The Perkins 4108 marine diesel engine

The engine is now quite an old unit, given the one in the pictures will be some thirty years old now.
Well serviced they will last a long time, this one has around 1870 hours on it and uses virtually no oil between services.

Left is the water cooled exhaust manifold, the large round tube at the back of the engine going cross ways being the raw water to fresh water cooling unit. The engine is cooled internally with fresh water, which in turn is sea water cooled on a constant loss system via the exhaust pipe.

Note the oil filter on the Henry Meadows gear box.

Its a good idea to mark the filter with the date and engine hours each time you change the filter.

The spin on filter is a type GUD Z93.

A so called marine engine filter by Purolator, this one is part number ML 14670

The Purolator ML 14670 seen here marked with its service date and engine hours, access is good on this boat, you will need a catch tray to collect oil when the old filter is removed.

Not all filters are the same, the Purolator ML 14670 has a none return valve inside,it is just visible.

The valve is required due to the inverted position of the filter, this ensures full oil supply when the motor is started.

Oil changes on the Perkins 4108 diesel engine?

Given most hand books say each year or every 50 hours and whichever is the soonest, we need to respect this request. Looking further we can find that if a diesel oil such as Shell Rotela is used we can go to 100 hours, thats a massive 100% more, so well worth the cost of that special oil.

In practice and when cruising the engine tends always to be warm from its regular use, I have then changed oils at between 200 and 240 hours and returned back to port with an engine having 2800 hours on it and  in perfect condition.

Roy