Mercruiser 180 diesels, any good?

Murv

Murv

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 Nov 2012
Messages
2,127
Location
Kent
Visit site
Apologies for the very similar theme to my last thread re the Perkins, but does anyone have any experience of these?
circa 1991, I believe they're 3.7l turbos.
My interest is in reliability and parts availability. Googling seems to reveal that they're reliable units and there are vendors offering parts. Are they a feasible alternative to the ever popular Volvo's?
 
Murv said:
Apologies for the very similar theme to my last thread re the Perkins, but does anyone have any experience of these?
circa 1991, I believe they're 3.7l turbos.
My interest is in reliability and parts availability. Googling seems to reveal that they're reliable units and there are vendors offering parts. Are they a feasible alternative to the ever popular Volvo's?
Click to expand...

they are based on VMs and are smooth and easy to fix, with parts available from the states. Volvo forbid their states suppliers selling here so they can keep prices eye wateringly high. They are way better than their reputation suggests. Volvos ace is it's ubiquity, no more.
Tom Parker (murcuryman) is an expert on them and I would recommend him for your survey and ongoing maintenance.
 
I had a pair in a boat I bought a Halmatic 34 SDboat circa 1999 is VM based motor with both BMW and Mercruiser badges and logos.

I bought the boat in 1993 and in 1998 I had a serious over heat on one engine and the other not great.

Parts costs meant it was not an economical repair so I scrapped them and fitted a pair of Perkins Sabres.

I would not touch them with a barge pole.
 
Bandit said:
I had a pair in a boat I bought a Halmatic 34 SDboat circa 1999 is VM based motor with both BMW and Mercruiser badges and logos.

I bought the boat in 1993 and in 1998 I had a serious over heat on one engine and the other not great.

Parts costs meant it was not an economical repair so I scrapped them and fitted a pair of Perkins Sabres.

I would not touch them with a barge pole.
Click to expand...

the BMW ones had poorer cooling I believe. Mercruiser improved it when they took them over. I would have them again most definitely.
 
My answer and help to this thread would be to have a look ( if they allowed) inside Dave Crawford marine workshop and see how many scrap engines there are lying about that are Beyond economical repair.
I too have rebuilt both BMW badged engines and black ones over the years. The main base unit is Italian, was sourced in as a base unit and marinised by mercruiser and previously BMW. Some parts are eyewateringly expensive, some are NLA so beware how old you buy and ask yourself how reliable do you want your boating to be.

There are many happy merc owners on here that have little problems with there engines so it's not all bad news.
 
Thanks very much all, greatly appreciated :)
I've read some very opposing views on them, so I guess we also need to factor resale into any decision as well.

Thanks,

Chris
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top