How far does a VP Warranty go ?

[Andy Bav]

We took the boat out yesterday for a blast around the bay, did my usual fluid and belt checks, ran the engines up to heat and saw plenty of water churning in the strainers so was very happy with preparation.

Opened her up and within 15 seconds was deafened by the alarm from the port engine - and VP read out said coolant level was low and reduce revs. We thought we could detect a "burning exhaust" smell before the alarm went off - which we have never smelt before and also wife said that when we were running the engines up she detected some white exhaust smoke, but I the manual says that this is usual if coolant is too low - it also says it can be a defective thermostat...

However, having never experienced this before I was more interested in getting back to the berth than looking at read outs etc, but cut engine and limped in on one engine. Once inside that marina I started up the port engine and it was behaving itself ....

Double checked coolant level etc and all OK. Had some lunch and decided to take her out again before we left for home to make sure it wasn't a one off, but this time had both VP displays reading the temperature. Warmed both to 85. 1500 revs, both @ 85 1800 revs both @85, up to 2000 revs and within 10 seconds port temperature went from 85 to 104 within 10 seconds, alarm sounded so we returned to base. Before the alarm went off we also noticed that the engine note of the port engine was different - difficult to explain, but it was more "whiney". I felt the Turbo jackets and could touch the Starboard one, but the Port one was too hot to touch.

Interested to hear if any of you have had this happen and how serious the problem could be, but I am confident that this will be a VP Warranty issue. The question is though, if the repair requires a lift out - who pays for that ?

 

[Jurgen]

Hi Andy,
Best contact VP direct or go through the broker you brought the boat through for guidance, not sure what VP warranty is but would guess 12 to 24 months or longer if extended warranty was purchased.

Either way hope you get things sorted quickly and without cost.

We still have 1 engine in bits but hoping the parts will arrive this week so we can get back to playing next weekend.

Should be back in Brixham early July so hope to catch up then.

Best wishes

Andy & Alison Evenestar 3

 

[Andy Bav]

Hi Andy,
Best contact VP direct or go through the broker you brought the boat through for guidance, not sure what VP warranty is but would guess 12 to 24 months or longer if extended warranty was purchased.

Either way hope you get things sorted quickly and without cost.

We still have 1 engine in bits but hoping the parts will arrive this week so we can get back to playing next weekend.

Should be back in Brixham early July so hope to catch up then.

Best wishes

Andy & Alison Evenestar 3

Cheers Andy - VP agent is going to diagnose problem sometime this week and revert. Spoke to dealer and he thinks its a failed jubilee clip on the water intake on the leg which he said he thinks can be fixed without a lift. However the Torquay crane will cost nearly £400 for a quick lift, hold and relaunch, hence my question.

We are schedulrd to be in Torbay for 2 weeks from 26th July and then back for a the w/c 25th August, so we should find time to catch up - even at a weekend. If you are a Red Arrows fan I think you can see them at Dawlish on the 23rd August, Torquay on the 25th and Dartmouth on the 29th !

Hope you get your engine sorted soon though.

 

[Jurgen]

£400!!!!!

The sealift in Brixham is only £200 ish, I would get a quote from them. You should get over on 1 engine pretty easily

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

£400!!!!!

The sealift in Brixham is only £200 ish, I would get a quote from them. You should get over on 1 engine pretty easily

Yes, but if it turns out the diagnosis is incorrect, you'll end up paying the £400 for a yard lift as well as the £200 at sealift. Although I'm generally a fan of sealift, for this I'd play safe and get it lifted at a yard.

 

[Jurgen]

Yes, but if it turns out the diagnosis is incorrect, you'll end up paying the £400 for a yard lift as well as the £200 at sealift. Although I'm generally a fan of sealift, for this I'd play safe and get it lifted at a yard.

Torquay in not a yard, it's just a crane on a pier so if the problem is more serious the boat would have to go round to Dartmouth to be lifted and stored ashore for work.

Better to pay £200 than £400 if you've then got to have the boat out of the water.

The sealift offers 1 hour lift and hold the same as the Torquay crane, also if you have the last sealift of the day you can stay out over night for a small additional charge.

 

[[2068]]

If the seawater pump has been sucking air, I would also want to replace the seawater impellor at the same time, to be on the safe side.
An impellor that has got hot will at best have a shortened life, cracks, or possibly some bits missing.
Also, check the exhaust joint hose for overheat damage.

 

[Andy Bav]

If the seawater pump has been sucking air, I would also want to replace the seawater impellor at the same time, to be on the safe side.
An impellor that has got hot will at best have a shortened life, cracks, or possibly some bits missing.
Also, check the exhaust joint hose for overheat damage.

Thanks - thinking about it I wonder if a stressed impellor would have contributed to the smells we witnessed..... I do have a spare on board but am loathed to touch anything on the engines - unless in an emergency - for fear of invalidating the warranty.

 

[Firefly625]

with such a new boat I would be hoping mad to have an issue like this....hope you get it sorted soon with minimal of down time.

 

[P4Paul]

Hi Andy,

To answer your question, you took delivery somewhere around the change-over so you either have one years warranty plus one extra years cover OR two years warranty followed by a further three years extended cover. Both are dependant on the fact everything has been serviced inline with the service schedule by a competent service outlet; the extra (one or three) years cover is only available provided all the work has been carried out by an authorised VP dealer.

Either way if you had the 50hr inspection, the 100hr and/or the annual service carried out by your local VP dealer and followed the winter layup instructions, then you should get warranty support. They will not however cover the costs of the lift unless you can talk direct to VP sweetly and claim the lift was solely due to a warranty issue, at which point they may offer the costs back as part of a policy claim.

If it was me I would contact your local VP dealer and have them arrange to visit to diagnose the issue, at that point you will have a good idea if it is a warranty issue or not.

 

[oldgit]

"Spoke to dealer and he thinks its a failed jubilee clip on the water intake on the leg which he said he thinks can be fixed without a lift"

H,mmm ! ,air may be getting in but very much doubt a failed clip is causing it. Inlet hose between leg and transom plate is almost certainly being immersed when leg is in drive position and would be pulled off if leg was raised.
Be interested to know final result of inspection

 

[Andy Bav]

with such a new boat I would be hoping mad to have an issue like this....hope you get it sorted soon with minimal of down time.

Thanks. Havent lost any significant downtime just yet so keeping calm. VP agent was very helpful and wouldn't be drawn on any speculation, but asked when we want to use her next, so if they deliver a solution at minimal cost to me before the next Bank Holiday I'll be happy.

Fingers crossed, but if anyone has VPs UK number I'll take P4Pauls advice in the hopefully unlikely event I need to sweet talk them !

 

[volvopaul]

Andy bag, we spoke via private email a while back.

What level of service did you have in the end? This will tell me what's been done and probably what's wrong because of it.

Clips don't come undone unless not fitted properly. Were the drives removed for new bellows etc, if not then no need to disturb water inlet hose.

Early DPH suffered from cracked water inlet elbow which had a mod done, this was major overheat issue when boat put up on plane as it was then above waterline and sucked air in.

Sounds like you had coolant changed as level low firing off warning, this is nothing as long as you can see level under cap. This won't put engine into limp mode, overheat will.

By the sounds of it dealer needs to refresh there work if you have this problem after a service, I would not be paying for lift either if its there fault, if its going to be lifted then I'd be having a day off with a camera fixed on the job.

 

[Andy Bav]

Andy bag, we spoke via private email a while back.

What level of service did you have in the end? This will tell me what's been done and probably what's wrong because of it.

Clips don't come undone unless not fitted properly. Were the drives removed for new bellows etc, if not then no need to disturb water inlet hose.

Early DPH suffered from cracked water inlet elbow which had a mod done, this was major overheat issue when boat put up on plane as it was then above waterline and sucked air in.

Sounds like you had coolant changed as level low firing off warning, this is nothing as long as you can see level under cap. This won't put engine into limp mode, overheat will.

By the sounds of it dealer needs to refresh there work if you have this problem after a service, I would not be paying for lift either if its there fault, if its going to be lifted then I'd be having a day off with a camera fixed on the job.

Hi Paul,

Actually service not due until July so no-one has touched it since commissioning, other than inspection service in October.

I have taken your advice and will get her lifted for the oil in the legs to be changed - all by the main dealer.

Coolant level hasnt moved since we took delivery, but as a relative lay person, just the heat in the turbo jacket of the errant engine suggested the temperature was high, which is a bit worrying, as well as the differing engine noise.. hope its not the start of a saga especially as we have family lined up for visits ... bit embarrassing for a new boat. I guess, as you say, its time to test the VP dealers mettle now...

 

[RogerRat]

T
Fingers crossed, but if anyone has VPs UK number I'll take P4Pauls advice in the hopefully unlikely event I need to sweet talk them !

I would have liked this number too, but Volvo won't talk to customers directly, it's down to their warranty service centres. My experience of Volvo Penta warranty was the absolute pits. Awful, non caring, uninterested a bag of worms. I was left thinking that Basil Fawlty was the after care warranty manager.

Started with a main bearing seal letting go and nearly sinking the boat on May 1st. Emergency lift as bilg pumps were keeping her afloat.
VP Warranty expired 30th April. VP not interested, "You're out of warranty." I had to pay for the lift but JD yachts of Weymouth, the supplying broker stood by the repair, good guys!
Next was the wonderful Bronze props on DPH drives, you know the ones that don't corrode... Well they do and you can't anode protect or repair them either which is why several new Princess' have new props every year! (but under Princess warranty, the other good guys)

Wish you the best of luck in getting this sorted and just hope you had one of the better Volvo servicing dealers on the case.

RR.

 

[aquapower]

Hi Paul,

Actually service not due until July so no-one has touched it since commissioning, other than inspection service in October.

I have taken your advice and will get her lifted for the oil in the legs to be changed - all by the main dealer.

Coolant level hasnt moved since we took delivery, but as a relative lay person, just the heat in the turbo jacket of the errant engine suggested the temperature was high, which is a bit worrying, as well as the differing engine noise.. hope its not the start of a saga especially as we have family lined up for visits ... bit embarrassing for a new boat. I guess, as you say, its time to test the VP dealers mettle now...

If no one has touched the drives since new then there's a chance it could be an assembly fault by Bavaria and not any fault of VP, there's no reason a dealer won't want to help as the rate you can claim for warranty work is higher than retail, unlike other manufacturers VP want their dealers to carry out work asap and not leave it until they have nothing else to do. I have done warranty works as a VP dealer in the past and always had genuine claims and all expenses covered without any problem.

 

[Andrew38]

As a well established Volvo "basher" (my MBY article on VP dealers unnecessarily changing oil & filters at 6 month inspection, and forum discussions on VP dealers putting 25 litres of oil into D6's with a 20 litre capacity) perhaps I can offer a little more of my more recent experience.

My engines are now just over 3 years old and in February this year the DPH-D drives had to have a full rebuild, replacement of leaking steering cylinders plus various upgrades. I had reported a steering problem in June 2012 when after refuelling at Ramsgate en route from St Kats to Sovereign Harbour, a sensor decided it didn't like the steering system data it was getting. This put the starboard engine into limp home mode. Somehow after about an hour it righted itself and we got back to Eastbourne. The VP dealer checked it but couldn't replicate the fault and took no action. The problem returned with a vengeance late last summer - several months after the warranty had finished.

However.....

VP have paid for all the work on the drives, only asking me to pay for new bellows, so that it gives me a full 2 years before the next major work on the drives.

Unfortunately this hasn't solved the problem as, despite the dealer having done a post rebuild extensive in-water test, the problem manifested itself again as soon as we started the season. VP dealer came out immediately and have updated all software etc and a lot of other checks but still haven't resolved the issue. Charisma is to be lifted this week for the sensors to be changed - all costs at Volvo's expense.

There has been one change during the period - Charisma is now in Sant Carles, Spain and frankly the local dealer's attitude is a sea-change from being in the UK. To be fair I have only experience of this one dealer but ......

Somebody raised the matter of calling VP-UK. I got through to them when the original problems started, by pure bloody-mindedness. It did no good at all as the guy I spoke to was basically rude to me and told me that I should pay for filters and oil at six months if a dealer was telling me I should, never mind what the VP manual said!

Fortunately I got his name and after meeting his boss at SIBS he was made to call me and apologise!

 

[P4Paul]

If no one has touched the drives since new then there's a chance it could be an assembly fault by Bavaria and not any fault of VP

Because of the volume of boats produced, Bavaria don't fit engines or drive gear to any of their boats. Their local VP dealer has a permanent presence in the factory and carries out all the fitting and addresses any subsequent warranty issues while the boat is still on the production line.

Great for the end user as there is no room for VP to cite bad installation as a reason to avoid warranty issues.

 

[Andy Bav]

Because of the volume of boats produced, Bavaria don't fit engines or drive gear to any of their boats. Their local VP dealer has a permanent presence in the factory and carries out all the fitting and addresses any subsequent warranty issues while the boat is still on the production line.

Great for the end user as there is no room for VP to cite bad installation as a reason to avoid warranty issues.

Cheers Paul - useful.

I spoke to the local agent today and whilst they havent looked at her yet, they acknowlwdged again that we want her for Saturday week, and didnt flag timing as an issue, so no grumbles.... yet.

Fingers crossed its a simple fix...

 

[aquapower]

Because of the volume of boats produced, Bavaria don't fit engines or drive gear to any of their boats. Their local VP dealer has a permanent presence in the factory and carries out all the fitting and addresses any subsequent warranty issues while the boat is still on the production line.

Great for the end user as there is no room for VP to cite bad installation as a reason to avoid warranty issues.

So they get a good test run while still at the factory ? All installations should be approved by VP regardless of who installs it, OEM installers are as such dealers or the installation is overseen by the supporting dealer to that builder