Service kits - are cheap alternatives any good?

Captain Crisp

Captain Crisp

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Planning to service my Volve MD 2010 engine for the first time... Is it ok to use non-volvo service kits (eg Repower Marine)??? They seem to be half the price on eBay. Or is this a stupid idea?
 
Many of us use non genuine Volvo Penta service items. The MD2000 series are a re-badged Perkins (itself based on a Japanese block). I use 'Genuine Perkins' filters. These are actually what Parts4Engines supply as their Volvo equivalents, and they are are good source of other service parts, although I have found French Marine a cheaper source for buying a stock of filters. I have also had good service for items from Repower Marine.
 
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The OE Yanmar engine fuel filter for my engine - a 4JH4 -HTE - is 50 quid.

About 14 quid from Inline filters.

No brainer.

Yanmar do not make their own filters, they, like most other engine manufacturers, buy them in from filter makers and put them in a box with their logo and part number. They then increase the price as a genuine spare part to an unrealistic level.

Cutting out Yanmar and Volvo, the most highly priced parts suppliers where posible for consumable items, makes sound financial sense.

Inline filters sell so many without problems it is safe to do so. Most filter manufacturers are ISO Compliant.
 
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The Perkins Perama series of M10 ,M20 and M 30 became the 2010 ,2020 and 2030 when Volvo started marketing them,many people get confused but they are not the 2000 series thats a different engine.
I get the service items off ebay as drive belts,fuel filters,oil filters even glowplugs are standard parts no need to pay the marine prices.
 
I have found genuine is always better quality on filters, the copy ones are cheaper for a reason, of course we all know the word boat or marine adds x percentage.

I quite happily fit non genuine filters (have to be a decent make Mann/Mahl etc) to all my cars and the boat! but if I come across genuine at sensible money I will buy them.

It is like buying a used car, four decent make tyres with decent tread, brakes with a sensible amount of friction material on the brake pads, and signe of recent servicing means you have a better chance, than the budget branded tyres/worn out brakes model.
 
lynallbel said:
I have found genuine is always better quality on filters, the copy ones are cheaper for a reason, of course we all know the word boat or marine adds x percentage.



It is like buying a used car, four decent make tyres with decent tread,
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How do you know that a "genuine" filter is better than a pattern filter? have you ever taken one apart? As said previously, Volvo, Yanmar etc don't make filters.
I've also seen that the original fitment tyres on new cars are pretty basic and whilst not always rock bottom budget they are not particularly good.. You can buy a lot better tyres for your car than the original fitments.
 
Laysula said:
How do you know that a "genuine" filter is better than a pattern filter? have you ever taken one apart? As said previously, Volvo, Yanmar etc don't make filters.
I've also seen that the original fitment tyres on new cars are pretty basic and whilst not always rock bottom budget they are not particularly good.. You can buy a lot better tyres for your car than the original fitments.
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Many years servicing vehicles has taught me pattern parts are not always up to the task, some are okay, many are just plain rubbish, and they sell because they are cheap, people buy them becasue they are cheap.

I was not talking about new cars, I wrote used.
 
lynallbel said:
Many years servicing vehicles has taught me pattern parts are not always up to the task, some are okay, many are just plain rubbish, and they sell because they are cheap, people buy them becasue they are cheap.

I was not talking about new cars, I wrote used.
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In some respects you are correct.

But one thing you can rely on is a filter made by a recognised company.

There were some very poor pattern motorcycle oil filters in the late sixties/early seventies. These were soon sussed out and were gone from the market very quickly.

Mann, Baldwin, Wix and other makes available from those who supply the trade in large quantities have proved to be as good as OE.

And, as I indicated earlier, are supplied to engine makers for OE fit and spare part supply.

If you are happy paying £50 plus for something I pay £14 for, please carry on.

I worked for Lucas Service in the 80's. Crossland Filters is/was a Lucas company. Visited their factory more than once.

Their product was as good as anything available at the time, complied with ALL ISO specs. And all sold at a far better price than OE from, say Mercedese or BMW.
 
Used Crosland many years ago on trucks and some cars, oil pressure from start up was an issue, they used to be all the rage 20 years ago, do not see them for sale much nowadays.

Do not forget the tag OE and OEM does not mean they are OE or OEM for that particular product, it merely means they supply somehting to the OE or OEM, for example they may make cambelt tensioners for the OE or OEM, but you are looking at their filters.

If you read my possts carefully, you will see I make no mention of paying full retail.

The Lucas name is back in the game again, only the last few years though, keep seeing their packaging, mainly noticed it on batteries/wipers that sort of thing.

I was watching a youtube video on Bosch filters (how I ended up there I have no idea!) anyway the guy weighed the bosch and some other cheapies, the cheapies were quite a bit lighter.
 
Some vehicles have a propensity for low oil pressure after start up due to the mounting of the filter.
Those never seemed to suffer though, as on start up the load is light.
Some filters incorporate a non return valve to alleviate this.

I worked for a major Japanese Motorcycle company and had several areas of responsibility. One was spare part spec and quality.

OE and aftermarket supply for our machines were ofter checked against each other. I only recall one problem which was a dimension of an air filter. Seals were too small, causing it to rattle. And, of course, not filter properly. Easily and quickly corrected. My employer changed to them for OE supply on several important models quite quickly for one very good reason some time later.

I remember the tech report sheet giving the reason for the change :-

" Cost Down! "
 
peteK said:
The Perkins Perama series of M10 ,M20 and M 30 became the 2010 ,2020 and 2030 when Volvo started marketing them,many people get confused but they are not the 2000 series thats a different engine.
I get the service items off ebay as drive belts,fuel filters,oil filters even glowplugs are standard parts no need to pay the marine prices.
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I'd be interested to know what is the base engine related to the VP D1-20?
 
Not sure about VP D1-20 but it uses the same exhaust elbow so assume its Perkins based. Volvo started to fit their own electrics to later engines with different alternators as the Perkins engines had the available anywhere Lucas A127 alternator 55amp.
I have the Perkins M20 fitted in 1990 and still going strong with consumable sevice items readily available from the car market .
 
I bought a 3rd-party head gasket for my 2-stroke outboard in the autumn and was quite disappointed.

The Tohatsu one was thin metal with a thin coating of some kind of rubber, whereas the 3rd-party one was old-fashioned cardboard.
 
I buy all filters for my 1gm10 from an agricultural supplier. Most of these engines were originally designed as agricultural workhorses and then they realsied if they add the word marine to it they can double the costs! Finding the part numbers can be a challenge though as the marine 'original's never have the part numbers on them.

In-Line Filters, UK's Leading Filter Specialists

Any 1gm10 owners out their here are the ones needed.

Cav296 Filter - Baldwin BF825
Oil Filter - Baldwin B1400
Fuel Filter - Baldwin PF937
 
I am please to see brands like Baldwin , Mann and Wix mentioned as I have been using them with no apparent issues .

Probably the biggest saving is the Mann air filters that are two for under a tenner if best use is made of discount codes (euro car parts)compared to Volvo Penta at two for £50.
Crosland are even cheaper for air filters with the only visible difference being the packaging.
The cardboard box for the Crosland filters is very cheap looking and the filter inside is not in sealed polythene bag like the Mann filter :) .

The savings add up and I don't consider the alternatives to be sub standard.

For belts I stay with the engine makers product as others have found alternatives to be unsatisfactory.

Impellers I am experimenting - too early to judge but will need to inspect them before we go anywhere - they have possibly been idle for too long.
 
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