volvo MD6A Black Smoke!!!

[panacea]

The engine in my Albin Vega ran fine until the weekend when starting on the key, even using the decompression lever resulted in black smoke issuing from the air intake and water with sooty sludge coming out of the antisiphon pipe and failure to start. Is it a stuck exhaust valve, lack of compression, or has it given up the ghost after 32 glorious years?

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[janie]

I'm not an expert, but we carried on spending a fortune on our Ballad MD6A for 6 years - exhausts, reboring, gears, you name it, we fixed it. However, since we replaced it with a 13HP Beta, life has been dull!
I could put you in contact with our engineer who steered us through the endless problems, but it depends where you're based.

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[webcraft]

A possibility is that there is something wrong with the set-up of the cam on the control lever for the Combi - it is possible that you are starting the engine with low revs but a high pitch on the prop.

I rebuilt the Combi in our Vega over the Winter, and so I know it is properly set up - but when the prop is pitched too high we get clouds of black smoke. I assume that this is because the engine is well past its best and is like an old diesel car or bus that is driven up a hill in too high a gear - i.e. it is smoking under load. At lower pitch settings it is fine, just a bit of grey smoke.

Have a look and see if the Combi seems to be operating normally - i.e. the throttle opening increasing proportionately with the prop pitch until about half way then the prop continuing to pitch up while the throttle opening remains about the same.

Of course, it may be something else - but check the Combi operation first. If it IS something else then my advice would be to fix it yourself cheaply if you can, and if not to live with it and spend as little money as possible on the Volvo - save your money for a new engine. The person we bought our Vega off had spent over £3,000 on the MD6A and Combi, and I can assure you it was a total waste of money!

Most people who can afford it and intend to keep their Vega for a few years put a Beta 13HP in - the VAGB do a special deal complete with fitting kit for something around £3,500. A cheaper option is to look for a used/reconditioned Yanmar 1GM, which is fitted in many Vegas to their owners' total satisfaction - although it is slightly underpowered compared to the Beta.

- Nick

(Fairwinds, Albin Vega 1842)



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[Davy_S]

I have to agree with Webcraft here, but it is also worth having a look at your exaust first. Mine started to produce black smoke and the cause was a blocked rubber exaust hose. Check the exaust between the engine and where it enters the trap, it is only an 18 inch length. Mine was completely colapsed inside and when renewed all smoke stopped and it ran like new. It amazed me how it had continued to run in the first place. It costs nothing to look and a fiver to fix.

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[stephenmartin]

On a different engine....(Ford D type) half way accross the channell it started to produce clouds of black smoke....so we returned to Shoreham....thinking the worse...head gasket...holed piston or burnt valve....etc etc.....after an initital inspection it I found two rubber pipes had fallen onto the exhaust manifold and burnt shut.....these controlled the the engine advance retard to the injection pump....the annoying thing is that I had spare pipe on board and could have fixed it en-route....so wasted 8 hours turning back....

One day I'll get to the top of that steep learning curve....and know it all

<hr width=100% size=1>Don't make the same mistake twice...Make a different one