Volvo D3 engines

[D3B]

This continues the saga of the boat.......

Last year going to Holland one of the engines got a bit warm 95 Deg.
Backed off....temp returned to an acceptable 90 Deg.
This kept happening so Volvo dealer did some checks...I will not go into those details, suffice to say now that they will never go near my engines again!
In December someone from Volvo at Watford (allegedly one of their top engineers) arrived with the aforementioned dealer and we went to Breydon Water to do some tests.
Flat out the engines heated to 98 Deg and they were trying to get the alarm to go off. Now i thought that was far too hot.
No says the Watford man...I can see the calorifier is running from that engine and that is why its a bit hot. its hotter than you might expect but acceptable.

So last Wednesday travelling from Lowestoft to Chatham, on first real trip of the season, the engine starts to do the 95-97 Deg bit at 3500 rpm. back off to 3200 and the temp stays steady at 92 deg.
Wait for HSS to pass at Harwich....wind the engines up again and off goes the alarm!
The good thing is that there is a limp home mode where the engines will only run at 2400 rpm and the temperature remains at 85 deg.


in addition to the overheating there is a very small oil leak from a small hole on the underside of the intercooler. this has finally been diagnosed as being a breather hose which would, in a car, not spill the oil. but because the engines get tipped up and down going on the plane it comes out. i know of 4 S29/SC29 with D3 engines with this problem. two of them have twins but only one engine is doing this.

She is one year old very soon and there is only a one year warranty.

i am losing confidence in the boat and SWMBO looked horrifed when i was in the engine room checking filters just off Felixstowe/Harwich

What should i do?

Guidance form those who have been around a longer than would be appreciated.

Doug

 

[DavidJ]

That's really bad luck especially when you've invested in what was supposed to be a really good modern engine. I wonder how the engines would function in the med with mid twenty degree water temperatures.
Since the problem was identified within the guarentee period I can't imagine that Volvo will wash their hands of it once the year is up!!
All the very best of luck in reaching a resolution.

 

[Melben]

I haven't seen your previous posts, but can I ask which engines you have?

I have the D3-190's fitted and have had no end of problems. We tracked a problem to the oil being overfilled slightly, blowing out and blocking the air filters, causing the turbos to starve. This overheated the engine, and the regulators duly slowed the revs. These engines are extremely susceptible to overfilling - even 100 ml's over will cause problems, apparently.

We have also had an oil leak at the bottom of the oil level pipe - this sprayed 2-3 litres into the bilges while the boat manufacturers drove her to their headquarters. Great.

I'm on the point of rejecting the boat because of the engine problems but Volvo, to their credit, hve been pretty pro-active and concerned so far.

 

[zazu]

Dont worry about the warranty. I have just encountered 3 potentially serious problems on my D6's after 16 months and they have all been rectified very quickly and without me having to quote "fit for use".

However I have been very concerned to discover they were aware of these problems but would not issue a recall. I am pursuing it at a higher level.

 

[CLion]

Are you sure it is an engine overheat prblem and not an exhaust overheat? The exhaust sensors are notoriously unreliable and changing them might be the solution

 

[DavidJ]

[ QUOTE ]
I haven't seen your previous posts, but can I ask which engines you have?


[/ QUOTE ]
I had the choice when the boat was made (2002) of KAD43's or 44's I went for the 43's because they have limited electronics and simpler engines (conventional 2 valves/cylinder) and I have to say £8000 cheaper per pair. The only problem I've had is to replace the only bit of electronics which is the turbo cut in speed sensor.
I think I will suffer on resale by not having 44's but in the meantime I believe I enjoy better reliability and easier DIY maintenence.

 

[rlw]

Last year I treated myself to an infrared temperature gun. After years of chasing minor temp problems on this boat and the previous one (AD41's). In the end most bottled down to bad grounding of the gauges. It cost me 100 € and has been a great piece of kit to own. Any sign of trouble and and you can take an exact reading on the engine in seconds and compare if you have twins.

Rob

 

[Melben]

Um, I meant that question on engines to dougie_three_bottles - newbie error, nerves you see, anxious - but interesting reply nevertheless.

 

[D3B]

Melbenblue
D3-160's

wish i could say the same for volvo and the dealer i have been using so far about proactive.
they have finally admitted there is a problem to me, but another boat owned by a forumite they were telling him its normal! though have admitted to him its a breather problem recently.

had the overfill story from the dealer who i dont trust....he became rather embarrassed when i told him that the engines had just been serviced by another dealer (first service after 50 hours) and any overfill was down to them.
More worrying for me was being told by this so called top technician from Watford that the temperature levels were a bit high but ok and probably caused by the calorifier!!!

 

[KevB]

I thought the clorifier made the engine it's attached to run cooler as the engine coolant is heating the water in the clorifier?

 

[D3B]

So I have now learnt.
Still a newby at this lark.....sort of bull$hit baffles brains
So when they send a "top" engineer to deal with the problem you tend to listen to what he says.

 

[KevB]

Because of the harmonisation of consumer law, as long as you keep up with the Volvo warranty schedule you get a minimum of 2 years warranty. It's the law and applies to 'long life' goods. 'long life' wouldn't apply to something like an oil filter because it has a design life of 1 year (12000 miles) for instance.

 

[[2068]]

It's a wierd one. On an older boat I'd have lots of suggestions: blocked heat exchanger or oil cooler, dodgy impellor etc, but on a 12mth old boat ?

I'm looking quite fondly at my "old technology" KAD32's at the moment, and despite the plethora of belts at the front, and the noise, and the startup smoke, they do just work, and the temp never goes above 85'C even flat out for a few mins.

Comparing size of heat exchangers, if you were fill the KAD32 one with Glenmorangie (Port Wood Finish) and drink it, you'd be dead. Whereas the one on a D3, you'd just be tiddled. BUT if this were the case (marginal cooling capacity on D3's) why haven't any other reviewers//owners picked up on this ?

confused.

dv.