Lehman vs Volvo

What are your opinions of Volvo MD40 vs Lehman or Perkins.
Smoothness, ease of maintenance, economy, etc.?

Volvos are good engines and easy to work on, however, the cost of replacement parts is triple that of Cummins or Cat, if they are availible, as Volvo does not support their older engines.

The Lehman engine is still supported very well by American Diesel Corp. You can get the best troubleshooting advice and parts overnight if need be. Plus parts are pretty cheap compared to others.
Some of the older (pre 1981) Perkins are tough to get parts for, at least that was my experience in Ct.

Can't go wrong with a Lehman, unless you're Marin.

ancora said:

Volvos are good engines and easy to work on, however, the cost of replacement parts is triple that of Cummins or Cat, if they are availible, as Volvo does not support their older engines.

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We have a friend who just replaced his Volvo for all the above given reasons.

We had a Perkins and could get parts any where in the world. We have a Ford Lehman now and have never had an issue getting parts, not that we have needed many and they are competitively priced.

Keith said:

Can't go wrong with a Lehman, unless you're Marin.

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I'll take a Lehman over a Volvo, however. Not because Volvos are bad engines-- they're not. But because in this area, at least, support for Volvos up the coast is slim to none. And as has been noted, Volvo parts are amazingly expensive assuming they can be located to begin with.

I'm not a fan of Lehmans for technical reasons, but reliability, longevity, and ease of service are not among them.

Despite high parts cost I'd still go Volvo. No question. Then Perkins and then Lehman. And if Lehman's were great AD would'nt exist but it seems the've got plenty to do. Before I left Thorne Bay I heard a Volvo run and if it wasn't 135hp I'd wish it was in my boat. Volvo's may be worth the high prices. To me even more important is how much power the engine is. Way too many boats are over powered or way over powered. At least w a repower you have a choice.

Perkins Parts

jleonard said:

The Lehman engine is still supported very well by American Diesel Corp. You can get the best troubleshooting advice and parts overnight if need be. Plus parts are pretty cheap compared to others.
Some of the older (pre 1981) Perkins are tough to get parts for, at least that was my experience in Ct.

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For anyone needing Perkins parts, you may want to consider these guys. They are a Perkins dealer and have a very knowledgable sales force. Engine Power Source | Auxillary Generator and Industrial Engines

Best thing about 4 cylinder Volvos is that at least one model is actually a Perkins, rebadged and painted green. BruceK

Forkliftt said:

For anyone needing Perkins parts, you may want to consider these guys. They are a Perkins dealer and have a very knowledgable sales force. Engine Power Source | Auxillary Generator and Industrial Engines

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MY problem with parts was in the mid to late 90s. Perkins set up very strict district borders and would not let dealers ship out of territory. No exceptions even after I pleaded with Perkins north America. The New England Perkins dealers were new, and did not have engine manuals for the pre range 4 series engines, therefore they could not get my parts. IF I happened to know the pert number they could get it, but I didn't have a parts book at the time.
Perhaps things are different now but that motivated me to sell my Perkins and repower with a Cummins 6BTA (the best thing I ever did to that old Mainship by the way).

Have had both 6 cyl Lehman and Perkins both are good basic engines, reliable and simple to maintain. Since they went out of production the internal components for both are easy to come by, but a few of the marinized parts are either very expensive or not available (cooling water elbows and some exhaust manifold models and risers.)

Volvo's have the same dependability rating, but are not well supported and parts are ridiculously expensive. Last year a friend had his electronic injector harness fail in June. Volvo didn't have a replacement available and the boat was down until September.

That alone would keep me from buying a Volvo.

Larry B

Depending on the boat ,I would prefer a marinised industrial or at least a truck engine from a large truck.

The car or farm implement marinizations mostly are sucessfull because they never are run at their rated HP, which they cant do for long.

Rated at 120 or 135 hp and operated at 2 or 4 GPH a few hours a year,they work just fine.

However if you are looking for a blue water boat a more robust engine ,

As some marinizers like Deere select might work longer.

Of course if you do get realistic with engine selection , you might find a gas engine the most suitable choice .

My simple rule of thumb is to go to the web site of the converter / builder and look for a 24/7 rating.

Many car conversions have no such rating , and to me are not suitable for a boat that may have 24/7 requirements.

The boats intended use should be taken into consideration for engine selection.

FF said:

Depending on the boat ,I would prefer a marinised industrial or at least a truck engine from a large truck.

The car or farm implement marinizations mostly are sucessfull because they never are run at their rated HP, which they cant do for long.

Rated at 120 or 135 hp and operated at 2 or 4 GPH a few hours a year,they work just fine.

However if you are looking for a blue water boat a more robust engine ,

As some marinizers like Deere select might work longer.

Of course if you do get realistic with engine selection , you might find a gas engine the most suitable choice .

My simple rule of thumb is to go to the web site of the converter / builder and look for a 24/7 rating.

Many car conversions have no such rating , and to me are not suitable for a boat that may have 24/7 requirements.

The boats intended use should be taken into consideration for engine selection.

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I find curious why you are always pointing out the differerce between true bluewater boats and most of our "coastal cruisers" yet always recommend engines that are suitable for bluewater or commercial work when even loopers never work an engine anywhere near it's continuous duty rating...

How come?

Edelweiss said:

Volvo's have the same dependability rating, but are not well supported and parts are ridiculously expensive. Last year a friend had his electronic injector harness fail in June. Volvo didn't have a replacement available and the boat was down until September.

That alone would keep me from buying a Volvo.

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As many times as I have heard the "I would never buy a Volvo" statement, they seem to be doing quite well.

I have heard recently from a couple of people who have Volvo-powered boats about long waits up the coast for parts. Like a week or more, most of which was apparently spent by various people simply trying to find the parts.

I have never heard anyone complain about how their Volvos ran or performed.

But a couple in our boating club are getting ready to depart the PNW for a sail around the world, or at least a good portion of it. Right now their boat is having a bunch of work done to it to make it ready for this kind of sailing, and part of that includes replacing its Volvo engine with a Yanmar. The reason, I learned this past weekend, has nothing to do with the performance or reliability of the Volvo but has everything to do with the extreme diffculty of getting Volvo parts away from major centers of civilization. Apparenlty, parts can be almost impossible to get in the southwestern Pacific, for example. And when you can find them, they are staggeringly expensive. Where Yanmar parts are apparenlty available virtually everywhere and for very reasonable prices.

i freind of mine has a volvo TAMD 41 and he has to wait 5 weeks for a oil cooooler, and the only one that will work has to be from a volvo,none avaiable in the country is what they told him,and the cost is 2400$ so much for having a volvo?

"I find curious why you are always pointing out the differerce between true bluewater boats and most of our "coastal cruisers" yet always recommend engines that are suitable for bluewater or commercial work when even loopers never work an engine anywhere near it's continuous duty rating..."

I boat for pleasure , so repairing cheap stuff ,is not part of the retirement pleasure plan.

Many folks rightly curse the PO , previous owner for purchasing cheap crap.

As a boat can and may be used for years a suitable engine seems more realistic than what is simply the cheapest.

My preference is for a reliable engine and tranny, rebuilt used is fine with me if the engine is a marine engine.

Since my preference is for single engine a "bullet proof" engine even at higher weight is no problem.

One of the reasons I like the DD -71 series is it will usually operate , even partially broken, or mostly worn out.

I agree w FF. Old stuff is great as long as it's in good condition. Frequently it's even better as it's not available anymore. Detroit Diesels are not cheap crap.

As to the Volvo's I didn't know it was that bad.

manyboats said:

............. As to the Volvo's I didn't know it was that bad.

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Do you believe everything you read on the Internet?

Interesting thread as I am looking for a live-a-board trawler

In my case, it was ignorance when I purchased my boat with two Volvo engines. I went from gas to diesel without a thorough investigation of various diesel engines regarding part availibilities and costs. It's no fun owning a boat with Volvo engines knowing if something fails you are S.O.L. for replacement parts.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Interesting thread as I am looking for a live-a-board trawler

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Didn't you just read something about believing stuff you read on the internet?

Me personally believe a lot from the credible sources.

You read a lot of posts, see which posters get good and bad feedback from the majority of other posters in terms of whether or not their info is substantiated elsewhere, you do a little homework, add a touch of common sense and experience and bingo....you have some worthwhile input.

Here is a great source from long distance cruisers, liveaboards, people with a lot of experience and doubters who keep the rest in check to a point...it's all good though...beats the old days of getting slanted magazine articles or paying a lot for a library of books that were dated by the time they were published.

ancora said:

In my case, it was ignorance when I purchased my boat with two Volvo engines. I went from gas to diesel without a thorough investigation of various diesel engines regarding part availibilities and costs. It's no fun owning a boat with Volvo engines knowing if something fails you are S.O.L. for replacement parts.

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Yep, you said it, that was just ignorant!

While the high price of parts may have always been an issue with Volvo engines I believe the increasingly difficult problem in simply finding parts is a relatively new one.

So back when a lot of the cruising boats people own today were built, parts availability for Volvos was probably not an issue. So their reputation as excellent engines made the high parts prices worth it, particularly since the theory was that you wouldn't need parts very often.

Buying or building a boat with Volvo power in the 70s, ,80s, and 90s was considered a smart move. Today the parts issue is becoming a real problem depending on where you boat, but back then it wasn't.

ancora said:

In my case, it was ignorance when I purchased my boat with two Volvo engines. I went from gas to diesel without a thorough investigation of various diesel engines regarding part availibilities and costs. It's no fun owning a boat with Volvo engines knowing if something fails you are S.O.L. for replacement parts.

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It happens no matter how well you investigate...the waves of the international economy could have made it happen to any manufacturer.

Cat marine almost went out of business a decade ago (just a rumor) because of the excessive costs assosiated with aftermarket marinization products that were faulty. The base engines were OK...but other issues hurt them.

I don't think you or your statements were ignorant...don't let those without any more informed background get to you.

"Interesting thread as I am looking for a live-a-board trawler"

Most any engines work fine for a dock condo or as the Brits say a Gin Palace.

One question is will you actually be under power over the usual rec boater 200 hours a year ? 12vmonths of use?

Engines LOVE to run , diesels love to run hard (close to their rated power) , few are ever worn out in yacht service.

Most are DESTROYED by lazy folks thinking a diesel is like their car engine ,

"turn it off and walk away " for months at a time.In FL its years!

Look at any diesel site for the engine MFG "out of service" requirements and be prepaired to do the drill as required.

A dock condo can be pickled by the mfg specified methods and can go back in service after years with no harm.

The harm comes from ignoring the engine requirements.

HAHA Ron.... Got me there. Re your comment about beliveing what I read on the internet I question most everything and that's the reason for much of my thinking. AND that's the reason for many of my posts. I even question authority but not so much that I couldn't do 4 years in the Navy gracefully. I think I've already done over 4 years here on the forum.

FF's still on a good roll.

psneeld said:

Cat marine almost went out of business a decade ago (just a rumor) because of the excessive costs assosiated with aftermarket marinization products that were faulty. The base engines were OK...but other issues hurt them.

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CAT was also pulling out of the over the road/class 8 truck market.... Too many problems with EPA....and Cummins was beating them in the marketplace, but it seems that CAT has decided to bring out their own trucks instead of selling their engines...

JAT said:

CAT was also pulling out of the over the road/class 8 truck market.... Too many problems with EPA....and Cummins was beating them in the marketplace, but it seems that CAT has decided to bring out their own trucks instead of selling their engines...

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They covered the problems and survived the 3116 and 3196 fiascos....

I wish them luck because I loved my 3208s and hope they have something for me if I ever need to replace my 135 Lehman (it's only 2 years old so I hope i never need anyone else's engine in the big picture...well maybe I DO hope I outlive my Lehman

FF said:

"Interesting thread as I am looking for a live-a-board trawler"

Most any engines work fine for a dock condo or as the Brits say a Gin Palace.

One question is will you actually be under power over the usual rec boater 200 hours a year ? 12vmonths of use?

Engines LOVE to run , diesels love to run hard (close to their rated power) , few are ever worn out in yacht service.

Most are DESTROYED by lazy folks thinking a diesel is like their car engine ,

"turn it off and walk away " for months at a time.In FL its years!

Look at any diesel site for the engine MFG "out of service" requirements and be prepaired to do the drill as required.

A dock condo can be pickled by the mfg specified methods and can go back in service after years with no harm.

The harm comes from ignoring the engine requirements.

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No dock condo here. We plan to running up and down the west coast. I have a friend that has a marine trader with volvos and he is able to get parts in Portland OR, but he does complain about parts. I am leaning toward those boats that have cummins or cats.