Mercruiser D2.8L Dtronic Diesel & Sealine

[mr_noob]

Hello,

Im looking at buying a used S28 fitted with two of the above mentioned engines. I was wondering if anyone here has had any experiences with the 2.8L Mercruiser (good or bad).

It would appear that there is a bit of a stigma associated with them and Volvo KAD32's seem to be the power plant of choice.

Any feedback would be appreicated.


Cheers

Mr Noob... ( the new boy ! )


<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by mr_noob on 18/03/2003 17:44 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[DepSol]

Filling in your profile usually attracts more responces around here.

I have seen a Suneeker fitted with these that had petrols and has no problems.

<hr width=100% size=1>Dom

2003 is going to be a good year for me

 

[spannerman]

I work as a Mercruiser mechanic and these engines are fine, if a little rough and harsh as large displacement 4 cyl diesels usually are. They are rated at 165 hp and are very economical to run, I recently took a 24ft boat for a 5 hr run around the fjords and was running at nearly full speed the whole time and it only used around 18 liters ph. I thought the fuel guage was faulty, I know its correct as I did the exact same trip a few weeks later. One thing to be aware of is you have to have a very good filter system as these engines don't tolerate any water in the fuel, reason is the electronically governed fuel pump has a couple of sensors in it which die if you have contaminated fuel, the symptons are a fault code flashing on the engine check light and very reduced performance around 15-1700 rpm max.
This involves having the pump removed and sent to a specialist to have the sensors changed, it costs around £5,000 here in Norway so is undoubtably cheaper in the UK, I have had 3 fail in the last 2 yrs all down to poor filtration.So just be aware, actually the Mercruiser manual for D-Tronic engines specifies that you drain the filter before use each day, but of course no one does until they have a pump fail.Apart from that they give very little trouble, I can honestly say in the last 7 yrs I have never opened a Mercruiser diesel, or done a head gasket on one, but have done over 40 Volvos, mostly KAD series as they are a more stressed engine.So you pays your money and takes your pick.

Regards Steve

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[mr_noob]

Thanks Spannerman, good reply.

You have put my mind at rest.

With regard to the filtration, would pump failure due to water ingress be covered by the warrenty ?

I nearly fell off my chair at your 5K for the pump fix !

Regards

Mr Noob

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[scottie]

re warranty question

re warranty question

I would suggest that you have two chances of getting any where with that one and the better one is none.

warranties are meant to cover faults in manufacture etc not to pay for lack of preventive maintainance.

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[spannerman]

I am afraid Mercruiser won't cover contaminated fuel, they supply the engine with a filter, but its best to have something like a Racal water seperator, you can get them with an alarm to warn of water in the filter before it gets to the engine filter. They neatly sidestep the issue by stating that the filter should be drained daily.I have seen several shocked faces when I told them what it costs to get the pump repaired at a Bosch center, so the outlay for good filtration is peanuts, especially if you have two engines!

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[TonyTarga]

We fitted new 2.8 D Tronics into our Sealine 285 in 2001 (sold it last November). They were fine but being 4 cylinder did vibrate at low revs. They were very economical. My present KAD 42s are soother being 6 cylinder but the Mercruisers were fine and apart from Soweters poor service we would happily have them again. You could get to all the service points and I would rather remove a Mercruiser drive than a Volvo any day.

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[pistonbroke]

Quote: "apart from Sowesters poor service"

I don't think they went bust on purpose!

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