Volvo Drive Issue

rubberduck

rubberduck

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www.atlas-courier-express.co.uk
Looking for anyone who has experienced this problem.
Our port drive when put in reverse a couple of weeks ago set off alarms & indicated the drive was in beach mode. After much checking by us & Volspec, anything inside the engine room has been eliminated, leaving the need to come out of the water. However, the symptoms are becoming less severe, with max trim when in reverse now being +5 dropping back to 0 fairly quickly, no alarms. The trim gauge is correct & the drive is actually moving as indicated, but otherwise works fine, no leaks etc. Anyone got any ideas before I have her pulled out ?
 
rubberduck said:
Looking for anyone who has experienced this problem.
Our port drive when put in reverse a couple of weeks ago set off alarms & indicated the drive was in beach mode. After much checking by us & Volspec, anything inside the engine room has been eliminated, leaving the need to come out of the water. However, the symptoms are becoming less severe, with max trim when in reverse now being +5 dropping back to 0 fairly quickly, no alarms. The trim gauge is correct & the drive is actually moving as indicated, but otherwise works fine, no leaks etc. Anyone got any ideas before I have her pulled out ?
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So rd is the drive lifting when in reverse? If the ram tilt hydraulics were leaking or the trim pump valves bypassing oil the leg would lift in reverse, so is it or not?

Have you done a recalibration of the trim readings? Did volspec do this for you as it's first thing I'd do.

Have you had a fault code show up that indicates a problem with the trip potentiometer? The sensor is inside the boat low down in the bilge on the transom shield left side as looking from rear of boat in a stupid place where water can ruin it, try pulling the plug off and spraying the sensor with some electrical cleaner, then refit it, do this without ignition on.

The trim sensor reads off the left side ram pin, looking from rear of boat, it has a pinch bolt on it secured to the inner end of the trim ram, if it comes undone it won't turn to twist the pot sensor, hence no trim reading.

Go and have a play.
 
Apparently the drive leg is lifting, Volspec checked with two guy's on board. I had thought electrical due to the erratic readings but they have checked everything that is not in the water. Going down at the weekend to investigate further. Legs just serviced in Jan. Engines done when put in water.
 
rubberduck said:
Apparently the drive leg is lifting, Volspec checked with two guy's on board. I had thought electrical due to the erratic readings but they have checked everything that is not in the water. Going down at the weekend to investigate further. Legs just serviced in Jan. Engines done when put in water.
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Have you checked the trim oil level then, if its empty looks like either a ram , pipe leak etc. maybe it's a result of the service, trapped pipe or something . I'd be there when its lifted to check out what's gone exactly wrong as to who is paying for the work.
 
Went down to boat today, tidled & played with wd40 etc, no improvement. However, I did find that when trimming both legs to minus 5 using the dash controls, the port leg only went to -1 initially, but I did get it to go down to -5 after some more reverse, forward movements. What I then found is that when both legs are at zero & I put them in reverse, starboard stays at 0 but port goes to +4 to +7. When I set both legs at -5 & do the same thing, both legs stay at -5 which I find strange as I expected port to go to around 0 to +1. Makes me think it is electrical & not mechanical, although Volspec seem to think the leg is actually moving. I tried to establish this but every time we put it in reverse the jerk of the boat & wash from the prop makes me think this conclusion would be very hard to establish for sure.There is no fluid loss or contamination & both legs work fine throughout the range otherwise. Any thoughts ? Thanks.
 
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I can agree with Paul when he said leak, I had the same issue and took it out water and had hose with a tiny hole.
 
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Did you get the same inconsistent readings on the gauge ? Surely if the leg is moving the gauge would still be accurate, unless of course I have two faults. Either way, should a leak not be spotted during a main dealer service ?
 
The second fault may be the driving wheel that tracks the position/angle of the leg. When oldish (plastic not so flexible) and there are barnacles or clams growing on the ratchet on top of the fork the driving wheel can be damaged so that it jumps one or two teeth, hence showing the wrong angle or seemingly inconsistent gauge readings.
 
rubberduck said:
Did you get the same inconsistent readings on the gauge ? Surely if the leg is moving the gauge would still be accurate, unless of course I have two faults. Either way, should a leak not be spotted during a main dealer service ?
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Hi I was going along cruising at 22 knts and for some reason I checked the gauge and where it should be on zero it was on 8 or 9 I put it back down and a few mins later it crept up. Back at Marina I lifted the leg up and down many times and you could see the oil. Lift out new hoses back in all ok.

Even as I went up river slowly it still lifted.
 
If the leg is moving and you are certain you are not loosing fluid then it's either a leaking piston seal in one of the double acting trim rams [and both would need to be letting by to produce those symptoms so unlikely] or more likely a leaking shuttle valve in the pump assembly letting by under pressure.

Easiest way to check is to swap the trim pumps from side to side, to see if the fault follows. Quite simple to do, plug in connectors and two unions to remove, go careful with them though as they can be a bit delicate and the hose assemblies are hellish expensive and a Volvo only part.
 
By way of an update she came out today & it turns out that it was an insecure locking pin, which Volspec service said should have been dealt with when the leg's were serviced. They have refunded all charges & paid the marina for lifts etc. I believe one of their newer engineers is in stocks tonight having wet fish thrown at him lol. In all fairness I always say about my company that you can tell a good one by how they behave when it costs them money. Volspec score high on this, & everyone makes mistakes so please go easy on the lad.
 
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