Volvo D2-40 warranty/problems?

[Playtime]

I have just been given a quote of £178 by the local Volvo agent for the first service inspection of the D2-40 on my new boat. This seems excessive for what is essentially just an oil change.

On top of this, to keep the engine within the Volvo Warranty terms I will need another service within 3 months (to keep inside the 12 months from delivery condition) and then a further service next year. In total I anticipate paying the Volvo agent over £600 to meet the 2 year warranty conditions.

I have serviced my own engines without problem for the last 40 years. I am also slightly concerned about the local Volvo agents as they do not have a particularly good reputation.

I am therefore considering abandoning the Volvo Warranty and doing my own servicing. The engine has done nearly 100 hours now and has been faultless.

My questions (at last) - has anyone any knowledge of problems with the D2-40 or any general horror stories about Volvo reliability/warranty?

Am I being foolish to abandon the Volvo warranty or is it worth £600+ to continue the warranty for another 15 months?

 

[peterb]

Some years ago we needed to get a new engine for our club boat. We replaced like for like; a new Volvo. Volvo even offered us a three-year guarantee, on the proviso that all the servicing was done by Volvo engineers. After three years we totted it all up; the cost of servicing over three years was considerably more than the cost of the new engine.

Our next boat had a Yanmar. We were given a three-year guarantee, with us doing the servicing. After eight years (and some 12000 miles) it still starts first pull.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Hi we had the same problem with a new yacht , after the first service we did the services our self , like your self I also been servicing my own engine for over 23 years and there nothing Volvo can do that I can't do just as well if not better , for example after the first service I found the water fitter as not been change I ask Volvo why and I was told ( believe it or not ) that the top was on too tied and it if they tried to undo it if may break off , so what type of service was that , on top of that we found that the banjo on the bottom of the engine leak a little and was told it wasn't under the warranty work and if I wanted it done I would have to pay to have the engine lifted as they couldn't got get to it , I did it my self . If I ever had to have an engine it wouldn't be a Volvo , what till you have to by a new air filter .

 

[JFowler]

We have a VP D2 40 which is now in it's 8th season- the only problem was a leaking Raw Water pump during season 3. VP weren't interested, in fact the advice & parts service I received was incompetent & when i complained they were totally disinterested. Since then no problems at all.
I do my own servicing & having seen the standard of routine service carried out by various VP agents on a previous boat would be reluctant to let them anywhere near it.
You can do quite a lot for £600 so I'd save my money.

 

[shetland]

I have just been given a quote of £178 by the local Volvo agent for the first service inspection of the D2-40 on my new boat. This seems excessive for what is essentially just an oil change.

On top of this, to keep the engine within the Volvo Warranty terms I will need another service within 3 months (to keep inside the 12 months from delivery condition) and then a further service next year. In total I anticipate paying the Volvo agent over £600 to meet the 2 year warranty conditions.

I have serviced my own engines without problem for the last 40 years. I am also slightly concerned about the local Volvo agents as they do not have a particularly good reputation.

I am therefore considering abandoning the Volvo Warranty and doing my own servicing. The engine has done nearly 100 hours now and has been faultless.

My questions (at last) - has anyone any knowledge of problems with the D2-40 or any general horror stories about Volvo reliability/warranty?

Am I being foolish to abandon the Volvo warranty or is it worth £600+ to continue the warranty for another 15 months?

Motor tech?

 

[Playtime]

Motor tech?

I couldn't possibly confirm that - but your powers of deduction are uncanny!

 

[superheat6k]

I suggest you make contact with Volvopaul on the Mobo forum. I am sure he covers Pompey and is highly spoken of over there. He will be able to advise if his services satisfy VP warranty requirements.

 

[richardbrennan]

I had the same problem as I had a new D1-30 fitted last year. Since then I have had the 50 hour service, which was essentially just an oil change, the normal annual end of season/laying up service, recommissioning service and just recently the "Warranty" service to validate the warranty for the second year. This was all done by Portsmouth's finest although they did get VP to agree to some items being deleted from the warranty service given what had previously been done on the engine.

I think the whole marine engine warranty issue is remarkably poor. If car manufacturers offered these sort of warranties there would be an uproar!

 

[stuartwineberg]

+1 - definitely the man - no other connection than the owner of 2 mobos whose engines have been well looked after by him

I suggest you make contact with Volvopaul on the Mobo forum. I am sure he covers Pompey and is highly spoken of over there. He will be able to advise if his services satisfy VP warranty requirements.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

If you abandon Volvos own warranty it doesnt mean that they can walk away from any problems. Sure you might have to be a bit aggressive but they are still liable under the sale of goods act for the product they sell. Or to be clinically accurate the oputfit you bought the boat from are still liable - whether they can then recover from volvo is their problem not yours.

TBH I'd be a bit sdurprised if volvo even tried to avoid warranty issues because you had missed the end of 12 months service.

 

[Ceejay]

When my D1-30 was commissioned by Volvo agents back in 2008, both it and the yacht were new.
I thought "great, it has all been checked over by an expert and passed as fit for use".
I then spent the next 6 months checking for, and dealing with chafing fuel lines, water pipes ( raw water and fresh) and control cables.
It goes without saying that the original installation was pathetic in that no care had been taken, or thought given, in respect of routing of pipes and cables.
I wondered at the time what the point of the commissioning check visit was, other than to validate the warranty, on paper.
CJ