R21 Engine Hours

[Newf]

How many hours can one expect to get out of these little engines in the R21's before major repairs or rebuilds are required? I understand there are many variables that affect the life of an engine but in general, with normal routine maint., would 3-4000 hours be reasonable to expect? Maybe some of the long time owner's could chime in with the hours they have on their R21's and what issues they have had,,,if any.

 

[Kaisardog]

Mack Boring Co., the east coast distributor for yan mar told us in our advanced diesel mechanics class that they have an old a Yan YM model at HQ with over 10,000 hours on it. it got its oil changed every 50 hours.

most problems with the big yan 6Y s seem to be from owner neglect of the turbo charger maintenance schedule AND running the big Yans at idle speed ( instead of WOT for an hour every few weeks )which will glaze the cylinder walls.

with proper maintenance, the average diesel certainly should get 4000 + hours. a compression test will tell you when the compression in the cylinders is getting considerably lower than spec; you'd also notice this as the engine would not be hitting its power curve.

Mack Boring also said their factory-trained mechanics usually report that the big problems come from owners ignoring symptoms (like low oil pressure or repeated over heats) and following the suggested maintenance schedule ...for fuel injectors, timing, etc....

 

[harry ames]

Please, oh please, when you refer to an R21, that is a different boat than the 21EC. I have a 21 and get excited when I see an R21 post. I'm a little OCD, I admit. Love the R21 and the 21EC.

 

[LAKERtoo]

.. that's ok Harry, most of the 21's are the 3ym so its relevant .. the 2ym would be the same .. but I DO envy that larger cabin !! lol

 

[REO6205]

A friend of mine uses the 3YM30 to power generators on his commercial tugs. He said that they have three that are well over 5000 hours and still going strong.
He's very picky about oil and filter change intervals.

 

[Romakeme IV]

I live "off grid" and use a 3cyl. Yanmar coupled to a Stamford generator. They use the same block tweaked to different hp ratings for various applications. Mine has just under 18,000 hours on it. The technician that services it has told me he has seen them with over 50,000 hrs. He says they run better with some load and longer run times translates into more hours from the engine. For example one coupled to an irrigation pump that runs for hours on end will last longer than the one on your boat that starts and stops. I guess the dry start is what kills them. A pre lube system would help negate that.

Rob

 

[Newf]

Thanks for the comments folks. My boat is a 2014 R21EC. I currently have almost 1000hrs on it, 90% of which are from trolling. I've was curious about the hours because if it was only 2-3000 before issues started then I would consider a small kicker for trolling. This is not something that I would consider if I could expect 4-5K hours or more, as a kicker comes with it's own issues that I'd rather not deal with.

I realize that the boat's design intent was as a day cruiser and not a fishing boat, so trolling at low RPMs may affect long term life of the engine and may be something I regret down the road but so far so good..

Again, thanks for the comments,,,and Harry, I'm sorry if I got you all excited thinking that I had posted a R21 specific question.