Author Topic: Marine engine OK in road car? (Read 3943 times)

watsongs · « **on:** April 04, 2005, 01:31:23 pm »

Well, karma works in mysterious ways. After battling all weekend with my injector pump, and missing out on a cheap one on ebay because the dog wouldn't sleep and kept me up all night so that I overslept the auction ending, etc, etc, etc... There's a vw marine diesel from a re-power here at the marina where I work - it had some water in the oil, but other than that, looks to be in good shape. Does anyone know if the injector pumps can be swapped out (different timing, etc?), and given that I've got oil in my coolant, amybe I just swap the whole thing out (except it's all painted orange, but hey...) Anybody have any experience in these things? Thanks!

jtanguay · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2005, 02:34:09 pm »

not sure if a marine engine can withstand the constant beatings of stop and go, or abuse from daily driving.

watsongs · « **Reply #2 on:** April 04, 2005, 02:42:53 pm »

Hah! you obviously haven't seen how the boaters around here drive... BTW, this came out of a sailboat - visually, it's a carbon copy of what's in my Rabbit (minus the orange paint); though I can't vouch for the displacement - it's in a back room in the dark with three feet of headroom; I'll pull it out later and get some numbers off it.

moTthediesel · « **Reply #3 on:** April 04, 2005, 08:16:24 pm »

I've got a good bit of experiance with marine engines, but not with V Dub marine motors.
As a rule, marine versions of car engines are derated for marine use. That is to say that they are tuned to limit their maximum output at quite a bit less than would be the case in an auto application. The reason being is that they usually are run WFO for extended periods in boats, we only wish we could drive our cars that way :lol:
On a diesel the output is usually limited by the fuel injection system, so I would guess that the injection pump specs would differ from the auto unit.
I'd be interested to hear what you find out.
moT

watsongs · « **Reply #4 on:** April 04, 2005, 09:50:56 pm »

I talked to a diesel repair firm that does both marine and auto; I gave them the numbers off the injector pump; he's going to do some research and call me tommorrow. I'll let you know what happens...

veeman · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2005, 05:39:12 am »

Interesting. Didn't VW market a version of the diesels for generators / industrial use as well?

Maybe I'm thinking of the air-cooleds, but if they did, it'd be interesting to compare the marine engines and the industrial models...

Dr. Diesel · « **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2005, 07:18:08 am »

if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say the important internals of an industrial engine, or marine engine would be the exact same as an auto engine. What is more likely to be different is the guts of the injection pump, specifically the type of govenor used.