MAN diesel experience?

Seems like those damn injectors need to be tested and more often than not replaced every two years. Otherwise all other maintenance is very similar to every other manufacturer.

Sounds like to get these two engines up to spec will not be insignificant. Estimates are, if nothing else is wrong or needs attention, ranging from 17k-30k (for both engines).
 
Hypothetical question. Say I end up with a ~20 year old boat with MAN's that are well out of warranty. Will it affect resale value if I perform the maintenance myself or have an independent mechanic maintain them? Seems like it would given the stigma attached to the MAN maintenance schedule and everyone's fear surrounding them.
 
quality time said:
Hypothetical question. Say I end up with a ~20 year old boat with MAN's that are well out of warranty. Will it affect resale value if I perform the maintenance myself or have an independent mechanic maintain them? Seems like it would given the stigma attached to the MAN maintenance schedule and everyone's fear surrounding them.
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My opinion is the same for any brand of motor. Keep good records of what work you do. Receipts for oil changes, oil type, filter changes, intervals, oils samples. Unless you’re a really talented mechanic, I would leave items like valve adjustments and other more technical services to a pro.
 
MAN certified in order for warranty to be upheld. After the warranty is done the service seems relatively straightforward with possibly the exception of the valve adjustment and injector test/replacement.

I'd be totally OK with a hands-on owner who could verify the work done.

What I'm dealing with, somehow, is an owner (actually it was the father who showed me the boat) who has had the boat for approx 13 months and has no records. Boat is beautiful, shows extremely well, at his water front house next to his 2010 56' immaculately cared for boat, garage full of detailed expensive cars, manicured lawn....you get the picture. I have no reason to doubt the boat and the guy was super excited to take us for a ride. Boat is impressive.

Just doing my due diligence and trying to come up with a price. Either get all the work done by MAN shop and the price is X or price is Y and I'll get the work done.
 
SeaNile said:
MAN certified in order for warranty to be upheld. After the warranty is done the service seems relatively straightforward with possibly the exception of the valve adjustment and injector test/replacement.

I'd be totally OK with a hands-on owner who could verify the work done.

What I'm dealing with, somehow, is an owner (actually it was the father who showed me the boat) who has had the boat for approx 13 months and has no records. Boat is beautiful, shows extremely well, at his water front house next to his 2010 56' immaculately cared for boat, garage full of detailed expensive cars, manicured lawn....you get the picture. I have no reason to doubt the boat and the guy was super excited to take us for a ride. Boat is impressive.

Just doing my due diligence and trying to come up with a price. Either get all the work done by MAN shop and the price is X or price is Y and I'll get the work done.
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Even though you run the risk of blowing the budget I always choose to lower the price and pay for the work to be done by me or my vendors. Too many ways to get things done most of the way but not like I would want.
 
Work done would need to be completed by a certified MAN shop. That's a deal breaker for me.
Bayside Diesel seems to be the place to go in the NE area. And they are local enough to perform the survey.

I'm still wondering how a 15+yr old boat has no receipts and no history. If the owners don't come forward with some info I am done with this boat. Even if they don't have records for their brief time owning the boat then certainly they can contact the people/broker they bought it from.
 
SeaNile said:
So far the general feedback from both owners and MAN diesel repair shops is they love the engines. Maybe it's the specific model I'm inquiring about but there doesn't seem to be a glaring weakness. Haven't heard of dropped valves, general over propping issues leading to other problems, exhaust issues with high temps, etc. Sounds like if you keep up on the maintenance like you would with any other engine they are strong great running diesels. The 1000 hr service is a doozie but when you read through the service it doesn't appear to be anything unique to MAN.

The one part that is debatable is the injector replacement. Some say if it's running fine don't look for trouble, some say test every injector, yet others say replace them all proactively.
SeaNile said:
Work done would need to be completed by a certified MAN shop. That's a deal breaker for me.
Bayside Diesel seems to be the place to go in the NE area. And they are local enough to perform the survey.

I'm still wondering how a 15+yr old boat has no receipts and no history. If the owners don't come forward with some info I am done with this boat. Even if they don't have records for their brief time owning the boat then certainly they can contact the people/broker they bought it from.
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Also seems like the service schedule is not necessarily written in stone, it's a combination of hours and/or years between service.

The added bonus for me is freshwater. Once you mention fresh water every mechanic I spoke to said that is the X factor and will add a considerable time between services. At least for heat exchanger and aftercoolers.
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Just get a firm quote for catching up the maintenance required to keep th e MAN warranties in place, if there is any remaining, then make your first offer based on your cost to catch up the neglected maintenance that the seller cannor prove was ever done. MAN initial maintenance sometimes requires a partial tear down to get a bore scope in the cylinders to check the cross-hatch honing pattern in the bore. (I am not sure what is required on that model MAN engine.) The injectors are likely removed to bore-scope the engines so while they are out of the engines, have them pop-tested by a diesel specialty shop that can clean and rebuild them if needed.

You are in a league of boating that requires serious maintenance cost so get your mind around swinging with a big bat. It isn't your fault that a previous owner didn't keep proof of the required maintenance, to make a fair puffer with that in mind and expect the broker handling the sale to explain the bad news to the seller.
 
I Understand you concerns, as Frank said once you get the baseline it's not that bad. As a side note, I Rent a slip down OC, to a the guy that has a 53' 2003, sportfish, 12cyl Mans, does all of the regular maintenance himself, 10000 hours, never been inside the engines
 
It's an interesting situation. The broker is a friend of the family and knows nothing about this boat, might not know anything about any boat for that matter.

Maybe I am over thinking all of this. Regardless of what receipts they have or don't have the hull and engine survey will be the baseline. Just makes me wonder just a bit, no history, no receipts, etc.,
 
Are you aware of any other potential buyers for this boat? Maybe they are just playing it out to see which of you offers the path of least resistance?
 
tc410 said:
Are you aware of any other potential buyers for this boat? Maybe they are just playing it out to see which of you offers the path of least resistance?
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Not that I am aware of. I can't imagine another eager party with such limited info on a boat and an upcoming 20-30k bill for service. Not about to pick apart ever little thing but all the little "owner upgrades" are really DIY things done not so perfectly.

I look big picture while wife notices all the little things. Like the total of 7 different floorings, vinyl floor in aft salon with no trim around hatches, peeling edges, huge gaps against cabinets, two different carpets in staterooms, etc.

I loved the boat, just making my argument for my offer that I still am calculating in my head. You guys know me well enough by now. "Well the bank values the boat at X. X-25k in engine service-fixing all the little DIY stuff-at least having consistent flooring-MAN recommended yearly service (approx 10k every 2-3 yrs))= one ridiculous low offer.

But....my hunch is this boat is not selling anytime soon. It could sell today and I would be completely OK moving on to the next.
 
We are at the end of our 2nd year with the MANs. Have been very happy so far. 1100 hrs, I do all my maintenance myself including valve adjustments. I do oil analysis on engines, Trans, and coolant every year.I did buy the laptop to check engine codes and such, Which I have not needed so far. They are expensive to service with the extra filters and oil. They are not hard to work on if you have some knowledge and expedience in deisel engines. The manuals are very detail. I am glad now I didn't let the Man engines keep me from buying the 55. They are great engines.
 
SeaNile said:
Work done would need to be completed by a certified MAN shop. That's a deal breaker for me.
Bayside Diesel seems to be the place to go in the NE area. And they are local enough to perform the survey.

I'm still wondering how a 15+yr old boat has no receipts and no history. If the owners don't come forward with some info I am done with this boat. Even if they don't have records for their brief time owning the boat then certainly they can contact the people/broker they bought it from.
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Where is the boat? Bayside is in Mystic CT. @bmac used a guy in Norfolk, VA that travelled a lot, I think its Advanced Marine Diesel, the website doesn't work but they do have a facebook page. Seems like they would be a lot closer than Bayside. Nothing personal against Bayside, they are doing my A1 and A2 this winter, just think there are closer to you options than Bayside.
 
Jus the two of us said:
We are at the end of our 2nd year with the MANs. Have been very happy so far. 1100 hrs, I do all my maintenance myself including valve adjustments. I do oil analysis on engines, Trans, and coolant every year.I did buy the laptop to check engine codes and such, Which I have not needed so far. They are expensive to service with the extra filters and oil. They are not hard to work on if you have some knowledge and expedience in deisel engines. The manuals are very detail. I am glad now I didn't let the Man engines keep me from buying the 55. They are great engines.
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I didn’t know we could buy the MAN laptop. Does it come with a subscription service to keep it up-to-date with changes?

I hate to even ask a rough order of magnitude of the price or where to get it.
 
Just group buy the computer and ship it to all the people on here with MAN. Or buy it and rent it out as needed.

Just throwing out a few ideas
 
I got it through Diesel Laptops, I think it was around 6 grand. The MAN program is a add on from there standard. Where I am at it would have been that much to bring someone to the boat just to tell me what was wrong. Our boat the battery's have died in the engine monitor so you get erroneous readings for the engine hrs. I think it was going to cost 8 grand each to fix. this was a no brainier for me.
 
Humbling yet slightly unrealistic call with a MAN place today. I got the idea for bringing the engines up to spec. Latest MAN place then recommends injectors every 1000 hrs (other MAN place said 2 yrs no matter hours) and then said aftercoolers every 2 yrs for about 10k. Then the best....what boat? 50 SeaRay, so figure about 1.4mil new with a rough estimate of 15% of cost of new for maintenance....so figure about 150k per year on upkeep.

I highly doubt you guys are paying 150k+/yr in upkeep for your boat. If so, mic drop, I'm going back to a SunDeck.
 
SeaNile said:
Humbling yet slightly unrealistic call with a MAN place today. I got the idea for bringing the engines up to spec. Latest MAN place then recommends injectors every 1000 hrs (other MAN place said 2 yrs no matter hours) and then said aftercoolers every 2 yrs for about 10k. Then the best....what boat? 50 SeaRay, so figure about 1.4mil new with a rough estimate of 15% of cost of new for maintenance....so figure about 150k per year on upkeep.

I highly doubt you guys are paying 150k+/yr in upkeep for your boat. If so, mic drop, I'm going back to a SunDeck.
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I’m not paying anywhere near that on my 550(58) DB. Less than a third of that in fact including slips and heated winter storage. **Caveat - freshwater**
 
Jus the two of us said:
I got it through Diesel Laptops, I think it was around 6 grand. The MAN program is a add on from there standard. Where I am at it would have been that much to bring someone to the boat just to tell me what was wrong. Our boat the battery's have died in the engine monitor so you get erroneous readings for the engine hrs. I think it was going to cost 8 grand each to fix. this was a no brainier for me.
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Very cool!

By the way my MMDS battery (the scrambled hours thing) was replaced by Performance Diesel for $975 (not including shipping in either direction). It was turned around in 7 days with overnight shipping in each direction.
 
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