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Old 03-06-2014, 11:02 AM   #16
DavidM
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City: Litchfield, Ct
Join Date: Aug 2012
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Well I am the author of the referenced checklist. I am a decent shade tree mechanic and after owning marine diesels for 20 years and following boatdiesel religiously for half of that time I think I can do it myself.

But.... If I found anything suspicious that I didn't understand I would either walk away from the deal or hire a real engine surveyor to get to the bottom of it. But I would quiz him carefully about his approach and skills before doing so.

Whether you do it yourself or hire a mechanic largely depends on your level of understanding of the issues. If you understand the checklist and more importantly the rationale behind them, then you can probably do it yourself.

I am working with a guy right now that I met on boatdiesel. He recently did an engine survey on a boat with twin Yanmar 4LHs. He insisted on his surveyor removing the exhaust elbow to look inside the turbo. He found years of seawater intrusion and corrosion. That survey will save him thousands of $.

You will probably never get a seller to agree to such disassembly by yourself; only with a qualified engine mechanic.

Older Lehmans and Perkins can run almost forever but they do have their own problems like manicooler leaks.

David
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