VW Marine Engines

[ben2go]

I have run a Pathfinder 1.6 IDI 45hp in a planing skiff for like 1200hrs, in previous sailboat it logged about 4k hours. Before that a Rabbit, same engine, for 340k miles. I now have a 1.9 TDI 90hp, yr 2001, with 270k miles. All run timing belts. On the marine I changed at like 1000hrs, in the cars I change them at about 100k miles.

Never had a failure. On the marine engine, changing the TB is a piece of cake, no motor mount in the way, belt is right there. Change it, time the cam and the inj pump, maybe an hour or two.

Some larger TDI's use chains. I am not a fan of chains. The do wear, tensioners and guides wear, and that causes timing to change. And a complete MF'r to change as all the sprockets, guides and chain are in the oil bath and it takes a lot of disassembly to get to them. Your're not going to get 340k miles or 5000hr on a chain. Not going to happen. Belt sprockets don't really wear, just do the belt, do it right, and off your go. My TDI car is a bit of a PITA as it is tight in there. But I got it down to like 3hrs, no big deal.

And if the belt does break, (rare, but does happen), 90% of the time it bends valves and breaks cam followers, but does not damage pistons. Pull head, re-work it, install it, and off you go.

Of course "real" diesels use no belts, no chains, but GEARS. Gears don't fail (super duper rare), but are heavy and noisy. I know my Cummins 450 at least half the noise at low rpm is gear rattle. But who cares, they don't break.

That's good info.

There's still the serpentine belt for the alternator, and it's idler pulley, along with the water pump setup. But at least it doesn't have the automotive engine mount typically in the way.

True. That's almost the identical engine I looked at back in 2013. That timing belt shouldn't be to bad if access is good. Yeah the motor mount deal on the cars. Since I'm no longer an auto tech, I'm trying to forget all the pains in the rear some cars had or caused. :lol:

 

[jleonard]

We had a 99 Jetta TDI and an example of how tough they are:
Our first attempt to look at the boat we have now, was not so successful.
We had a 4 1/2 hour trip ahead f us from CT to Rochester, NY. 45 minutes of back road on a frosty November morning, we finally got to the NY Thruway.
So I flog it and were doing 75-80 and then the temp buzzer goes off after about 5 miles. Temp gage was buried at 240F.
I put it in neutral (5 speed manual trans) and coast to a stop at idle. Temp was down to 200 ish, and I saw that the electric fan shaft had melted so no fan cooling.
I said diesels run cool at low rpm so lets go back home. only about an hour drive, but probably a 5 mile uphill section to get home.
No problem, made it easily but stopped 2 times on the hill to let it cool down.
No cell service, but state cop stopped and called AAA for us.
Got tired f waiting so finally fired up and made the last mile and the rest was downhill.
Mechanic son tore it apart and found water pump (timing belt driven) gear shaft had broke so no coolant pumping.
The car was still running strong 11 years and 100KK miles later, never blew a gasket or warped the Al head.
Biggest problem with that motor was the intake manifold gunking up from the oily vapors being sucked back into the engine. Every 60 K or so it needed to be cleaned (until I bypassed and dumped them overboard).
Also ran an old Rabbit 52 HP diesel for well over 250 K never a problem.

 

[bayview]

There is good data showing those engines are good in low load car applications. Successful marine diesels usually come from an industrial or heavy truck application where loads are high and frequent

 

[CaptRowlands]

I have owned (2) VW cars with TDI engines driving in excess of 200k miles . Great motors which outlasted the other non- drive systems.

If I recall correctly there was a company in Central FL which adapted stock motors for marine applications.

Marinization of these power plants would include cooling and possibly charging systems which are easily maintained and parts sources imho

Any competent Diesel mechanic should have little problem with these motors provided there’s adequate access. If you could find a garage mechanic willing to make “boat call”. You could have a winner.

 

[John Crighton]

VW diesel ??

Down in the Antipodes(Aust/NZ) early Mercruisers were coupled to a 150HP 6 Cyl VM turbocharged engines, after Mercruiser had "absorbed BMW Marine"... I first came across one in the mid 80's, a very well engineered unit, a very tidily laid out engine … the engine I'm referring too was manufactured in Italy, I was able to source replacement parts up to the end of the 90's from Mercury dealers..if possible post a photo of both sides of the engine.. cheers

 

[Steve DAntonio]

2014 150 hp VW diesel

A 2014 is a fairly modern VW marine engine, and little or no relation to the Pathfinder of old.

As a VW diesel car x2 owner, I can say the engines are rugged and reliable. However, some of the marinized version I've seen, if that's what you are referring to (they are in some Beneteau sailing vessels), it's white and had a VW logo, has one significant flaw, and ABYC violation, it requires significant disassembly to change a belt, as it's "captive" between components. That bothers me. Also, the rotary Bosch fuel injection pumps are especially sensitive to fuel lubricity issues, and high vacuum caused by clogged fuel filters. The lubricity issue causes premature pump wear, while the vacuum causes cavitation within the pump, which results in metal loss and loss of pressure. I recommend a lubricity additive for engines with this pump.

I have a client who has cruised full time (albeit aboard a sailboat) with one for the past four years, he has few complaints.

As far as parts go, for non-marinized parts there are tons of TDi automotive suppliers, but usually the parts you need are the marinized ones, pumps, heat exchangers, those might be more challenging to find. A Google search brings up several suppliers, most in the EU.

Attached are photos of the Cummins and VW versions, these do not have the belt issue. The engine shown here, on the cover of this (clearly translated and horrible) brochure https://www.volkswagenmarine.nl/uploads/Engines_for_planing_boats.pdf does have the captive belt.

(In Kaohsiung, Taiwan)

 

[FF]

IF replacing a belt (not a timing belt) on a PIA engine sometimes a second belt can be installed and tied out of the way as a quick install spare.

Plan B that will drive a water pump but not a big alternator is a link belt.

Many sources,

https://www.harborfreight.com/vibration-free-link-belt-43771.html