Volvo Engineer needed !

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robgoddard

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Hi All !
Our boat is in Cardiff Marina. We've got a problem with our ancient Volvo MS2 gearbox where it only engages forward and reverse gears at very high revs. I suspect some sort of 'cone' or 'clutch' issue; but i'm no expert. Can anyone recommend an engineer in the area who might be able to help us and fix it ? Thanks !
 
robgoddard said:
Hi All !
Our boat is in Cardiff Marina. We've got a problem with our ancient Volvo MS2 gearbox where it only engages forward and reverse gears at very high revs. I suspect some sort of 'cone' or 'clutch' issue; but i'm no expert. Can anyone recommend an engineer in the area who might be able to help us and fix it ? Thanks !
Click to expand...

I use Gareth Davies, of Davies Marine. Set up on his own after working for big Cardiff operation.

Had always been good for me, pretty well experienced so has probably worked on Volvo’s.

PM me for phone number if you need it.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a try. Yes; I tried changing the oil in the hope of an easy / quick / cheap fix, but no change. So I'm bracing myself !
 
Hi Steve, Thanks for the reply. Yes I gave that a try; just to eliminate the cable and selector mechanism in case it wasn't setup correctly. Neutral (middle) = no prop spin. Forward = Prop turns when on idle; but as you build the revs the prop will spin faster but doesn't feel like there's any propulsion of the boat in the water. Only when we get to quite high revs does the propulsion 'kick-in' and you feel the effect and see the wash. In reverse (ad idle) the prop 'creeps' round very very slowly; until revs are flat out and it snaps into drive (that cant be doing the engine / transmission any good at all !) I cant think of anything else to try, so resigning myself to an engineer looking at it.
 
I'm no engineer and my problem was the opposite - very hard to get out of gear, but it does sound like a wear issue with perhaps the selector sleeve slipping in the gears until the extra revs cause the servo spiral to really ram the sleeve home. As I say, no engineer just semi experienced speculation.

They're not to hard to do a basic stripdown, and the special tools can as usual be improvised, but sad to say you'll find no shortage of people tell you that parts for these are like hen's teeth nowadays. (I'm still waiting for a bit possibly located in the US)

I suppose the obvious questions would be what was the old oil like? Burnt? What grade oil did you use? (there's some doubt as to the correct one. The recommedation changed over the years, possibly in sync with a change in friction medium)

While you wait for the engineer you could try adjusting the shims under the selector centre bolt.

Pm your e mail address if you need a pdf of the workshop manual.

Good luck

Steve
 
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robgoddard said:
Hi Steve, Thanks for the reply. Yes I gave that a try; just to eliminate the cable and selector mechanism in case it wasn't setup correctly. Neutral (middle) = no prop spin. Forward = Prop turns when on idle; but as you build the revs the prop will spin faster but doesn't feel like there's any propulsion of the boat in the water. Only when we get to quite high revs does the propulsion 'kick-in' and you feel the effect and see the wash. In reverse (ad idle) the prop 'creeps' round very very slowly; until revs are flat out and it snaps into drive (that cant be doing the engine / transmission any good at all !) I cant think of anything else to try, so resigning myself to an engineer looking at it.
Click to expand...

Just out of interest, what type of prop do you have? I had a sort of similar problem last year, high revs, boat going slow. Luckily it was a plastic bag around the prop.
 
I put the go-pro down to take a look, and as far as I can see the prop all looks good. Great suggestions from everyone though. Really appreciate all the replies !
 
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