running at barely above tickover.