[danigold]

My 1999 68 Ferretti was surveyed by an experienced surveyor from Greece this past weekend.

Yacht is powered by twin MTU 12V183TE93 Electronic 1150 HP engines. Both motors have 960 hours on them and they ran better than ever. Both engines maintain good pressure and temperatures and all vitals are within factory specs. Never seen black smoke at any rpm and load level. Full pre-season maintenance was done few weeks prior to this survey by MTU and sea trials were made for diagnostics. MTU said the engines were in excellent shape and nothing needed to be done.

On the survey she was found to be in very good condition after 8 hours of in depth observation. After the survey, we had a short discussion with the surveyor about the engine operating hours and their respective maintenance and overhaul requirements by MTU. He claimed that an MTU engine had to be overhauled, if the engines had 9-10 years of “pleasure” use on them. This meant that a 300 hour engine had to be re-built if the engines were manufactured in 1999.

I have a feeling that this might have affected the surveyors view on overhauls:
When we started the motors on a 16 degrees Celsius (60 F) Istanbul morning, we experienced a good amount of white start-up smoke and questions were raised about the condition of the engines. In warm summer days when the sea temp is above 75F the start-up smoke is very little, but always present. Smoke stops immediately after the engines reach their operating temps. Factory authorized MTU techs guarantee that little bit of white smoke is normal at start-up on these 12V18393TE engines on cold days, surveyor thinks the opposite.

[Capt J]

I have run several boats with 12v183's. They ALL smoke on startup and this is in sunny Florida. 320 hours on 1999 engines can be very bad as well, not enough use. If the motors don't reach temperature every 2 weeks (the more often the better), condensation can form and cause things in the engines to rust such as valves, rings, and other parts. However if they run good and MTU says they run good, how does some bogus surveyor know more then the dealer. Is he MTU certified? Has he ever been a diesel mechanic? Anyways, years have no bearing on whether or not an engine needs to be rebuilt. It basically comes down to hours and usage (high load applications etc.). 12v183's were designed to go 5,000-10,000 hours or more. They were designed origionally as German tank engines and built like tanks..... However they do have their faults such as smoke at startup, if they throw a belt they will fry the motors before the sensor slows the engine down, and the 1st marine series dropped valves. But that being said are considered good motors.

[Loren Schweizer]

danigold: Welcome to YF, BTW.

Not sure if your 'E' motors came equipped with block heaters and/or do they work? That would explain a lot of the white smoke on start-up on a chilly morning.
I concur with Capt J on giving these MTU's a 'thumbs up'.

From my own recent experiences with a set of 1994 183-series engines, I would have the main heat Xers boiled out: if this has not been done recently, they'll quickly go into overheat if you 'put it in the corner'.

[danigold]

Thanks Capt J and Loren. Boat originally came with block heaters and they were pulled couple years after by the original owner. Yacht also spent time in Bahamas and maybe they did not need the heaters over there. I agree with you on the dependability of these motors.
I guess its hard to argue with surveyors since they are obligated to question everything...
I faxed them the MTU computer readings and charts that show useful data on engines condition.