# Westerbeke 4-108: How many hours are too many?



## LWinters (Nov 16, 2006)

My good old boat has the venerable Westerbeke 4-108 with a little over 8,730 hours. The previous owner informed me that the hour meter ran 20% fast, but even assuming that is true we are talking 7,000 hours. I am looking at a 3 year cruise with circumnavigation aspirations and I don't want to refit a motor in the 3rd world.

With continued regular maintanence can I expect the 4-108 to carry through? She runs like a top presently. I've narrowed it down to a simple choice really. 

1. Run the 4-108 until she dies. Then repower only if necessary. Or,
2. Refit the powerplant now so as not to have the engine worry during the cruise.


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## Pamlicotraveler (Aug 13, 2006)

LWinters said:


> The previous owner informed me that the hour meter ran 20% fast,


Gotta love good salesmanship!


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

LW...
*"With continued regular maintanence can I expect the 4-108 to carry through? She runs like a top presently"

Isn't that a Perkins 4-108??

*I wouldn't mess with her if she is indeed running like a top presently. HOWEVER...I do have some suggestions for your piece of mind:
1. Buy spares for all major engine components and install them NOW. This insures that they FIT and WORK while you are still here and close to distributors and low costs. You can save the presently working fresh water pump, fuel pump etc. as spares. 
2. Round out your assortment of spares with a complete major spares kit like this:
http://www.tadiesels.com/perkins-4108-ck.html

3. Get your engine oil analyzed...it can tell you if anything is going on there that bears looking at.

4. Take a look at your heat exchanger and oil/cooler if you have one...these are the source of a lot of problems that build up quickly when you go cruising and put the systems under stress...nothing worse than finding water in your engine!

EDIT OOPS...looks like Westerbeke did have a 4108 too! My mistake...advice still applies


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## pigslo (Nov 22, 2004)

It is based on the Perkins 4.108 marinized by Westerbeke. Have you checked the hour meter yourself with a watch? No one can tell you what is left in that engine, anecdotess have reported 10,0000 hours is possible but you don't know how well it has been taken care of. I would be worried about as important of a part as the engine for a long term cruise. Perhaps Transatlantic or Diesel Parts in Houston can test it and tell you something more definative.
pigslo


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

A compression test in addition to the recommended engine oil analysis will tell a lot about wear. Check the hot oil pressure at both idle and operating speed. If you keep what you have, it might be time for a set of new injectors, also.


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## pigslo (Nov 22, 2004)

O.K. I see now you are in Waterford next to me in Watergate. Call Randall Cesar the third over at Diesel Parts Sales on Canal street in Houston. He is very helpful and local.
pigslo


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## LWinters (Nov 16, 2006)

Good advice all around. Thanks for the ideas. I definatly don't want to go cruising with this in the back of my mind. Another quirk of my Mistress is that placard on the top of the engine shows it to be a 4-107. However, when you take a look at the number stamped on the block it reads 108XXXXX. Foley Industries http://www.foleyengines.com/TechTips/TechTip08.html sells an upgrade kit to take the 107 and upgrade it to the 50 hp 108. Considering the serial number on my block this has clearly been done at some time.

I guess in light of this I don't really have a clue as to how many hours are on this old 108.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

"The previous owner informed me that the hour meter ran 20% fast,"
I must confess, I have simply never heard of a Hobbs meter running noticeably fast or slow or incorrect in any significant way. I'm sure there's always a first time, but like they teach pilots "Always trust your instruments".

For a diesel in a pleasure boat, 8000 hours *might* be time for a total rebuild, depending on how it was used and how it was maintained. I'd strongly suggest getting a mechanic and doing an engine survey. The oil analysis will run you about $22 and if the oil has been recently changed--that's a good way to hide problems, analyzing new oil tells you very little. Then there's also the exhaust elbow, the exhaust system may also be due for replacements.
Anything over 5000 hours is time for a good mechanic and an engine survey, with the results in writing. And sea trials, at least 1/2 hour under full load to see just how it behaves. Should be rock steady, no smoke, no temperature shifts, no oil slick in the exhaust, if everything really is OK.


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## kmclarke (Aug 19, 2006)

LW

I have been operating aircraft for aliving for sixteen years and on many more than one occasion we have found hobbs meters to be running to slow or fast. We get payed by how long A/C is in the air, so I can assure you that we watch this very closely.

KC


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

LOL ditto KC. Lot of .6's at the ends of my log entries. Another interesting issue is whether or not your meter starts counting when you turn the key on. Mine does. Original Westerbeke control panel that is 35 years old and the only appreciable time I have the key on and engine not running is to bleed my system. Just a thought.
Regards,
Red


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## pigslo (Nov 22, 2004)

I still think you just need to turn on the key or start the engine for 5 minutes and compare the meter to your watch. Cruising World Feb '07 has an article that mentions 8,000 to 9,000 hours as being the end of a diesel's reliable life.
pigslo


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## LWinters (Nov 16, 2006)

I can rule out the possibility of running up the meter by having the key on since this old girl doesn't need a key to run. You are right Pigs. The meter is easy to check and something I'll do next time we are out. My primary concern is making sure the engine is sound regardless of the number of hours.

I've often heard that the 8-10K hour range is the retirement years for a lot of marine engines. I've also heard the flip side that when these diesels have been run in their power bands and kept dry with regular maintance they can push 15k hours. 

Camaraderie, the list you provided is a good way ensure I’ve got the right spares and how to install them. This makes the most since to me. I’ll run through that drill along with an oil analysis and see where I sit. I know it is time to scrub the heat exchanger anyway. Might as well dig in while it is cold outside.


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## pigslo (Nov 22, 2004)

I took my heat exchanger to a radiator shop and the soaked it overnight. No overheating since.


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## sahara (Dec 15, 2006)

Ditto the check on heat exchanger/oil cooler on westerbeke. Be relentless about your pencil zincs.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

I have a Westerbeke W-52 in the same general design ballpark as the 4-108, but I have the opposite problem: too few hours. There's only 1,260 hrs on this 18-year-old engine, which is what happens when you build a motorsailer on the Great Lakes and then never leave the Great Lakes: 80 hours a season of use.

We intend to leave the Great Lakes on a circunavigation in '09. My mechanic is suggesting at the very least a top rebuild (visible condensation rust on the valve springs, rockers, etc.) and I will haul the engine for this next fall. I will also get the usual oil analysis, inspection/flushing of heat exchange, oil and transmission coolers and other bits and pieces. Add to that a full paint job, gasket change-out, belt(s) replacement, replacement of all original hoses (none are rotten, but all can be spares), and the change to a Balmar 100 amp alternator and I will be far more confident that this heavy chunk of change will be good for the 2,000-3,000 hours we could easily put on her in a five-year trip. 

If the engine isn't worth rebuilding (and there is no real sign that it isn't), then I will go for something similarly powered as I am also getting a custom VariProp that will be made for the power bands this model achieves.

So my points are two: a) not enough engine hours are possibly even more destructive than too much, and b) as far as I can tell, a "prophylactic" rebuild with an eye to keeping the better cast-off parts as spares (depending on your carrying capacity) is an exceptionally good idea. Even a full rebuild that replaces the entire drive train in the block is going to be significantly cheaper than a new equivalent diesel, and you won't have the issues of redoing motor mounts, couplings, etc.

Not to mention that while the engine's out is a great time to clean up the whole area, replace the engine mounts, move to PSS-style stuffing box if you like and to pull the shaft for inspection for trueness and scoring. Also, you can refresh your exhaust hoses, waterlift, fuel filtering system, etc. If they are of the same vintage as the engine, they are probably due for replacement. Bad fuel and back-pressured water are the two worst diesel enemies in my admittedly limited experience.

It may not *seem* like an opportunity, but it will raise your confidence considerably while on passage.


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