New Member

[RicM]

Many of the owners on this forum have Pennisular diesels and seem to be pretty happy with them. I was warned continuously when shopping for an Albin to avoid the Pennisulars like the plague. Cummins are OK, Yanmar better. Similar age and condition boats with Yanmars are $20-25K more. To repower with a Yanmar is supposedly about $30K. I guess you get what you pay for.

[jcollins]

Bluechip,
Wow. Welcome to the board. It's good to hear from someone that has really had problems with the Peninsular. Not good for you but sharing your experiences will help us all. Your riser problem interests me since I do anchor out quite a bit. Please keep us up to date on the solution to that.
The hard-starting-when-hot problem has bothered all of us. But, most have mentioned that when the sensor by-pass kit is installed it solves it. The less elegant meathod that I use is to place an ice pack on the sensor for a few minutes. That has worked for me. I have also just poured cool water over it and it has started every time. I was warned about pouring water on electrical components though.

Others have mentioned about the engine being noisey. Since I have never owned another diesel I have nothing to compare it too. This summer I'll be attending a couple of rendezvous and will hopefully be on other Albins with a different brand of engine.

[Denis]

Well lets see:
In 1995 I bought a Ford work van. I ran it hard for eleven years and other than one fuel pump I never had a problem, not one.
Three months ago I bought a brand new Ford van, same model and have had some very severe problems, it's going back to the dealer for the third time on wednesday.
Should I conclude that all Ford vans are junk or that just my new van has problems?
Sorry to hear about your difficulties with your engine, I hope you get them resolved. Call Peninsular and get a referral from them for a qualified mechanic in your area.

[Legacy]

Sorry to hear of your problems. I had a 1994 28TE with a Peninsular for 8 years and in that time I had a few problems but all in all an excellent experience. I had to replace my coolant tank twice until they finally sent me one with a pencil zinc and that solvced the problem. Seems to me it was a design flaw Peninsualr should have stepped up to. I replaced the starter too. I put 1800 hours on her and was never stranded. Unless I got a heck of a deal I would not buy another boat with a Peninsular because the reputation makes it hard to sell. There are lemons out there but I suspect the reputaion is worse than reality. Good luck.

[RicM]

Bluechip:

Not to degrade your pain, but to have broken down twice in 9 years is not a terrible record! Not desirable, but boats are pretty complicated systems. My first year with my old boat (not an Albin, granted) I got towed in by BoatUS twice, once from Block Island to Wickford, and once from Sakkonnet Pt. Made my $100 membership fee back 10X over! Did you buy your boat new or used? You will find a lot of Pennisular owners on this board, and they will surely be willing to swap warnings and hints about the care and feeding of these diesels. They do require a different regimen than the gas engines we are used to running in cars. Like I said earlier, a repower with a Yanmar is $28-30K. I intend to give my baby the very best of everything! Now if I could just get it in the water, there's 3 rows of boats in front of me......

[tomcat rio]

sorry to hear about your bad experince with your peninsular.
it is my understanding the the warm starting problems are caused when the glow plugs don't come on. i think the manual switch overides the temperature sensor on current engines.

i replaced my 230 hp marine power diesel with a 310 peninsular last year. the engine was around $15k as i recall. put 85 hours on it so far. i guess if i get past 200 hours without cracking the block, i'll be luckier that you were.
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i have found that matt koening and his techie, dwight at peninsular are quite responsive to phone calls and emails.
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http://www.peninsulardiesel.com/
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i think all the penny owners here appreciate hearing good stuff as well as bad stuff about the engine.
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FWIW, the peninsular engines ar no longer built by GM, but these guys,
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http://www.amgeneral.com/vehicles_gep_p ... d0dc977e4a
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note comment on post 1999 engines, the glow plug controller and block failures,
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"In 1993 its employees purchased Peninsular Engines from Peninsular Diesel. The focus was on bringing to the marine market a low cost, high quality marine diesel. The GM 6.5 Liter 400 CID 6.5-liter engine was ideal. It filled a niche between the higher costing and heavier Cats and Detroit’s and the less powerful four and six cylinder engines. More importantly, it was designed to replace the 454 and 502 "Big Blocks" with a minimum of reconfiguration.

Since then both the marinization and engine block have gone through evolutions. Since 1999 the engine block has been built by a subsidiary of American General, who builds the Hum-V military vehicle. This transformed it into a Mil-Spec engine having to meet rigid government testing standards. Their subsidiary, General Engine Products, built a new facility solely for the manufacture of the 6.5-liter diesel engine. Their main concern, and duly so, is quality control which they have achieved far above expectations. Since 1999 Peninsular has not had any internal problems or a block failure. General Engine Products builds the Peninsular engine to Peninsular specifications. This engine has changes that make it more agreeable to the marine environment and the higher horsepower.

The marine components of the engine have been redesigned and tested to ensure reliability, quality and performance. We have developed the tooling and hold the patents on many of the changes. Each engine is dyno tested to ensure that it is performing up to specifications prior to leaving our facility. Our latest innovation is the replacement of the glow plug controller. It controls the amount of heat required to begin combustion during initial engine running. This part has always been a problem with a high failure rate. To solve this, we have replaced it with an adjustable timer switch that allows the operator to control the amount of heat to the glow plug. This is advantageous in colder climates where a longer heating cycle is required.

While Peninsular is not a household name, we do have the quality and performance and pricing demanded by today’s customer. We thank you for visiting our website and hope that you will take the time to look at our products.

We have a good engine, on par with others in our market without the cost. We would like the opportunity to prove it.

Remember safe boating

With best wishes,
Matt Koning
President Peninsular Diesel"

[tomcat rio]

Once taking over 6.5L engine production in 2000, GEP initiated a bold engine program designed to end the cylinder block & head cracking problem that had nagged the GM manufactured 6.5L engines throughout the late 1990s. Solving the cracking problem involved a serious approach to both the design of the castings and to the metallurgical mix. To achieve the high level of expectations placed on these combat veteran diesels, design and casting duties were handed off to International Casting Corporation in Indiana - the foundry that produces the castings used in the Ford Powerstroke diesel. As a result, the grey iron used in the cylinder block saw the addition of molybdenum, which produced a 20-25% increase in tensile strength. In addition, the block design received taller and wider main bearing webs and caps, and the head bolt bosses in the block deck were strengthened, which improves cylinder head gasket durability. The cast-iron cylinder heads used in the 6.2L and the 6.5L diesels produced by GM could develop hairline cracks between the valves. AM General & International redesigned the head castings and added chromium to the cast-iron alloy. All of these design improvements add durability and greatly reduces the potential for cracking. As a result, the new AM General 6500 has become the best and most durable 6.5L diesel yet produced.