Another Volvo Penta 2000 series thread...

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stevie69p

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A VP 2001 engine and saildrive that was previously fitted to my new to me boat was given to me by the previous owner at the weekend. Story goes that one day he was sailing, was becalmed and the engine just failed to start. Was towed to a boatyard, and for whatever reason, a second hand engine was procured.

I had a look at this old engine yesterday, suspecting that it might be seized, but no, it turned with a spanner on the crankshaft pulley, so I thought I'd have a go at seeing if it would run.

Steps taken so far:
>Bled fuel to top of filter head.
>Bled fuel to injector union.
>Turned over on starter motor using VP start sequence (full throttle, stop lever pull then push).
>No great attempt to fire up...
>Tried some Easy Start into the intake - no start.
>Observed engine oil coming up the dipstick tube (no dipstick present)
>Removed oil filler cap and observed puffs of smoke / fumes coming out when engine being cranked over.
>Thought that possibly the piston rings / bore were worn, so decided to remove cylinder head.
>Cylinder bore looks not too bad; some light scores but nothing to catch your fingernail on...
>Poured about 6mm of diesel into the bore on top of the piston crown - took about 30 minutes to seep through the rings...
>Poured some diesel into the intake - leakage observed straight away on the inlet valve seat.
>Poured diesel into the exhaust manifold - leakage observed fairly slowly (5 minutes).

so... do I do a top end rebuild, lap the valve seats and try again? Or strip the bottom end?

Suggestions welcomed.

The other option is just to strip it down for spare parts...
 
I would take the head off, invert and top up valves with diesel or similar - check for drain away on closed valves.
 
The fact that oil issues from dipstick hole and smoke emiting suggests crankcase compression, look for piston rings stuck in grooves.
 
NormanB:

Did that already... see 1st post:

>Poured about 6mm of diesel into the bore on top of the piston crown - took about 30 minutes to seep through the rings...
>Poured some diesel into the intake - leakage observed straight away on the inlet valve seat.
>Poured diesel into the exhaust manifold - leakage observed fairly slowly (5 minutes).
Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...-Penta-2000-series-thread#KoYFVv8erYefDDkW.99

Thanks...
 
third engines said:
The fact that oil issues from dipstick hole and smoke emiting suggests crankcase compression, look for piston rings stuck in grooves.
Click to expand...

That is a concern. Though with a slow leakage down the bore when diesel put in, would that not rule out rings? I wondered if another possibility might have been a blow in the head gasket between combustion chamber and an oil gallery?

I'm honestly hoping to not have to strip the bottom end if at all possible due to the extra work involved...
 
Should be virtually nil leakage past rings, only a few thou of end clearance on rings and surface tension of liquid prevents seepage. You have the classic symptoms of ring failure.
 
third engines said:
<snip> You have the classic symptoms of ring failure.
Click to expand...

I agree.

The vales do need sorting, but badly seated valves will not pressurise the crankcase. With the piston out, it might pay to hone the bore and fit new rings. Refurb the head and put it back together with a few new gaskets and you should have a decent spare engine.
 
I will do. Is it worthwhile buying a honing tool, or just a gentle rub with some wet & dry paper? Also, the manual refers to the sump also having crank bearings as part of it, and that it is held on with 'glue'. Does anyone familiar with these engines know what should be used to put the sump back on with?

Another quick question, this time relating to the water pipe that runs through the cylinder head...
It has rubber seals at each end, one of which seems to fit around a small flange on one end of the pipe. Can this seal be fitted without removing the pipe and re-assembling?

One good thing is that a new head gasket set came with the boat :)

Cheers!
 
stevie69p said:
I will do. Is it worthwhile buying a honing tool, or just a gentle rub with some wet & dry paper? Also, the manual refers to the sump also having crank bearings as part of it, and that it is held on with 'glue'. Does anyone familiar with these engines know what should be used to put the sump back on with?

Another quick question, this time relating to the water pipe that runs through the cylinder head...
It has rubber seals at each end, one of which seems to fit around a small flange on one end of the pipe. Can this seal be fitted without removing the pipe and re-assembling?

One good thing is that a new head gasket set came with the boat :)

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Definitely worth doing with a proper tool, wet and dry will leave an uneven surface. You want the three legged version of these, in the correct size for your bore : http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/Tool-Shop/Honing-Tools Shop around for the best price.

I'm not familiar with this engine, so i'll leave your other questions to someone who is.
 
stevie69p said:
I will do. Is it worthwhile buying a honing tool, or just a gentle rub with some wet & dry paper? Also, the manual refers to the sump also having crank bearings as part of it, and that it is held on with 'glue'. Does anyone familiar with these engines know what should be used to put the sump back on with?

Another quick question, this time relating to the water pipe that runs through the cylinder head...
It has rubber seals at each end, one of which seems to fit around a small flange on one end of the pipe. Can this seal be fitted without removing the pipe and re-assembling?

One good thing is that a new head gasket set came with the boat :)

Cheers!
Click to expand...
With regards to the water pipe do NOT try it loosen the the pipe at both ends lift out without bending it and replace with new seals . You are dependent on the slight bow in the pipe for it to seal loosening and distorting one end is a certainty for non sealing this applies to the various external pipes and not the internal pipe memo to self read the post before answering
 
Last edited:
Long time since I had my fingers in one of these, from memory, no sump gasket and you are correct regarding main bearings. I am a big user of blue hylomar as an effective sealant, as with any sealant especially the silicone based ones less is more. Do not apply in great quantities as you would if sealing a fitting with sikaflex, the excess squeezed out of the joint usually finds it's way into a crucial part of the engine and causes untold problems, just a smear covering the whole surface is satisfactory.

As for the distribution tube in the head probably best if you could remove it to clean the seal lands. I seem to remember the tube has a specified orientation regarding the cross drillings which is different on the 3 cylinder turbo version.
 
I did wonder what they meant by 'glue'. Possibly lost in translation slightly.
I'd like to take out that distribution pipe (provided it's not too much of a nightmare!) in order to clean it, and then fit 2 new seals. One was very perished...
At the moment I have the flywheel casing and flywheel removed, the starter, engine mounts and crank pulley removed. I don't think I'll get much chance to tinker tomorrow, but we will see....

Thanks to all for help and comments so far. Long time since I stripped and rebuilt an engine!
 
stevie69p said:
I did wonder what they meant by 'glue'. Possibly lost in translation slightly.
I'd like to take out that distribution pipe (provided it's not too much of a nightmare!) in order to clean it, and then fit 2 new seals. One was very perished...
At the moment I have the flywheel casing and flywheel removed, the starter, engine mounts and crank pulley removed. I don't think I'll get much chance to tinker tomorrow, but we will see....

Thanks to all for help and comments so far. Long time since I stripped and rebuilt an engine!
Click to expand...
The pipe just taps out with a wooden podger watch it goes back in the same alignment to ensure the holes squirt to injector sleeve and down to block
 
stevie69p said:
I did wonder what they meant by 'glue'. Possibly lost in translation slightly.
I'd like to take out that distribution pipe (provided it's not too much of a nightmare!) in order to clean it, and then fit 2 new seals. One was very perished...
At the moment I have the flywheel casing and flywheel removed, the starter, engine mounts and crank pulley removed. I don't think I'll get much chance to tinker tomorrow, but we will see....

Thanks to all for help and comments so far. Long time since I stripped and rebuilt an engine!
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat as you, figuratively.

Very poor starting in the cold, and not running up to full revs under load despite being correctly propped.
I got 183 psi on a compression test which seems low, the manual states 2.0-2.5 megapascal which is 290-362 psi, so down quite a lot.

Also a good opportunity to repaint the thing and sort any leaking gaskets.
I took the head into a local engineering firm to be pressure tested, and its apparently A OK. Which means the lack of compression is from the rings / bore.

I've got to decide if I can get away with new rings and a rehone or if I need to have it bored oversize.
 
Ceirwan said:
I'm in the same boat as you, figuratively.

Very poor starting in the cold, and not running up to full revs under load despite being correctly propped.
I got 183 psi on a compression test which seems low, the manual states 2.0-2.5 megapascal which is 290-362 psi, so down quite a lot.

Also a good opportunity to repaint the thing and sort any leaking gaskets.
I took the head into a local engineering firm to be pressure tested, and its apparently A OK. Which means the lack of compression is from the rings / bore.

I've got to decide if I can get away with new rings and a rehone or if I need to have it bored oversize.
Click to expand...

And how does the bore look? I was quite surprised at how clean the head was on mine when it came off... not much in the way of carbon deposits.

I don't have a diesel compression tester unfortunately, so could only go by the symptoms being experienced, i.e. non start & smoke & pressurising of the crankcase... I've never had this engine running, so am going on the previous owners version of events, which I suspect the engine was gradually becoming more difficult to start until finally it wouldn't, and it was swapped out of frustration.

The engine currently in the boat has only been started once since I bought it, and that was a bit of a struggle, involving bleeding the fuel system, one person on the start button, and some coaxing by myself in the engine bay with Easy Start. Once running, it sounded fine, and started ok again after that, so I am hoping it was just because the boat had been laid up for months! Time will tell....
 
Managed to get another hour or so this afternoon to continue stripping down, so it's all now in bits.

Cylinder looks ok, very light scoring, probably commensurate with the age of the engine. The top 2 piston rings are stuck in their grooves, both at the left hand side of the engine as viewed looking toward the crankshaft pulley, so I am guessing this will have been a cause of poor compression as others have suggested. The oil control ring is free in it's groove but a little gunged up. The big end bearing looks like it is a bit worn, and possibly worth replacing at the same time. I think now my plan is to drop some of the parts into my local engineering shop and let them take a look and take further advice as to what needs replaced and what will go again.

Updates to follow in due course...
 
stevie69p said:
Managed to get another hour or so this afternoon to continue stripping down, so it's all now in bits.

Cylinder looks ok, very light scoring, probably commensurate with the age of the engine. The top 2 piston rings are stuck in their grooves, both at the left hand side of the engine as viewed looking toward the crankshaft pulley, so I am guessing this will have been a cause of poor compression as others have suggested. The oil control ring is free in it's groove but a little gunged up. The big end bearing looks like it is a bit worn, and possibly worth replacing at the same time. I think now my plan is to drop some of the parts into my local engineering shop and let them take a look and take further advice as to what needs replaced and what will go again.

Updates to follow in due course...
Click to expand...

You will be able to knock the rings out with a pin punch or similar ( wearing googles of course) use any broken bits or ring to USA as a scraper to fettle the grunge out of the grooves - easy does it ally is very soft.
 
Careful what you are doing here lads, best try and save those rings. Just peeped at vp spares, circa 150 squids for set rings,650 for piston!
 
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