Volvo D1-30B Exhaust

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Ian_Rob

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On the way back from Studland Bay to Poole early on saturday morning I noticed white/light grey smoke coming from the exhaust and that the max revs was 2500rpm. Back on the mooring and out of gear the engine revved freely to +- 3200rpm without any smoking at all.

As we were heading for the boat show, I called in at Volvo and one of their tech guys immediately diagnosed the likely problem as a partially blocked exhaust elbow.

Just before I buy a replacement, does that sound a reasonable explanation? The engine has 260 hours and the elbow hasn't been replaced previously.
 
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Ian_Rob said:
On the way back from Studland Bay to Poole early on saturday morning I noticed white/light grey smoke coming from the exhaust and that the max revs was 2500rpm. Back on the mooring and out of gear the engine revved freely to +- 3200rpm without any smoking at all.

As we were heading for the boat show, I called in at Volvo and one of their tech guys immediately diagnosed the likely problem as a partially blocked exhaust elbow.

Just before I buy a replacement, does that sound a reasonable explanation? The engine has 260 hours and the elbow hasn't been replaced previously.
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Before buying a replacement, wouldn't it be worthwhile taking the elbow off and seeing if it's blocked and whether you can clear it? A new one's around £200. It's your money, obviously, but I know what I'd do.
 
What states your prop in? If its got a heavy coating of growth, that'd leave your engine struggling to reach max revs and producing smoke as it strains to move the rough coated blades through the water. When you consider that your engine was revving freely out of gear, that sounds a more likely cause than a blocked exhaust elbows with only 250 hours on the clock. Blocked exhausts tend to limit engine speed no matter whether they're in gear or not.
 
I would agree that a blocked exhaust elbow seems most unlikely at 260 hours, I had one on my previous Volvo 2030 but that was after about ten years. I would look elsewhere and the prop, as suggested, would seem a good place to start, and certainly not buy a replacement until I had a look at the old one first.
 
Ok this is a problem with Volvo ex , I had it a few time now . Suggest you take it off and soak it in Patio cleaner , don't use a screw driver or any thing hard to clean it or you prob just brake it .

Bluewatersailor5.webs.com
 
I have the engine in my yacht and the same problem at approx 350 hrs. Took it out and cleaned it now good to go till the next time, probably took less than 1 hour not a difficult job.
 
pvb said:
Before buying a replacement, wouldn't it be worthwhile taking the elbow off and seeing if it's blocked and whether you can clear it? A new one's around £200. It's your money, obviously, but I know what I'd do.
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I asked the tech guy at Volvo why I couldn't simply clean it out and he said that there was a problem of not being able to remove all associated corrosion and that there was 'considerable risk' of small particles subsequently damaging the engine??

I will check to see it it is blocked when I am down next month.
 
Ian_Rob said:
I asked the tech guy at Volvo why I couldn't simply clean it out and he said that there was a problem of not being able to remove all associated corrosion and that there was 'considerable risk' of small particles subsequently damaging the engine??
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That's an interesting theory!
 
johnnys said:
I have the engine in my yacht and the same problem at approx 350 hrs. Took it out and cleaned it now good to go till the next time, probably took less than 1 hour not a difficult job.
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I have a D1 30 and am interested what it is that causes a blockage. I presume it's carbon!!??? or is their any other by product?
If it is carbon what are the conditions that would produce (at 260 hrs) that amount? (Faulty thermostat etc).
Jackoho
 
jackho said:
I have a D1 30 and am interested what it is that causes a blockage. I presume it's carbon!!??? or is their any other by product?
If it is carbon what are the conditions that would produce (at 260 hrs) that amount? (Faulty thermostat etc).
Jackoho
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The deposit is usually a mixture of carbon, salt (NaCl) and insoluble salts, mostly carbonates. Deposition seems to be a function of temperature at the point that cooling water is injected into the exhaust gas. Some engines seem to develop deposits frequently, others rarely or not at all. Volvos do seem particularly poor in this respect, whereas my Yanmar manifold is perfectly clear after 2000 hours. Careful scraping should remove the deposits quite easily. If the metal is so damaged that a screwdriver will go through it then it needs replacing anyway.

The advice of the 'Volvo tech guy' has little credibility. What harm is there if some corrosion pitting remains? And any particles will be blown out through the exhaust pipe, but if you are really bothered then give it a soak in HCl before replacing it.
 
The remark I made about the screw driver is because the water jacket in Side the elbow is very thin and if you start digging away with some thing like a screw driver the likely hood is you will brake part of it , as I did the first time I clean mine some years back , since then I just soak it in patio cleaner. One way of doing it is to block one end with a wooden plug and fill it up with the liquid .

www.bluewatersailor5.webs.com
 
sailaboutvic said:
The remark I made about the screw driver is because the water jacket in Side the elbow is very thin and if you start digging away with some thing like a screw driver the likely hood is you will brake part of it , as I did the first time I clean mine some years back , since then I just soak it in patio cleaner. One way of doing it is to block one end with a wooden plug and fill it up with the liquid .

www.bluewatersailor5.webs.com
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Fair enough, good advice. Are they all of that design? Ones I have seen from similar engines are far more robust.
 
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