1997 Volvo KAMD 42’s

[Wet Willy]

I’m looking at a 1997 29’ Blackfin with twin KAMD 42 engines. I had twin Volvo TAMD 40A’s in my 28’ Topaz and had cooling issues. Are there any issues with the 42’s?

 

[kashurst]

If the cooling system is clean, then no.
At that age if the heat exchangers havent been properly cleaned recently, it would be well worthwhile, plus new seals and impellers in the seawater pumps.

 

[DavidJ]

I thought there was something about cylinder head gaskets which was solved on later 42’s. Await volvopaul and aquatom.

 

[oldgit]

Think the old 40A had a rather fragile folded matrix inside the square heat exchanger box.
All later engines had much improved tube type , more efficient/robust and easier to dismantle and service. ?

 

[oldgit]

Think the old 40A had the rather fragile folded matrix inside the square heat exchanger box.
All later engines had much improved tube type , more efficient/robust and easier to dismantle and service. ?

 

[Momac]

I may be wrong but would imagine any issues would have shown themselves during 20 years service.

 

[DavidJ]

I may be wrong but would imagine any issues would have shown themselves during 20 years service.

Good point and like the KAD43 has no obsolete ECU electronics, so very attractive.

 

[Wet Willy]

Think the old 40A had the rather fragile folded matrix inside the square heat exchanger box.
All later engines had much improved tube type , more efficient/robust and easier to dismantle and service. ?

. The 40A’s cooling system had problems.
Yes, the confined space within the heat exchanger, and the small bronze cooling tubes diameter allowed the raw salt water to become calcified , and hard to dissolve. I had to soak the bronze core of the heat exchanger in a (5) gal bucket filled with muriatic acid.

 

[Momac]

As time passes I am more than happy to stick with my boat (kad32's in my case which are essentially a 4 cylinder versions of the kad42 ) rather than change to a newer boat with more sophisticated engines .

 

[Wet Willy]

I guess that if the engines were regularly serviced, and maintained properly, there shouldn’t be any issues. However, if the Blackfin has everything else in order, I will still have a Survey, and the oil in the engines tested. Anything else that you fellas might recommend?

 

[Greg2]

I guess that if the engines were regularly serviced, and maintained properly, there shouldn’t be any issues. However, if the Blackfin has everything else in order, I will still have a Survey, and the oil in the engines tested. Anything else that you fellas might recommend?

Worth getting a Marine Engineer to look over the engines and do a good trial run, including a run at WOT to check that they don’t overheat. Oil analysis can be helpful but only if the oil has been in for a while and remember that it is only a snapshot - analysis over time is what provides the best information.

We had KAD42s in a previous boat - fairly solid motors and as has been mentioned, with the benefit of no eletrickery units that might become obsolete. There was an A and a B variant if memory serves - ours were the B. I think there was a minor-ish issue with the early 42’s but I can’t remember what it was - not enough to put us off buying a boat fitted with them, perhaps because ours were the later (B) versions.
.

 

[Wet Willy]

Thanks for the advice. I’ll be sure to have a Volvo mechanic with me when we do a test run with the Blackfin. Thanks, Wet Willy