Volvo Penta 2001, no cooling water

[Kimmo]

Hello. Wonder if anybody would have any great ideas, where to start fixing this problem, with Volvo Penta Type 2001 (1989), seawater cooled:

We took the boat to the yard today, to clean the bottom, apply new antifouling and to change the zinc anode from the S-drive (120S). I also cleaned the stuff attached to the S-drive to open up the water intake holes.

When we put the boat back into water, there was no cooling water coming out anymore. Not a single drop!

When I open the S-drive water valve from the inside of the boat, water starts coming through, so that should be ok. Also water reaches the impeller when I open the s-drive valve.

I also attached another hose to the cooling system and tried to run water from a bucket, but there doesn't seem to be any suction at all, which doesn't make sense, when water does reach the impeller. There is warm water flowing back, when I turned the engine off.

Any ideas? I would suspect, that the cooling system is clogged from the stuff that I cleaned from the s-drive, but could anything clog it so completely?

Somebody at marina suggested, that the thermostat might be stuck, but shouldn't it still let some water through even when it would be stuck?

Any great ideas, where to start looking first?

 

[jimali]

Water problem

I know this sounds silly but have you checked the impeller to see if it is still intact. Don't forget that the rubber part can become detached from the central drive boss.

Good luck

Jim

 

[Nostrodamus]

I know this sounds silly but have you checked the impeller to see if it is still intact. Don't forget that the rubber part can become detached from the central drive boss.

Good luck

Jim

+1
As I understand it, it is the impella that pulls the water through the leg and the leg itself just has a chanel for the water to come in. as you are getting water up the leg it would suggest a problem with your pump/ impella.

Just a suggestion... If you put this in the PBO section of the forum you will get many more replies all with better knowledge than I have.

 

[Tranona]

Almost certainly the water pump impeller. These are service items and they fail after a time. So first thing is to change that. You may well find blades missing or broken up so failure could be obvious. Could also be failure of the bond between the rubber and the drive so the pump is turning but the impeller is not. There is also possibility of wear of the pump face or body.

Also worth checking all the hoses from the pump to the engine are clear. It won't be the thermostat as even if this fails water will still be pumped because it is needed to cool the exhaust. The thermostat controls how much water goes through the engine itself to cool it.

Sea water cooling is about as simple as you can get, so if water is comming inthrough the valve tha problem must be pump onwards.

 

[Bobc]

I bet the metal bar in the impeller has become detached from the body. Not an uncommon thing to happen.

 

[Kimmo]

Hello

Thanks all for the advices. I now worked few hours with the engine. The impeller is new, I changed that in November and since that, we've not used the engine almost at all. Just few times on idle.

I now double checked the impeller, that it's correctly attached, also tried to turn on the engine without the impeller cover, to see that it's rotating. It was.

After that I used iron wire to see if there would be blockade from the impeller onwards to the block? (the area where the engine zinc is located). As far as I could tell, there was no blockade.

After that, I tried the engine again, and this time suddenly there was cooling water coming out.

Should be happy, but as I cannot see, that I solved the problem, I'm a bit worried that this will happen again and in some bad place when compared to marina enviroment.

The cooling water looks clean and there is a normal amount of it coming out.

 

[jordanbasset]

Could just be the impeller got stuck after being left and you freed it up

 

[Bobc]

Glad to hear that.

The impeller could simply have had trouble pulling the water up.

 

[Tranona]

Check the face of the cover. Wear on this can cause poor priming. If it does need replacing suggest you fit a Speedseal front cover.

 

[Nostrodamus]

Check the face of the cover. Wear on this can cause poor priming. If it does need replacing suggest you fit a Speedseal front cover.

+1

 

[Kimmo]

Check the face of the cover. Wear on this can cause poor priming. If it does need replacing suggest you fit a Speedseal front cover.

Thank you for the suggestion. I think I will replace the cover just in case. It's most likely the original cover from -89. It is a bit worn, but not much.

 

[Tranona]

Worth looking at www.speedseal.com probably not much more than a standard replacement item and vastly superior. Seals better, does not wear and makes changing impellor easy - no lost screws in the bilge!

No connection - happy customer

 

[jordanbasset]

Worth looking at www.speedseal.com probably not much more than a standard replacement item and vastly superior. Seals better, does not wear and makes changing impellor easy - no lost screws in the bilge!

No connection - happy customer

Second that, great bit of kit

 

[Nostrodamus]

Second that, great bit of kit

I seconded it first in point 12. But you can 3rd it

 

[Tranona]

This could turn into a multi level pyramid marketing scam and we could all take a slice of commission!

 

[Nostrodamus]

This could turn into a multi level pyramid marketing scam and we could all take a slice of commission!

Well, just send me 10,000 and soon you will get 100,000 back.
I will pm you my Nigerian address.

I don't mind promoting a good idea that works. I cannot undersand why engines are not made with them fitted.