Petrol Engine Choices

[Martin_S]

I'm looking to buy a second hand boat and am being offered ones with Volvo 151's, Volvo 131's and BMW B220's. They have between 500 and 1,000 hours on them and are around 15-20 years old. I have already discovered that the 151's are susceptible to cracked cylinder heads and/or cam and cam belt problems. What should I be looking for on these three engine types and are there significant differences in longevity, spare parts costs or other factors between the BMW and the Volvo engines? Any advice will be gratefully received.

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[martynwhiteley]

Do a search here on BMW to find many cautionary tails.

Volvo are perhaps nearly as expensive for spares, but at least they are (generally) available. With BMW it is very much a hit and miss affair, and as I posted on a couple of days ago, be more concerened about BMW outdrive legs that the engines.

Having said that, just but the best boat with the biggest oldest crappiest petrol engines for the least amount of money. Then throw away the engines and bang in some diesel units.

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[Chris_d]

Martin, as already said there are many myths about BMW engines mostly not true.
I can only speak as i find, but i have run BMW B220 for 8 years and 850hours.
I have changed the oil, plugs, air filter and err ... thats it really. In the B220's case it really is a very well built engine, the finish (BMW used a special coating) is superb, i could eat my dinner off it, there is not a sign of corrosion anywhere.
The legs did have a few problems early on with the clutch and hydraulic lines, but I believe most of these occoured early and the MkII legs were fault free, certainly mine has not given any problems. I have a friend with the same boat as me but fitted with a Volvo 151 and it has had lots of small problems, having helped out on it, its a pig to work on despite being a smaller unit, everything seems to be on silly brackets and designed to be difficult to remove.
However I would guess the boat your looking at is at least 15years old, so its really down to condition and the fact they are petrol engines, two immaculately maintianed Volvos will be better than 2 neglected BMW's and vica versa.
Its shame BMW have a bad name, they were forced out of the market, by Volvo giving incentives to the manufactures to fit them, like not having to pay for them until they had sold the boat etc.. BMW couldn't compete. However Volvos will always be easier to sell on, but you may get a bargain by buying the BMW's though, so just make a lower offer.

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[martynwhiteley]

Fair points Chris, and your right about the coatings and general 'look' of the BMW units.

For anyone with good mechanical skills, and perseverence on the internet, there's no reason why BMW units could be maintained and supported for many years, but if someone bought a 15 year old boat with 1000 hours on a pair of BMW engines and legs, with little confidence of service history, they could be in for a rocky ride if they expect a local dealer or service agent to support them.



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[Chris_d]

Yes agreed, actualy if it was me buying a twin petrol boat though, I would probably opt for the smaller 4 cylinder Volvos mainly for the economy.
Can't understand why anybody would buy a boat with twin 200hp+ petrols, given the running costs, regardless of the manufacturer. Probably just about ok for the river though.

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[oldgit]

Re: Beware......Old Petrol engines suck.

Where will you using it up up river,you can just drift to bank,please say you are not going offshore.If you must buy an old petrol unit,try to get something with closed fresh water cooling.99% of the stuff on the market will be raw water cooled an will just be rotting away quietly internally.Water and cast iron are not the best of friends and unless the engine has been looked after by a very fussy owner(that will mean ALL previous ones)sooner or later the thing will clog up,debris will get to exhaust risers and block water flow,if you are lucky you will spot it before you cook engine.If not.......
Do not buy anything that has been laid up for a long time,see above.
Sorry to be negative,but to be forwarned is no bad thing.You may be lucky and get a goodun
If you must do it,go for Volvo cos all bits are easy to get,have no idea where you would buy a new exhaust riser for that Italian lump they used in the BMW.
Petrol is fine for nearly new boats,but after a few years.........

<hr width=100% size=1>Just nipping down to the boat for a few moments ,will not be long../forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Solitaire]

Simple really! Buy a boat with a knackered engine and budget for a new one! You will have problems sooner or later with any engine of that age. As, has been mentioned earlier, most have open cooling systems and the guts will be rotting away. Alternative is to find a boat that has new engine'/s fitted recently. Mind you if you intend just using it on the river and never going more than about 5 knots you might be lucky. How do I know? - I've been there, and the bank manager has been there too.

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[Martin_S]

Thanks to you all for your advice and for giving me the benefit of your experience. I will be using the boat on the non-tidal part of the Thames but the three current candidates (all Fairline Carrera 24's) have all been sea boats. I have looked at both twin engined and single engined but found the latter somewhat more difficult to steer precisely. Any comments on Carreras in general?

Martin

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[burgundyben]

remember you need to change anodes when moving form salt to fresh water.

cant comment on Carrera.

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[Chris_d]

Re: Beware......Old Petrol engines suck.

Doesn't that argument apply to an old diesel as well, I would have thought an old petrol engine used on the river is a better bet, than an old diesel lump with glazed bores, sooted up turbos and contaminated fuel tanks full of sludge.
By the way the it was only the BMW diesels that used the Italian VM unit which became the Mercruiser unit an bits are available through Mercruiser dealers. The petrol units were based on the 2800/3300 BMW saloons and are pretty solid, bits obtainable from PH Marine amongst others.
There is even a company in Canada which sell old refurbished BMW engines as new units, there is quite a demand over there and downunder because they were so well engineered.
Sorry but I'm not really a massive BMW fan but as I own one and its been 100% reliable, I find some of the myths perpetuated on this site a bit annoying. I bet your bad experiences of old petrol engines are probably of some old 70's Volvo's.

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