Volvo 2002 - update to smoking!`

[TwinRudders]

Well thanks guys for all the advice on my Volvo 2002.

(I've been having a problem with it smoking excessively and being a brute to start)

Went down this weekend - got some new fuel filters - one for the prefilter and one fine filter.

At this point you have to bear in mind that a certain engineering company in Poole (I use the term engineering very loosely) have been looking into this problem for me - and so far have cost me an arm and a leg - including convincing me to have the valves replaced etc to no avail.

So I took the pre-filter apart - absolutely full of water and completely packed with thick black gunge. Cleaned that out - moved onto fuel pump - checked the little sieve - full of dirt. Cleaned that one. Changed the fine filter - bled the system. Removed and cleaned out the airfilter...
Pushed the start button and bingo! Engine rawed into life - with no more smoke than you expect on a startup. (Last time I thought someone might actually call the fire service!)

I know I should have done all this in the first place - but being new to it and living miles from the boat - I opted to use a firm down there to look after her. Never again.

However - one thing that does concern me is that although the engine sounds great and the smoke has practically all gone I did notice a bit of diesel oil spreading out across the water - so a bit of unignited diesel is coming out. We're talking tiny amounts - but just wondering if that is something to worry about. I did think that perhaps with so much junk in the system for so long, maybe the injectors have been partially blocked and might need a service? Any ideas.

Once again thanks for your help (especially Andy!) solving a problem that an engineering took 6 months, and over £600 to achieve nothing!

Jonny

 

[Norman_E]

Suggest you give it a good run. It is possible that the oil from the exhaust is just a residue from the time it was running so badly. See if a good run will clear it out.

 

[BobOwen]

You can get the injectors cleaned at many a diesel shop / specialist for a small fee. Check your yellow pages.

I believe they are cleaned using ultra sonics in a bath of solvent.

 

[Johnjo]

Some engines put a miniscule ammount of fuel through the exhaust on start up, looks like a lot more on the water surface !

If like yourself have had fuel problems there is possibly unburnt fuel still lining the exhaust pipe which will mix with the coolant water exiting the exhaust.

Give it a good run underload, do it the world of good !

 

[andy_wilson]

Hi

Sorry I sent a private message before seeing you had posted this.

For reinforcement (and for the benefit of casual observers of this thread), the black gunge points to the possibility (more likely probability) of diesel bug. This organism lives in water and feeds on oil, therefore thriving at the interface of the water in the bottom of your tank, and the diesel above it.

You need to clean the tank out thoroughly. A drain in a sump at the bottom is best. If you don't have one, hoover the crap out using a suction type pump that can be used to change oil via the dip-stick. You really do need to get rid of this crap from the bottom of the tank.

Then kill the remainder with an appropriate fuel treatment.

Expect to change the fuel filters a few more times before you are completely in the clear. Meanwhile, expect that any time spent motoring in rough seas could stir up enough crap to block the filter completely.

Tank cleaning can be done commercially by repeated circulation and filtration (expensive). Or you could drain (and keep the good diesel for re-use), and remove the tank for steam cleaning (mega job, 'specially if there is no inspection hatch in the tank).

Alternatively, you could do it yourself by cobbling up an (suitable) electric in line pump from the outlet of your pre-filter and back to your fuel return (or straight into the tank filler if your fuel return doesn't go right back to the tank), stiring the tank periodically and changing filters until the diesel runs clear (and red).

Sorry, but you don't appear to be out of the mire just yet.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Andy

 

[DavidBolger]

This is a job I have been meaning to do for a while - change the fine filter on the priming pump (hope I am getting the terminology correct). Is it a difficult job? The instructuions show a lot of fiddly bits and I got scared the last time and just changed the primary and the main fuel filter.

Thanks for your experience

regards

David

 

[andy_wilson]

My manual shows one screw holding down a dome, under which is the filter.

On the basis that I keep my fuel and (new(ish)) tank immaculate, and the pre-filter is always quite clean when changed, nothing bad is getting that far.

The engine (fine) filter is always immaculate also. A shame to discard I often think.

 

[pvb]

Another place to look...

There's possibly another place to look for accumulated rubbish in your fuel system. Many Volvo engine installations use a Volvo Penta fuel tank connection plate (green circular casting, about 250mm diameter), with its own fuel pickup/return pipe. This pickup pipe has a fine-mesh metal strainer on the bottom, which can get progressively clogged up by junk in the tank. If your tank has this system, it would be well worth looking at the mesh strainer. This pic shows the pickup pipe, with cylindrical mesh strainer on the end.

Fully endorse Andy Wilson's advice on trying to clean out your tank. I did this a few years ago by using an old water pressure pump to pump fuel from the tank, through a filter, and into a jerrycan. Then, dumped the contents of the jerrycan rapidly back into the tank to stir up the rubbish at the bottom (couldn't do it any other way because there was only one access hatch and the baffles in the tank prevented access to most of the bottom). I then repeated the process, over and over. After many hours of this, most of the rubbish in the tank had been removed.