Mercury 1.7 turbo diesel is officially broken
A hole where our engine once sat!
Well its official, our Mercury Mercruiser 1.7 turbo diesel engine is broken. Following our breakdown on the 23rd February 2009 and having been towed back to the marina Blue Marlin II was lifted out of the water and taken to the storage yard at Noss Marina where it was put on props. It had been power sprayed off and the fist thing to notice was the anti foul we had chosen had worked very well. This year had seen the least weed growth ever. We had used Blakes Tiger Xtra and I made a note to purchase this again.
We now made contact with Birchell Marine of Paignton who had done a good job of servicing the engine last year. They were due to visit in a couple of days to examine the engine so Mike and I set about the annual chores of cleaning and servicing everything. The whole boat gets a wax wash and wax polish whilst the stern drive is cleaned ready for anti fouling after service.
Karen enjoying her afternoon on board!
We had a couple of days in hand so we set about the task with vigour. We took everything out and I even took my wife Karen on board to clean out the cabin - well you have to invite the women on board sometimes!
Man at work! Mike replacing the u bolt on the anchor chain note the old relic - and the Jag
We waited expectantly for Birchell Marine and on the first visit they could not make a diagnosis but promised to come back the next day to do a compression test.
We returned to the boat the next day and awaited their arrival. Unfortunately no one came. After a further four days and numerous phone calls we decided that due to their excessive work load they could not get to look at the engine in the time span we required. We agreed with them to appoint another engineer.
We then approached Stephenson Marine who operate on Noss Marina and the engine was out of the boat the next day and in their workshops. The following day we were given the bad news. A whole had worn in a piston which had also scored the bore! We now know how severe the damage is.
Whilst we await the estimate and time scale we continued to complete all those overdue tasks and prepare the boat ready for return to the water whenever that will be.
Additional pictures of the annual clean and service.
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- Man at work! Mike replacing the u bolt on the anchor chain
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- It amazes me how they stay on these wooden props
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- Starting to look cleaner now
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- Everything out for a clean and checkover
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- All Mikes hard work – how long will it stay this clean
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- A hole where our engine once sat!
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- It is amazing how much clutter builds up in a cabin!
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- Karen enjoying her afternoon on board!
Boating products for sale on ebay - We buy a lot from ebay
 Quicksilver 240 Dinghy/Rib with Mercury 3.3 HP Outboard  £460.01
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 Streaker 17 speed/water ski boat £2,995.00
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 17ft miro plus 501explorer £1,000.00
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 1979 Leisure 23 Sailing Yacht £3,000.00
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 Vivacity 20ft sailing yacht £700.00 |
 4 berth lifting keel grp sailing cruiser £995.00
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 racing speed boat,mercury outboard and trailer £385.00 |
 Sea Ray 215 EC Sports Cruiser, 2000, 5.7V8 £14,650.00 |
 Simms Supper V Speed Boat £800.00 |
 Barcoste Zargo 5m Rib £2,000.00 |
 SIMMS SUPER V - 15 foot - Speedboat-Waterski-Wakeboard £950.00
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 *****DELL QUAY DORY 17ft SPORTSMAN/FISHING BOAT***** £3,550.00 |
 23 ft cabin cruiser /fishing boat £8,000.00
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 quicksilver 380hd inflatable boat 20hp mercury outboard £2,500.00
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 ZODIAC S126 RIB BOAT INFLATABLE DINGHY + MERCURY MOTOR £485.00
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 Picton 150GTS 4 Seater Speed Boat - Great Condition! £1,020.00 |
 baja 272 sportsboat £24,750.00 |
 1999 BAYLINER 2855 7.4 V8 SPORTS DECK POWER CRUISER £29,995.00 |
 Flecher speed boat 14ft 50hp speedboat Mercury engine £561.00
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 SPEED BOAT 16FT CHALLENGER £1,000.00
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[...] to big problems with our real boat a Quicksilver 630 SD. I wont repeat it here but if you visit our Dartmouth Fishing Blog you will see [...]
I’m very impressed with the way Karen is so meticuous in her cleaning skills. To see her lying down like that loking for areas she might have missed indicates a real enthusiasm and dedication to her husbands enjoyment of the boat.
Hi Mike,
Sorry to hear of the demise of your Mercruiser 1.7 on Blue Marlin 2.
I hope that the engine is up and running before too long, and that Blue Marlin 2 is back in action and you are out fishing once again.
John.
Hello John, thanks we are in ‘negotiation’ with the makers at the moment. We have sent off all the documentation they asked for and they are still considering our claim. Whilst the engine is out of warranty it has only done 270 plus hours. If we were to buy the engine now it would be covered and for the next two years as well.
When you consider they expect these engines to do around 10,000 hours our 270 plus seems paltry and surely the engine cannot be considered as fit for purpose after such limited use.
Time will tell where we go with this but first we need their decision. However our recent catch record means the fish are safe whether we are in the water or no!
Tight lines,
Mike
Hi Mike,
I must say that 270 hours is very low for the Mercruiser to go defunct! Have you actually managed to identify the specific reason for the failure?
You are quite right that with regular servicing the engines should be good for 10,000 hrs. I’m sure that like insurance companies if the engine manufacturers can wriggle off the hook!! (no pun intended) then they indeed will.
I wish you good luck with your negotiations, and hopefully you will both be back out there racking up the catch record once again aboard Blue Marlin 2.
Myself I am in sunny Qatar at the moment at work!! hey ho a dirty job but someone has to do it to keep up the global thirst for oil.
Hopefully May in Dartmouth will bode well with good weather so I can be out on my Merry Fisher.
John.
I’m thinking of buying a 630 SD so your premature breakdown gives me some concern! I hope the makers do the decent thing!
Hello Chris, We hope they do the right thing as well. After all theres no way you could say that the engine was ‘fit for purpose’ based on the hours it is designed to do is it! We are really pleased with the boat though. Its a good sea boat in our opinion and we have a lot of confidence in the boat design, unlike the engine!
Good luck with your possible purchase. Mike
Hello John,
We have a enginners report saying the failure was caused by a defective injector. It seems that the atomisation of fuel is the key. You may have seen the Audi advert recently with fuel going through the eye of a needle? Seems the more technical they go the failure if it goes wrong becomes even more of a problem, the fuel burns a hole in the piston!
We haven’t given up on negotiations quite yet. but my brother Steve and I are quite strong charecters and we will see this all the way to court if they don’t come up with something we both are happy with.
Travel back safely but after today there are three less Pollack (or is it Colin now!) in the sea for you……….tight lines…….Mike
How could you avoid this happening again? Injector cleaning fluid a good idea? I use it in my car for the mot emissions test!
Dont usually post comments but thought I might on this occasion. Nice site.
Hello
I am having the same problem now with my engine. how did you get on when you contacted the manufacturers?
Hello Stuart, we have now completed the repairs, in fact the boat has gone! We part exchanged it for a shaft driven boat. In the end the engine manufacturers came up with the goods. We thought they would pay for parts since its out of guarantee but would have fought on. However they paid the bill in full! Everything, so well done and it certainly restored my faith in them.
Whilst we had to fight and it took a while, its nice to get what is right. They should have paid and thats my opinion based on the fact that the goods as sold were not fit for purpose! 270 hours against 10,000 is proof enough for me to say it could not have been correct. Anyway when we sought the name of the representative for the small claims court application the next day they promised to pay. After that it all went quite quickly. So an official thank you to them.
Hi Mike
I’m glad you were eventually compensated!
I’ve been looking at a few Quicksilver 630′s and on the surface it seems the perfect boat for my needs but am quite shocked at the amount of broken engines/pistons/turbos reported on the internet, some having gone through three engines, in fact its put me off! I’m intrigued as to why you changed boats, did the engineer give you a nudge?
Great site
Chris
Hello Chris, It was more of a case of “once bitten, twice shy”. We were worried with all that we had read and since we have been toying with buying a boat that’s shaft driven (to cut down on service costs for the out drive) we took the opportunity to upgrade.
Its only a personal view but I think the engines are not designed for boats. They are car engines and the fuel injection systems may not be best on red diesel! Need a rugged engine designed for marine use. We now bring diesel from garages only and leave the red stuff alone because the costs are near enough the same.
Certainly a lot of food for thought. Thanks for answering our note so quickly. Don’t know whether to wait till something happens, or chop the boat in for something else before it does! Have tried contacting Cummins to see if our engine is one at risk, (we don’t know year of manu but do have serial number), but they haven’t to date replied.
hi…………our cummins mercruiser 1.7DTI failed in early August this year and after a repair cost in excess of £4500, no boat for August, have found this site and others. it appears this is a common occurance and our boat had done 830 hrs over 4years.i have contacted Cummins but have heard nothing, and am getting increasingly frustrated at their lack of communication. would be interested to know who you contacted there and any advise you could give me
dear fellow boat owners,been reading your problems,it appears that this orginal old astra/gm 1.7 td marine converted engine while great pushing a van or car is not up to the rigours on a boat,probaly boxing about its weight and therefore you get this piston overheating [holed], this can happen very fast as this unit is very impressive power wise and tweeked up a bit for marine use on a big boat this will happen when pushed, unknown to you as you get no warning ,no overheating ,oil pressure fine etc,they let go, as they keep pushing on no matter what the load bearing is on the motor,?:
Hi guys
I have exactly the same problem with my Mercruiser 1.7 DTi, here in Falmouth.
After a wategate failure last year and a loss of turbo power this year, I have replaced the turbo but I supect a holed piston is the cause. The engine has only done 266 hours and we have a massive loss of compression on one cylinder.
I want some advice from you, before I contact the manufacturers.
Could you email me?
Martin
Hello Martin, you don’t say how old the boat is? Our engine was out of warranty when we made our successful claim. I think it best that we email you the details we still have and my brother Steve will email you direct. Sorry to hear about your problem. We will never have the same engine again. We do not believe they are ‘fit for purpose’ being a Vauxhall car engine converted to run on boats. It revs far to high in my opinion and I also believe the grade of fuel is mire critical with this unit. I am not convinced that red diesel is good enough to go through the injectors in what is a very sophisticated and highly engineered engine. I have no evidence for that comment, rather its my opinion.
We sold the boat straight after as part exchange with the people who supplied it new to us. It has had two rebuilds in the last few months since it was repaired! We are certainly glad to have made the decision to change as soon as the repairs were completed. At that time our reason was a loss of confidence in the engine, but thank goodness we did. I wish you luck with your claim. The loss of compression in one cylinder was the sign we had before the engine was inspected.
One thing the guy who dealt with our claim said was that we should have contacted them BEFORE having the engine taken out ans stripped down. You may wish to consider that before you proceed. Mike
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