'02 Volvo Penta Engine

[witzgall]

Is this # 12 in this image? If so, Could you by chance draw a template of the piece you made? I have some scrap 1/8 aluminum I could use to make one, sounds like a good preventative measure.

Originally Posted by The Mons

While I'm hot on the subject:

The cooling system has another weakness. There are two pipes for the raw water inlet and outlet on the front of heat exchanger. These pipes are secured to the heat exchanger by a small plate of trapozoidal shaped metal. It is the small beveled sides that hold the pipes in. Thus, minimal contact is maintained between the plate and the round surface of the pipes. After a certain amount of time and vibration, the contact points wear. One or both of the pipes will eventually pop off spraying salt water thoughout the engine compartment. When this happens, your exhaust also has no cooling water. If you replace the offending pipe, it will soon pop off again.

To solve this problem, I manufactured a new retaining plate of 1/8 inch aluminum. The new plate has half moon slots instead of the beveled surface. This provides 180 degree contact on each of the pipes when before there was only tangental contact.

So far, the new plate has been working flawlessly for 4 years.

[Sandero]

I find that you need to open up the throttle a lot for cold starting. Haven't done the hot air trick. I can believe that carbon will build up from poor combustion and that leads to poor performance. Diesels seem to like warm conditions for starting and running.

[witzgall]

Yep, I agree about the throttle.

Has anyone ever removed their head to send it out to be cleaned? No, the head on the engine, silly...

I have never done this sort of thing, having kept most of my engine work (motorcycles mostly) on the inside, rather than the outside of the engine. I would like to get this done to our engine, the decarbonization, but I wonder if it is something that I could tackle? What are the risks? Need special tools?

I Have Nigel Calder's engine book coming in the mail soon....

Chris

[Chief Engineer]

Just a humorous note.

A Crusty old Port Engineer told me this. 3 things you need to know about BIG Diesels.

1. Keep the Fuel and Air Clean

2. When Troubleshooting, look for the simplest things first.

and finally

3. Never, ever, let the Captain touch YOUR engine. They know just enough to eff things up.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by S Campbell

Wow, Am I glad I asked about this engine. This is a wonderful Forum. All you answers are extremely helpful. I have learned more here, than in one week of surfing the net.

I will be sure to check the engine with a fine tooth comb & make the broker stick to "being fully satisfied".....well see how the sail test goes.....I feel really good about the broker....(he is also a member of my sailing club). And the Marina prides itself as being a premier dealer destination. They took the boat on part trade on a larger boat. So it shouldn't be to bad. Thanks to everyone.

You should also consider the sea trial. On our boat we specified a two day sea trial. We explained that we wanted one day to check out the sialing and one day to check out the systems.

I also explained that I was going to do quite a bit of motoring. I showed the owner the motoring plan which included 2 hours at max speed, several starts, reversing, idling and so forth.

I checked the oil and fluid levels at the start. Ran the engine for a total of about 4 hours and then checked all the fluids and stuff again.

Just using the engine for 10 minutes to motor out during the sea trial doesn't cut it.

Whle we were motoring we checked all the lights, radios, systems, nav gear, etc, etc. This is stuff I don't think you can pay proper attention to while actually doing the sailing part.

[The Mons]

The new bracket looks something like this.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by The Mons

The new bracket looks something like this.

Brilliant. Can you believe the stupid thing wasn't built like this in the first place. I'm going to take your design and build one. Getting these pipes to not leak AND stay that way is tough.

Paul L

[chetvaldes]

Just thought I'd pass on a tip- on these models, if you develop a leak at either of the raw water connections on the heat exchanger, it will drip directly onto the starter. I've replaced several starters damaged this way, and now put a cut down 2 liter pop bottle over the starter to act as a drip guard. And yes, I've fabricated my own metal tube lock pieces too, but I make mine of steel for better wear. Great tip on the Auto Zone source for starters menioned previously!

[witzgall]

All;

We had exactly this happen during our 2 week cruise this summer. The result was that we had to replace the starter. I got the Autozone part # from this thread and ordered.

The AZ starter is much bigger than stock. We got it to fit after grinding down a few bolts on the back of it. It rested against one of the fresh water pipes, so not so good for long term.

The starter worked fine for a few days, then would not start right away. We got a loud clicking of the solenoid. To remove the starter, you have to dismantle the heat exchanger. Strike one. We took the starter back to AZ, and they verified that it was bad. Strike 2. In the process, we slightly bent the fresh water pipe. Strike three.

A friend with a VP 2003 engine has suggested a eBay dealer, DB electrical, for an alternator. We got a 80amp from them, good price. I called and asked them about a starter. After describing the starter, and sending some photos of the original, they said they had one, and it arrived THE NEXT DAY. This was regular shipping. It was significantly smaller than the VP starter, but the guy said that it was a more efficient motor design. He used some big words that I don't remember.

Anyways, starter, alternator and new coolant pipe went in in a few hours, and it all works great. If we have any problems later, I'll dig up this thread and post about it, but so far, a big thumbs up for DB electrical from eBay.

Chris

Originally Posted by chetvaldes

Just thought I'd pass on a tip- on these models, if you develop a leak at either of the raw water connections on the heat exchanger, it will drip directly onto the starter. I've replaced several starters damaged this way, and now put a cut down 2 liter pop bottle over the starter to act as a drip guard. And yes, I've fabricated my own metal tube lock pieces too, but I make mine of steel for better wear. Great tip on the Auto Zone source for starters menioned previously!

[chetvaldes]

Thanks for the info Chris. Maybe a good idea to stick to original Bosch rebuilts, which are available if you look around. I think if I owned one of these motors myself I would remove all those copper tubes and convert to regular hose fittings and be done with it.
Chet

[witzgall]

Te AZ starter was a rebuit Bosch. You could not covert the system to hose fittings without replacing the heat exchanger as well, unless you found somebody that could weld bronze fittings onto it, if you could find the fittings. The system actually works well, but I would certainly design it like that from scratch!!!!

Chris

Originally Posted by chetvaldes

Thanks for the info Chris. Maybe a good idea to stick to original Bosch rebuilts, which are available if you look around. I think if I owned one of these motors myself I would remove all those copper tubes and convert to regular hose fittings and be done with it.
Chet

[chetvaldes]

Wow, thanks for the rapid reply! So, I guess this rebuilt Bosch starter was a slightly different model than the original, being larger and all.
And yes, I would either tap the holes on the heat exchanger and other parts to standard pipe thread or braze on some fittings. The main problem as I see it is that the engine vibration hammers all the tube joints and causes the pipes to loosen. I've often had to resort to slightly oversized O-rings, stacking several together to get a good seal. The original square cross section O-rings might work on a new engine, but once the pipe connections get hammered, I think the openings get enlarged so they're not tight enough and will leak, thus the use of the oversized O-rings.
Does anybody know what model Peugeot the base block of this motor is?
Chet

[Chief Engineer]

The only time I have seen the cooling lines fail is when owners BEND them to take them apart..........Y cants do that!!!!!!!!!!!!

[witzgall]

And that is exactly what I did, tweaked it getting the starter out. I should have removed it completely before removing the monster starter.

Chris

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

The only time I have seen the cooling lines fail is when owners BEND them to take them apart..........Y cants do that!!!!!!!!!!!!

[svcattales]

Originally Posted by witzgall

So what about injectors? Any non Volvo equivalents? I think I read somewhere the 2000 series is based on a peugeot engine?

Chris

We have a 29 HP Volvo MD2030Bs (mid 90s vintage). Our cruising friends have Perkins KD30243Js and guess what? They appear to be the same engines. I just ordered new "earmuffs" for my heat exchangers and they were $6 ea cheaper as Perkins parts so that's what I bought. The exhaust riser for Perkins is $100 more than the same part from Volvo. On the other hand the fresh water pump is over $100 less from Perkins than Volvo. Go figure? Anyone know who really makes these engines before Perkins paints them blue and Volvo paints them green?