Cost of Maintainence

[Gina Marie]

I just got my first quote to start maintanence on my 6v92TI. Does this sound right.

1450.00 for oil and filter changes
785.00 for flush and additives
585.00 replace airseps 3


the list goes on can this be right Thanks.

 

[Akyla]

Greetings,

I don't use a maintenance company to do any of my engine work so I can't comment on the overall costs they are quoting except for this;

My last oil change:
Oil filter cost $12.99 each
Oil cost $64.50 - enough Rotella for both engines
+ an hour of my time

If the 1450 is the going rate, my career path is going to change...

 

[Genesis]

Awfully expensive for that oil change......

I think I need to open a marine oil change company at those prices.....

 

[Nonchalant1]

Re: Too High!

I just got my first quote to start maintanence on my 6v92TI. Does this sound right.

1450.00 for oil and filter changes
785.00 for flush and additives
585.00 replace airseps 3


the list goes on can this be right Thanks.

First, some general thoughts:

1. Marinas and service providers vary lots in both cost and quality of labor, like between $60/hr and $150/hr. Higher price doesn't necessarily mean higher quality. Start by using this forum, tell us your location and maybe we can help guide you to a reasonable cost vs. quality provider.

2. Do it yourself, or just plan on paying high prices for it. If you're new to this, just pay an expert to do stuff the first time so you can learn, then do all the simple stuff yourself. An oil change for a 6V92 will cost $20-$40 for oil, and $10-$20 for filter, etc. So less than $100 for two engines. Labor could be 1 to 2 hours so add $200 more. If they have to travel to your boat, it adds mileage and hours. Even so, what costs you $100 and a couple hours of your time to do, winds up costing $300-$500. Same for all the other stuff.

3. A very rough rule of thumb for maintenance and operating costs is that you'll pay about 10% of the value of your boat every year. If your 45C is a $300,000 boat, you'll spenf $30K total per year. Of course, it doesn't work like that because the more you use it the more you pay, and just fuel can make a huge difference. ALso a less well maintained boat would cost you less to buy but more to maintain. Just a rough idea of costs.

4. One comparison. I live in the Chicago area. The highest quality service here is Detroit Diesel's Midwest Service center in Carol Stream, IL. They charge $138/hr for the first hour and $92/hr thereafter (including their travel time). I had to have a marine gear fixed right after I bought the boat, so I had them do oil, oil filters, trans oil, trans filters, clean the trans screens, and new fuel filters on two 8V71TI's and Allison M20 gears. The whole thing, including 2 hours on fixing the gear and $250 in travel cost was $1279. It costs me about $200 to do it myself now, and could be less except I buy DD oil and DD filters.

5. Another comparison. Air Sep filters cost $81 each from AirSep, which is a ripoff, but inescapable if you want AirSeps. You can clean the filters and reuse them for 2 years at least. Changing them takes 2 minutes each. How's that add up to $585??

Good luck - maybe we can help.

Doug Shuman
1978 53MY

 

[NAN-PO 41]

Lord please save us from the professionals. Since we bought our boat (previously yard maintained) I have found a hose barb that was the wrong size wrapped with electrical tape to make the hose fit tightly, the ever popular drywall screw bonding wires left disconnected, and the list goes on and on. (All of these things were done during an engine replacement so I know they weren't done by the previous owner) I know that there are qualified professionals out there who take pride in their work but it seems they are becoming scarcer and scarcer. Do as much of your own work as you can. It will give you two benefits. 1. You save money and know the job was don by someone who cares. 2. When you have a problem while underway(yes I did say when) you will be in a better position to help yourself.
Just my own personal opinion. FWIW Fred

 

[Banshee36]

Lord please save us from the professionals. Since we bought our boat (previously yard maintained) I have found a hose barb that was the wrong size wrapped with electrical tape to make the hose fit tightly, the ever popular drywall screw bonding wires left disconnected, and the list goes on and on. (All of these things were done during an engine replacement so I know they weren't done by the previous owner) I know that there are qualified professionals out there who take pride in their work but it seems they are becoming scarcer and scarcer. Do as much of your own work as you can. It will give you two benefits. 1. You save money and know the job was don by someone who cares. 2. When you have a problem while underway(yes I did say when) you will be in a better position to help yourself.
Just my own personal opinion. FWIW Fred

Got to love the "SKILLED LABOR" at a boat yard!!!! I have found the boatyards do not like the owners working on the boat themselves. At least i use SS drywall screws on my bonding system,
JW

 

[Gina Marie]

Thank you all for your advice and support. I will plan on doing these projects myself. Can anyone advise on where I can get the manuels on the 6V92TI and I live in Lighthouse Point, Florida. Anyone knowing a good and FAIR mechanic I would appreciate it. you can also email me at americanairtite@aol.com Thanks again Tom.

And just to finish this thought the estimate that I got totaled 15000.00 of which I had to pay 600.00 for liability and 150.00 for travel. And this was an estimate.

This forum really helped me thanks again.

 

[Genesis]

That's insane Gina.

Hell, I'll drive down there for $15,000, do all that for you, and laugh on the way to cash the check!

Oil and filter changes don't require a manual. Neither do replacing the filters on airseps. The former just requires some care to avoid making a hellish mess (oil can be messy!)

 

[Nonchalant1]

Tom,

Your DD engines came with an "owners manual" that covers most of this simple stuff and some harder stuff. You can go on-line to find Detroit Diesel and look up their local service center to buy the owners manual just by calling them. It covers all the normal maintenance things to check. If you want to go deeper, you can also buy the HUGE service manual, that covers the big, hairy stuff. Here's a link for DD series 92 engines:
http://www.detroitdiesel.com/Service_Locator/Locator/details.asp On the lookup tab, scroll down to "Series 53, 71, 92" then hit submit.
Detroit Diesel also covers Allison marine gears, which your boat probably has. DD (really GM) made Allisons long ago but sold the company. They still have combined parts and service facilities.
Stuff like changing AirSeps just takes looking at them to see what springs to take off to slap a new filter on.
I can't help with local FL service people. If DD has a service center near you, you can overpay once, like I did when I was green to this, and watch and learn as they do it. For instance, I would never have known to clean the little screens in the three bolt flange on the gears because I didn't know what the three bolt flange was. But the guy showed me and now I'll do it every 2 to 3 years.

Doug

 

[wshelton]

Greetings,

I don't use a maintenance company to do any of my engine work so I can't comment on the overall costs they are quoting except for this;

My last oil change:
Oil filter cost $12.99 each
Oil cost $64.50 - enough Rotella for both engines
+ an hour of my time

If the 1450 is the going rate, my career path is going to change...

Mine too$$$$$$$$$!

 

[wshelton]

Greetings,

I don't use a maintenance company to do any of my engine work so I can't comment on the overall costs they are quoting except for this;

My last oil change:
Oil filter cost $12.99 each
Oil cost $64.50 - enough Rotella for both engines
+ an hour of my time

If the 1450 is the going rate, my career path is going to change...

Me too$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Pascal]

gasp! it takes me a couple of hours to do an engine oil change and that's because i have racor reusable filters (very fine mesh disc) which are a real pain....

$40 a pail for DD oil (1per engine)...

where is lighthouse point? north broward right ? i know a diesel mechanic who i've never used because he's in Boca but he is a good friend of a very good Jaguar shop owner i use and i figured that since bird of a feather flock together... his buddy must be as good with diesels as he is with classic jaguars .. let me know if you need, i'll find his phone nr... i talked to him and he's very familiar wit DDs

 

[jim rosenthal]

Those estimates are idiotic. Learn to do the work yourself; it will be done better and you will know your way around the engines over time. We all started out not knowing much, we learned our way around.
I can change all the oil in by boat for about $150 for oil and filters, and only that high because I use CAT SAEO30 oil which costs more. If you have an oil change system, it is not difficult. The hardest part is carrying all those buckets of old and new oil.
I look at working on my boat myself as 1) saving money 2) doing it right, because I know who to yell at if it's done wrong 3) occupational therapy 4) and education. Although I don't do as much as Capt. Dave, who is doing his own blister job and putting on a new bottom as we speak , over the years I've done plenty. I no longer sand and paint the bottom- I've been there and done that. Ditto waxing. But all the inside work I can do, I will. I think most of the folks who hang around here feel the same way.

 

[Gina Marie]

Re: Cost of Maintenance

Thanks to all, you have given me the confidence to do this work on my own. I have already this afternoon took apart my Airseps. I live in Boca Raton and My boat is in Pompano or Lighthouse Point. I will certainly use this forum to ask questions you have all been extremely supportive.

First Question? On my Starboard engine inboard the airsep has a hose that sits directly beneath the unit. It has detached from the airsep itself, is this fixable or do I need to replace the entire unit. This hose looks like it goes into my oil pan.

Their is another filter that is inline between the airsep and the motor. It is much smaller and is T connected between the airsep and the motor what is its purpose and since it is dirty I will replace this also.

Beside the filters on my airseps what else needs to be replaced, cleaned or dismantled on the airsep configuration before I move on to another project.


The filters for the airseps and other maintenance on my 6V92 should I be buying them from DD or is their an online site ??????

Thanks again to all, Tom/Gina Marie

 

[Nonchalant1]

Tom,

The hose on your AirSep is supposed to go to your engine block so evidently it detached or broke off the Airsep unit. Look at the bottom of the AirSep and see if the hose barb is there where you can reattach it and add a hose clamp. Or is there something broken? It should be the same hookup as the one on your other engine.

The little filters on top, connected by smaller hoses, are vacuum limiters. If they are all black in color, they can be cleaned and re-oiled if they are the type that you can get the filter out of the case. If they still look a little purple, they're OK. They can be a big problem if their little valve sticks, so you should shake them to see if they rattle every week or so. If they don't rattle, replace them. If the filter is the old style that's welded into the case, replace them. They're expensive.

Order replacement filters by calling AirSep. Also order a cleaning kit which has instructions on how to clean and re-oil your filters and vac limiters.

There's nothing else to do on your AirSeps. FYI - Some people on this forum don't like AirSeps. I do. They came as original equipment on lots of DD engines and the local DD service center says they're good. The concern is that those little vacuum limiters will fail and let too much vacuum pull oil up through the turbos. Mine have two vac limiters connected together in the "T" line you mentioned.

I buy my engine oil and fuel filters from DD. The link I gave you before has the locations near you. I just drive there to pick it up, but maybe you can call and they can mail you the order? NAPA has filters that cross reference to DDs and cost less, but I use DD's anyhow. Same for RACOR filters - I use real RACORs instead of NAPA substitutes. The cost a little more, but it's a pittance by comparison.

Doug

 

[Genesis]

Another alternative for oil filters is the Baldwin spun-glass element units. They are superior in filtration ability and if bought online aren't much more expensive than the WIX units - and less expensive than the DD OEM ones.

 

[Pascal]

re cost of oil, i went to pick up some this morning but the place i used to buy from (a small DD distrbutor, mostly truck) had closed down.

on the way back, I spotted a place called Diesel Pro on the Miami river with a DD sign. they were out but receiving it later on today, cost $30.95...

so it's even cheaper than the $40 a mentioned last night...

 

[Nonchalant1]

Tom,

I think you should take up Pascal on his offer above to find the local diesel mechanic guy. You can buy oil, filters, etc. and hire him to come show you how to do it all. Then you can do it yourself with confidence next time. You will also have established a contact for reasonably priced hired help when something goes wrong in the future.

Doug