Volvo Penta 63P

[pwatkins]

My boat (Atlantic 42) is fitted with a pair of Volvo-Penta 63P's and has currently logged just over 120 hours. Since new it has smoked badly on-load - 20 knots, 2400 rpm - covering the transom in soot and burning about 20% more fuel than other owners report. It has also just suffered the second failure of thread inserts in the charge air cooler, causing loss of turbo boost.
Anybody else having, or had, these problems ? All ideas gratefully received.

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[Moose]

Get onto Volvo. These are normally very reliable engines. I have them in my Phantom 37, I am getting about 1.3mpg at cruising speed (22-24kts) There should definitlely be no smoke on load. I get a little on startup but it clears within minutes (I only get steam at high speed/load) Mine have done 850ish hours and have been perfect until last week when I lost all the oil from one engine.

Perhaps try posting on the 60 series forum of this site: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.boatdiesel.com>http://www.boatdiesel.com</A>

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[jfm]

I agree with Moose. We had these engines in a 1999 boat, sold earlier this year with 550 hours. They are normally excellent and ours ran trouble free and smoke free all the time. It sounds like yours need the attention of a good volvo technician

On smoke, ours never showed any visib/e smoke even at cold start. On load and acceleration there were never visible black smoke clouds. However they are a slightly sootier engine than the modern electronically controlled diesels. We used to get a slight layer of soot on the transom (kind of estate car effect) that needed washing off after 5 or 6 hours running. but that's not a fault, it's just how these engines are.

We used to get 0.9mpg in a phantom 42, cruising at 2300 rpm ish and 23knots ish

We never had the thread insert failure that you mention. In fact nothing went wrong with ours in 550 hours.

Thing is, it is odd for 2 engines to have the same fault. I wonder is your boat over propped, so causing the engines to be labouring and smoking?

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

Agree with the others. This engine is rumoured to be one of Volvo's best as evidenced by the fact that its been around for quite a while. I had them in a Sealine 410 for a couple of years and they were faultless and smoke free both on start-up and running
How sooty the transom becomes is also dependent on how the exhausts are designed on your boat. Are they underwater or above water? Also, if I'm right, the Atlantic 42 is an aft cabin boat which are known to suffer from sooty transoms.
Regarding the fuel consumption, I think I'm right in saying that the Atlantic 42 is a heavily built boat with a small keel (not a bad thing at all in other respects) so you probably should expect increased fuel consumption compared to lighter boats of the same length
Good point from jfm concerning over propping. Do the engines pull full rpm at max throttle?

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[Jim44]

I have these engines in my 1999 Sealine F44 about 80 fresh water hours, I get a bit of smoke on start up but this soon clears, I do get white smoke/steam (not sure which) when running.

Is this normal?
Is there anything I can do to stop it?
Should i worry?



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[Doffy]

Try running some Millers or dare I say it Soltron thro one tank to see if it clears I have 61s and I have just out a bottle of Millers in and had a good run no soot on transom this time. Mine have done 1500 hrs

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[Moose]

I did think that Soltron worked quite well a while ago, but I have now stopped using it because it makes zilch difference to the Fuel Consumption and there is no less smoke. I think the time I used it was a bit lucky.

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

Solvite

Oooh, that's heresy, prepare to be flamed. For the record, I use Soltron mainly to ward off the dreaded diesel bug but I did find it reduced smoke whist running but it made sod-all difference to the fuel consumption

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[mjf]

Hi,

I am with the others.

My engines used to smoke a little at start then quickly clear - after the first service at 6 months / 50ish hours (I think) the start smoking vertually stopped.
Now after a run there is very little sooting around the stern / under the swim platform. FYG The tappets were done at the service which the engineer did on top of the volvo list / G'tee items. Previous experience taught a lesson seemingly...


Michael

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[Bandit]

I have had problems with contaminated fuel (My fault), otherwise no problems, but have a look at the way your exhausts put the gasses out, some are better at dissipating the smoke into the slipstream than others .

Mine kick out the sides and are relatively clean.

Previously with old engines they kicked out the transom above the water and the transom was sooty.

It might be worth getting your injectors checked to see if they are hosing and not burning properly.

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[Nick2]

We have improved our soot issue considerably but not completely by adding extra engine ventilation and reducing prop pitch. Engines are TAMD41b s however so may be quite a differant story to yours.

BTW think Atlantic 42 is a great boat and sorry to hear of your issues

Nick

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[ari]

"Since new it has smoked badly on-load - 20 knots, 2400 rpm -"

Is that wide open throttle?

If so I'd say the boat is "overpropped" as it should put 2,800-2,900 at WOT. If it is over propped then the engines would be labouring, hence the increased consumption and black soot as the engines fail to burn off the amount of diesel being poured through them.

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