MAN 1200hp engines

Welcome to Yacht Forums

IMO, of of the best thoughts I can pass on, Is there a great MAN shop near you?
Not some lil mobile grease guy but a real MAN shop with real MAN techs.

I also recommend this to boat shoppers looking at Volvo, Cat, Cumins and Detroits.
Just a good MAN shop is far and few between.

With serial numbers, service and log copies in hand, go to your MAN shop (new best friends) and ask them.
Have the engines surveyed well.
As Liam stated, if they are in good shape, they may last a lil longer,, but,, but a rebuild is in your future.

The heat exchanger is a big MAN maintenance point. With out the records to prove it, it never happened.
With 4600 hours, they should of been serviced at least a few times by now.

I luv MAN engines. Had my hands in just a few of them. It was a great MAN shop (out of town) that supported me.

Also, there is no corner cutting on a MAN engine. Everything is expensive.
I believe a good running MAN engine off sets these extra hurdles.

Please keep us up on your purchase adventure.

Call a MAN dealer and check the cost of routine service like 500 and 1000 hours. Sit down before you get the costs.

I luv the 8.3s also. The later tune has been reduced to 600HP.
Pending your 2006 tune (400 to 650HP) and hours making horse power dictates the rebuild schedule. The same attitude on the MANS.

Think like Cat does, Don't count hours, count fuel burned.
You run them easy, less fuel burn, longer life.
You run them hard, more fuel burn, shorter life.

That is why logs on the viking is important. Note the fuel used per trip.

Now, Viking 60' Cruiser??
Viking / Princess or Viking motor yacht?
Made in the states or U K?
This may be important for your investment dollar.
If you have a web sales ad, please post it here.
Somebody here may even know the boat.

That was the LE404 engine, not the LE406.
Indeed based on the same block - BTW, 22 litres obviously, not 2.2! - but that's where similarities end.
The 1200hp LE406 was in fact the very last development of their fully mechanical engines, produced for decades and widely regarded as very reliable.
The 1300hp LE404 was instead among the very first engines where MAN adopted an electronic governor (so-called "EDC"), a technology which wasn't exempt from teething troubles and was phased out just a few years later, when they jumped on the common rail bandwagon.

If given a choice, I'd have the LE406 rather than the slightly more powerful LE404 anytime.
Which doesn't mean the LE406 can last forever, though.
I mean, pretty sure the reason why on that Baia the engines were rebuilt as early as 2000 hours has much more to see with the typical usage of those boats, whose owners most often than not see the throttle as an on-off switch (either idle or WOT!).
But in a Viking 60' cruiser, they probably had a much easier life, and I wouldn't be surprised if they would be good for another thousand hours or two, before needing a rebuild...

@Bill, ref your last question on the cost difference, I don't think it's possible give you any reasonable number.
But brands aside, you should consider that the MANs you are comparing with your current Cummins are more than twice the displacement, twice the power, twice the cylinders/valves/turbos. And 10 years older.
So, aside from the regular stuff like oil and filters, whose difference is unlikely to break the bank (also because MANs hold a little oil quantity in proportion to their size) for all the rest I think it's only fair to expect to double also the maintenance costs...

about 10 years ago, I did some research for a customer who was looking at some 70-75 footers, mid 2000s or so. I got service quotes from a local MAN shop as well as Cats. Forgot which MAN engine it was but it was equivalent in size to 3412Es and C30s. Every single maintenance interval was 2 to 3 times the Cat equivalent.

If given a choice between a 1996 MAN and a same vintage Cat 3412, I also would rather pick the latter.
But I'm not so sure if you would compare MANs with similar Cats built after they started designing and building CACs and HEs as if they were disposable items - and potentially engine wrecking ones at that!

I put about 7000 hours on a pair of 2004 3412Es and 2009 C32s. Pretty much trouble free and inexpensive service. Even replacing the C32 aftercoolers every 6 years is still much cheaper than MAN maintenance

Are they giving away those chinese aftercoolers, in the US?
Around here they are as expensive as if they were still properly built, if not more.
And together also with just about all other bits, make Cat maintenance a nightmare, compared not only to MANs (which are expensive), but also MTUs (which are more expensive than MANs).
That aside, what price do you give to peace of mind?
I'm of course happy for you if your C32s never blew out, but some did!

On the C32s, we had to upgrade the aftercoolers which was more expensive since the housing and pipes had to be upgraded too. After that, it s just the cores every 6 years. Boat was sold after about 6 years so we never redid the cores but from I recall, when we did the upgrade, the cores were $6 or $7k each. Not cheap but less than the cost difference on a single service

Think I found her.
https://www.**************/yacht/1996-viking-60-cockpit-sport-yacht-9001690/
The ad states some service work last year.

If that's the boat, she ain't what I figured when I said the engines probably had an easy life in a "cruiser".
Which doesn't imply they are shot and in need of immediate rebuild, of course.
Quite the opposite in fact, judging from the pics alone which show a remarkably clean e/r, and even more so considering the boat age and hours clocked. Christ, even the chromed valve covers (which usually look bad shortly after the boat is built!) seem in decent condition.
Also the fact that the large cover/protection on the belts is still in place suggests that whoever took care of maintenance was very careful.
I mean, in my boat I got rid of them shortly after I bought her, just for accessibility convenience, but no serious mechanic would do that, because of the risk involved for anyone entering the e/r with the engines running and the pulleys/belts spinning.

As an aside, @Verdegirl910: if the boat you are considering is indeed the one linked by CR, and if you will go see her, I would be curious to hear what the bit that I circled in red is. Or also from anyone else who might know, of course.
Me, I've never seen that thing on any MANs, and I've seen quite a few - both older and newer.

my knees hurt just looking at all these steps… give me a flush deck over this stair master special!