Swan 43 Perkins
I am looking at a Swan 43, I noticed a lot of oil in the bilge to which the broker told me that you cannot stop perkins engine from leaking oil. Doesn't sound right to me. Is he telling the truth or is it sales speak. rgds Mark.

Dear Mark,
that's not completely wrong. As far as I know old Perkins had cork gaskets, and once they dried, after a few years, they have the habit to  leak a bit, so, don't worry too much if you find some oil in the bilge. What you have to do instead,  in order to know how much acid and sulphur is in the oil is to get the oil analized by a specialized laboratory. They are even able to tell you about the piston rings and if there is any water in the oil.
Fair winds!
Matteo (38/067)

Mark, I assume that you are talking about a Perkins 4.108. It shouldn't leak oil and it sounds like a seal may have gone. I ran one for 15 years and it didn't leak a drop. They are very strong if rather noisy engines and mine was still running after 30 years. A version was used to power the London Taxis. Gavin

I tend to think like Gavin. I have had Perkins 4.108 in my last two boats and know it pretty well. It is a very good engine, old fashion and easy to work with. A good running engine is not supposed to leak oil and if it does something must be done. Most of the times it is a trivial problem but sometimes it is not. First of all try to understand the cause then we can discuss about it.
Regards
Daniel

I am looking at a Swan 43, I noticed a lot of oil in the bilge to which the broker told me that you cannot stop perkins engine from leaking oil. Doesn't sound right to me. Is he telling the truth or is it sales speak. rgds Mark.

Mark
I have a Swan 43 1971 called Zeevogel. Re. the perkins oil problems, I had the same problem and the owner said that perkins do that - leak oil, he said you need to live with it.
They don't if serviced correctly. My engine needed a new rear engine seal. I had to pull the engine and replaced the seal - at the end of the day I had the complete engine rebuilt - no more oil leaks, what money can do.
The perkins love to eat oil and I make sure that I don't over fill the oil, I keep it 3/4 full at any time.

If you buy the Swan 43 - spend the money on her - she'll pay you back - great yacht!

Regards Don

Mark,

Similar story from me, the old 4108 on my 411 was underpowered for the yacht but noisy / smelly etc but no oil spill.

I have just bought new Perkins on the basis of then being bullet proof nothing fancy e.g. slow reving and simple engine