Sold a faulty engine

[Stemar]

The exact description may be a can of worms, but I would have thought the standard test of merchantable quality, fit for purpose and reasonably durable still applies. ISTM that an engine bought to power a boat, even second hand, should work, and not require expensive repairs, or it isn't either fit for purpose or of merchantable quality.

 

[Jim@sea]

The chances are that someone there made a mistake and sent you the wrong engine. A friend bought a reconditioned Perkins Engine from another company and fitted it, he had just bought the boat at a marina and it had a faulty engine so he bought the reconditioned engine, fitted it and set of to sail to his home marina , 5 hours out the engine stopped and his boat was towed to a nearby port by the RNLI.
He tried to sue the Ltd Co engine seller but got nowhere.
In hindsight if I was buying an engine I would ask them for an engine number before it left their premises to make sure that the one they were selling you was the same one the people in the warehouse gave to the delivery people.
As Perkins are what are fitted in Massey Ferguson Tractors and there are loads of Tractor dealers round the country if you bought another one you could take it the a MF dealer and get their workshop to check it out.

My friend ended up buying a Chinese Kubota Copy engine and he is very happy with it.

 

[Poignard]

Perhaps I am being illogical, or an old fuss-pot, but them having been resprayed would put me off.

 

[Refueler]

Perhaps I am being illogical, but them having been resprayed would put me off.

When I paid 250 quid for a scrapper 4-107 .... the engineer asked if I wanted it brushed down and resprayed ... I said at that price - it can stay looking like a lump of rust.
He threw some diesel at it ... it fired up and deal was done.
20+yrs later - is still purring away in my Sunrider 25 ... still looks like a lump of rust ... but has never let me down.

 

[Moodysailor]

Sorry to hear about your problems, I don't think this is the right place to come for advice as all we can offer are opinions. My opinion - caveat emptor and check your contract.
They regularly come up as the lowest price second hand engines around, this should warrant some extra thought. The description and the contract will may only state "used". In any case, there is not a precise definition of reconditioned and if you want to fight it, get your documentation together (calls, emails, etc).

 

[DanTribe]

i was considering buying a "fuly reconditioned " engine a few years ago. After considerable interogation they told me the reconditioning consisted of,
1/ Seing if it started,
2/ jet washing,
3/ spray painting.
I passed on it.

 

[Minerva]

I understand the OP's displeasure.

A couple of winters' ago I posted a thread on here about Marine Enterprises after a particularly frustrating engine job spent cold and hanging upside down and ending up threatening to put in a replacement engine. My initial thought was if the engine was of a state that someone else wanted to go to effort and expense of changing to get rid, then it was probably end of life. However I got generally positive feedback about the company and their recondition efforts.

In the end, glad I never went with them and it seems my initial thoughts were probably correct. I hope the OP wasn't swayed by some of the comments on that thread.

 

[Tranona]

As Perkins are what are fitted in Massey Ferguson Tractors and there are loads of Tractor dealers round the country if you bought another one you could take it the a MF dealer and get their workshop to check it out.

The engine in question has nothing to do with the Perkins fitted to MF tractors. It was made by Shibaura Perkins in Japan.

 

[Poignard]

I was once interested in buying an ex-ships lifeboat engine (BUKH) from ME because I know from experience as an engineer in the MN they have had very little use.

In the end I didn't because I found it would be easier, and cheaper, for me to overhaul the engine I had rather than alter engine beds, propshaft, &c.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

I was once interested in buying an ex-ships lifeboat engine (BUKH) from ME because I know from experience as an engineer in the MN they have had very little use.

In the end I didn't because I found it would be easier, and cheaper, for me to overhaul the engine I had rather than alter engine beds, propshaft, &c.

If spares are available, I think that's a good way to go. At least you know that the engine will go back again.

Just done a quick search.
Seems they had a change of ownership in 2025.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Looking for some advice.

A few months back we replaced the old knackered yanmar 2QM20 in our sailboat and installed a newer and more powerful Perkins perama M30.

We were sold the Perkins to us by Marine Enterprises Ltd for around £2800 for this we expected a fully reconditioned engine.

The advert says :

"Recently removed from a Moody 35 sailing yacht to make way for a larger Beta engine.

Starts and runs nicely and has been fully cleaned and resprayed ready to go back to work."

So i don't know why you would expect a fully reconditioned engine, or even a refurbished one.

However when the engine arrived it was in a somewhat shoddy state; air intake was filthy, oil was black as night, control panel was sort of compatible, missing engine mounts (mounts clearly visble in the ad).

What you should have expected was :

If you got what you described you should have rejected it.

We emailed them to notify that we were dipleased with the lack of servicing done, they reply telling me how to rectify this and that they would sent out engine mounts as way of an apology.

Perkins - Perkins Perama M30 29hp Marine Diesel Engine For Sale in South West | Marine Enterprises Ltd |

 

[Poignard]

What might a buyer understand by the statement "...ready to go back to work." ?

Might he, not unreasonably, assume that statement implies ". . . . fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied".

 

[Fr J Hackett]

What might a buyer understand by the statement "...ready to go back to work." ?

Might he, not unreasonably, assume that statement implies ". . . . fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied".

My ex BiL owned and ran a garage that specialised in accident damage repairs and respray along with mechanical repairs. The statement was ( only partly in jest) all work guaranteed ............... 5 miles or 5 minutes which ever comes first.

 

[Ceirwan]

If the description didn't say reconditioned then I would not expect it.

However I think most would agree it was a bit overpriced for the condition it was in, for £2800 you'd expect it to run more than 3 times before giving up.
And regardless of who is at fault, companies that stop answering mail at the first sign of trouble tend to set alarm bells ringing.

If this was an individual I would say caveat emptor. But since you're buying from a company, then perhaps its a different story?

 

[nigelwoodward]

Looking for some advice.

A few months back we replaced the old knackered yanmar 2QM20 in our sailboat and installed a newer and more powerful Perkins perama M30.

We were sold the Perkins to us by Marine Enterprises Ltd for around £2800 for this we expected a fully reconditioned engine.

However when the engine arrived it was in a somewhat shoddy state; air intake was filthy, oil was black as night, control panel was sort of compatible, missing engine mounts (mounts clearly visble in the ad).

We emailed them to notify that we were dipleased with the lack of servicing done, they reply telling me how to rectify this and that they would sent out engine mounts as way of an apology.

These engine mounts were never sent out to us and we to order them ourselves at the cost of £120 as the launch date was quickly approaching. I contacted them again asking where the mounts were and never got a reply.

When testing the engine I found the tachometer was none functional and spent a considerable time consulting the workshop manual and a marine engineer about this issue. It was all wired up correctly with ground and T+ on the alternator, the alternator was working as it was outputting a decent voltage, clearly the tachy was faulty. didnt have the money to replace the tachy having spent so much on everything else.

So we were lifted in and commenced sea trails, a short sail to an anchorage a few hours away. The sailing was good but had issues with the Perkins starting, turned out to be air in fuel lines, easily remedied (cracked the injectors and reprimed).

leaving the anchorage had same issue, clearly something was amiss, pulled the injectors and found they were dirty and clogged, cleaned them, reprimed the fuel system and she fired straight up.

A few weeks later we took the boat to an achorage near our home port, approximately 5NM away. There wasnt much wind that day so had to fired up Perkins. Started and ran fine on the way there, nice sunny day fishing at the anchorage and returned home, ran fine on the way back to. A round trip of 10NM, 3 hours of motoring, just cruising along.

Went to start the engine the next day, kluck! nothing, no turn over. on closer inspection found all 3 cyclinders were filled with coolant. With abit of research deducted that the engine must have overheated and blew the head gasket, but why? hadn't run perkins that hard at all. Turned out the heat exchanger was very corroded on the interior and the coolant pump as well.

I contacted Marine Enterprises asking them to send out replacement parts, we'd had only brought the engine about 4 months prior and used it a total of 2-3 times and obviously this fualt was there when it was sold to us.

They're have not responsed at all to my repeated messages, for almost a months now. so here I am with dead in the water, having been ripped off.

What should I do?

Count yourself lucky - I am close to £45000 in after purchasing a 300 hours Volvo from a similar sounding source in Dorset - transpires engine had been written off - amazing what a re spray can do. No need to reply to this with advice or sympathy - its way way beyond online style advice - except, to all potential buyers of 2nd hand engines, test test and test again. There is a reason why they are on the 2nd hand market.

 

[neil_s]

Thanks for the heads up - was just about to open negotiations for a Bukh DV 24.

 

[xyachtdave]

It is always a bit off when someone joins the forum to get a bit of advice and people spend time to think and respond. Then the person is never heard from again.

It may be that the person doesnt like some or all of the advice but, i think, rude not even to acknowledge it given the effort people have put in.

The new user with a grudge against a business does raise an eyebrow or two!

 

[winch2]

delete

 

[KompetentKrew]

Hello all thanks for your responses,
Just to clarify a few things; it was adverstised as "starts and runs nicely, has been fully cleaned and resprayed" so maybe not a full rebuild but certainly refurbished. This was not the case, not even a basic service.

That reads to me like someone being careful not to say to say it had been rebuilt or refurbished. It's the equivalent of, "looks good to me, mate".

If something catastrophic happened to my car's engine and I found that it was cheaper to get a replacement from a reader's yard - if they said "starts and runs nicely, has been fully cleaned and resprayed" then I think I'd infer no warranty; sold as seen. I think I'd leave it at that if it was cheap, and ask what kind of warranty they offer if the engine was pricey.

If you send a letter before action, are unsatisfied with the response and file in small claims court then they might well offer you something as a settlement. You could be flat on your face - I'm not a lawyer so I can't say either way - if you get in front of a judge though.

EDIT: I should have read the whole thread before replying, as I see some of the responses made earlier today have covered similar ground.

 

[Minerva]

What might a buyer understand by the statement "...ready to go back to work." ?

Might he, not unreasonably, assume that statement implies ". . . . fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied".

Exactly. It’s a far shout from the “spares and repairs” it ought to have been sold as!

Going to the expense and effort of hoiking out an old engine to put in a replacement only for it to die a couple of uses later is really poor.