Leak on Volvo 290DPE Outdrives

[RDL]

I had the boat out of the water for the last couple weeks for antifouling and outdrive service. Replaced a seacock as well. I had booked a lift back into the water for last Friday. But when I arrived at the boat on Thursday evening I noticed that there was a hydraulic leak coming from one of the out drive rams – [oh really!]. I found out that a new ram from Volvo was £387.00, Volvo say that there are no serviceable parts in there. Not only that, but the ram is attached to the transom shield by a pin that is virtually impossible to remove. Volvo engineers say that in most cases they have to smash the ram out.

Anyway, reason for the post, I have managed to remove the end cap from the ram, which contains two shaft seals – had to destroy the end cap to get it out, but I have made 10off new end caps at work and had them hard anodized, bought new seals and is now ready to be refitted. If anyone has a similar problem, don,t buy a new ram, get in touch.

Rob

 

[BarryH]

Ha you got the spin "can't be fixed" rubbish to! They don't only say that about rams you know. Apparently theres lots of things that "can't" be fixed. Which is bollox if you ask me. They just probably haven't got anybody with the skills to do it!

 

[capnjack]

It's that sign, all boat owners have it, it floats above our heads and is visable to marine engineers and chandlers..........it say's " I own a boat, please charge me a lot of money for anything connected with it and tell me that all replacement items are not repairable"

 

[DAKA]

Volvo are good at selling 'KITS' for £££££££s that contain a screw, brass washer and a seal worth about 50p.

You need to be careful always to use a marine seal (stainless spring )
on the outside exposed to salt water or the steel springs will fail in weeks.

 

[oldgit]

Faced the very same problem last year with a ram for my 280T.Corrosion had eaten away the ram cylinder around threaded joint between end cap and body of ram.Cap and seals were 100% but ram tube was shagged.
Complete new ram 400.00.Mercruiser at least do a kit comprising of new tube and end cap for around 120 quid. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Ps.that pin will come out fairly easily with CAREFUL application of gas bottle.Anti foul goes manky black but is quickly covered again with new dab of stuff.

 

[DepSol]

Volvo actually do a kit for about £20 more than a single RAM which contains both RAMS and all the items that they are linked to.

Dom

 

[Will_M]

Your wrong, that kit your referring to does include both rams, pipes etc but its not for the DPE as per RDL post.

That kit is for the much older drives & transom shields, eg DPA, A1, A2 etc. The kit is some £80+ ex vat more than the later style rams, not £20 odd.

The later style rams, eg DPE series outdrive are only sold as individual rams from VP, VP themselves do not supply a service kit or such like for these rams.

The thing to consider is these rams are simply that, they are just hydraulic rams, get on the internet or yellow pages or such like and locate someone that overhauls hydraulics.

 

[[2068]]

On a related note, what does it mean if I leave my DP-E in a "raised" position (e.g. +25), to find that it's dropped itself down to fully lowered by the following morning ?

No leak visible, it just seems to "sink" of it's own accord after a while. I'm fairly sure it didn't do this last season. Leave and cross fingers, or lift, fix, and become poorer ?

dv.

 

[CaptainThames]

My guess is that there will be a leak somewhere evn if you can't see it. The other possibility is with the valves in the pump, but I am always told that the pumps are generally reliable and it is the rams that suffer. An expensive element of owning a Volvo outdrive unless you can follow some of the advice above.

 

[Its_Only_Money]

If there is no external leak then I would have thought it must be one of the control valves not sealing closed fully.....

 

[Callisto]

Hi RDL

If you have to take the rams off, they will come out if you know how. The pin that holds them in is tapered and has a o ring around the end.

The volvo way to get this out is to take out the securing screw, fit a grease nipple into a dedicated hole in the transom shield and pump it up till the pin "pops" out.

Doesn't work very often as I know from experience.

Look at the end of the securing pin and you will find its threaded. get a length of threaded rod that fits (good high tensile steel is best) make a spacer that will let the pin slide up inside it. make a strong back to go across the spacer with a hole for the rod to pass through. Put a nut on the end and wind it down so that as you do, it pulls the pin out into the spacer. Once it starts to move, it easy from there due to the taper.

You may need a bit of heat as OldGit suggests but be careful cos if you melt the o ring it will "glue" the pin in place. I used this method on mine with one that would not move using the Volvo method and it came out a treat.

Also with respect to bits for the rams, have a word with one of the aftermarket parts suppliers like Keypart or Volspec. They may be able to help.
Cheers
JH

 

[RDL]

Thanks for the advice, thats exactly what the Volvo engineer said. However, all of the ram internals have now been re built with a new end cap and seals. Will be fitting it tonight.

Rob

 

[oldgit]

Just one further hint.Due to daft volvoish design of my old drives,the rubber hoses tended to undo and weep a bit due my reluctance to mega tighten up hose unions.
A dab of thread locking fluid stopped any weeps and also made the buggers stay put.

 

[Seastoke]

This is why you need shafts

 

[oldgit]

This is why you need shafts

Oi .................................if it was not for the constant stream of desperate queries about problems with outdrives and all the junk need to get them in and out of the water ...this forum would be "dead in the water" a feeling well known to outdrive owners the only thing worse could be possibly outdrives connected to KAD engines ?