engine maintenance

[svfinnishline]

Since buying my boat in 2008, I have changed the engine oil every 300hrs, and the fuel filters at about the same interval. I've circumnavigated, ca. 40K nm's sailing and added 2500 hrs to the engine - but outside of replacing the timing belt, done nothing else to the engine. Volvo MD22P.

Never replaced the antifreeze, had the injectors out for 'service.'

What maintenance should I be doing next? Now day sailing mostly, winters in the hamble river UK.

This question is as regards the engine only, not the saildrive, prop, anti fouling, charging system, or anything else.

Thanks for the thoughts/ opinions!

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by svfinnishline

Since buying my boat in 2008, I have changed the engine oil every 300hrs, and the fuel filters at about the same interval. I've circumnavigated, ca. 40K nm's sailing and added 2500 hrs to the engine - but outside of replacing the timing belt, done nothing else to the engine. Volvo MD22P.

Never replaced the antifreeze, had the injectors out for 'service.'

What maintenance should I be doing next? Now day sailing mostly, winters in the hamble river UK.

This question is as regards the engine only, not the saildrive, prop, anti fouling, charging system, or anything else.

Thanks for the thoughts/ opinions!

I suggest you follow the Manufacturer's recommendations. The Owners' Manual for your engine can be found at (click on) Volvo Penta MD22

For what its worth, 300 hours between oil changes is rather too long. As a matter of course, we change oil and raw water impeller at the soon of 12 months or 100 hours per the recommendations of our diesel mechanic.

[2Hulls]

Hello svfinishline - I have two MD22L-B's with a little less than 2500 hours each. I just completed changing the timing belts and having the coolant pumps rebuilt. The pumps seemed OK, but since I was changing the timing belts I went the few extra steps to mine deeper to get at the pumps. They were OK, but now I have a little more piece of mind about them. At the same time I replaced the timing belt idler wheel and tensioner because I had to have them off the get at the coolant pumps.

So, you didn't mention raw water pumps or belts? Alternator or starter? I've rebuilt raw water pumps a couple times and had to rehab a starter.

Coolant hoses? When I had the coolant pumps out I replaced the hoses near it. I've also replaced the raw water hoses.

Exhaust elbows? I'm watching mine carefully, but I did replace the hose connection pieces Volvo calls a "coupler", I think, that connects the hose to the elbow. They looked fine from the outside until I started to remove the first one then it fell apart in my hand.

Exhaust hoses? I've replaced them all.

Maybe some of this stuff is outside your definition of "engine only."

Dave

[Lepke]

My experience is mostly commercial. When you extend the oil change interval you need to run auxiliary bypass filters. Otherwise all the junk in the oil is wearing everything, but especially the rings and sleeves. Most engine filters have all the oil go thru the stock filter too fast to collect smaller particles. Bypass filters only use a small part of the oil stream and pass it thru at a much slower speed. Stock filters are lucky to filter out 30 micron dirt. Bypass can filter down below 5 micron.
Diesels put soot into the oil at a rate equal to the amount of diesel burned. The soot and other particles bond together to form larger particles big enough to cause wear.
You can greatly extend the engine life and the oil life with proper filtering. If nothing else, find a longer version of the filter you are using now so the filtering speed is slowed.
Also, as others have said, the hoses, timing belts, etc. The ocean is a bad place for a failure.

[model 10]

Now it's time for fuel inj. service. Have the injectors cleaned and tested. Replace the lift pump, replace the belt again and do the water pump. You can't beat all new hoses either. Maybe you can make 10,000 hrs. Call Yanmar and tell them how good your engines are, they might give you a doobie button.

[Sun and Moon]

Remind me not to buy your boat.

As others have said, 300 hours is way too long between oil changes. My mechanic recommends 50 hours. More commonly people recommend 100-200 hours. Antifreeze has at most a 3 year life. I'm guessing you haven't changed your transmission oil. Have you checked the level? My engine has an internal zinc that needs to be changed regularly. Yours has probably been gone for years. I disassemble and clean my heat exchanger once a year. I suspect there are more things I do which I'm not thinking of right now. Get a manual and follow the suggested procedures.

Diesels are robust, but ignoring routine maintenance will cost you a lot more in the long run.

[Wotname]

Was the engine new in 2008? If not what is the current hours on it?

Your precious usage suggests an average of 1 hour a day but I'm assuming that as only an average. Your new use is likely to be less than that and that means more maintenance rather than less.

As others have suggested,
Replace coolant,
replace zincs,
replace water hoses,
replace belts,
replace impeller,
replace fuel hoses
Check tappet clearance,
wash engine with warm water and deteregent , run and check for minor oil leaks
Remove any rust and repaint
Pull apart any wiring harness interconnects and check for corrosion, if clean, reconnect with some silicon grease - Dow Coring No.4 is good.
Confirm operation of over temp alarm switch (ie, remove and test). This is an important aspect often overlooked as there is no way of knowing if is working on a day to day basis.

That's enough to start with

[GordMay]

Oil & Filtres should be changed every 200 operating hours ...
See the “Maintenance Schedule” beginning Page 27 ➥ http://www.catamaransite.com/files/V...ction_Book.pdf