Volvo Penta D6 350hp - anyone with experience?

[roa312]

If anyone here have any experiences (good and bad) with the Volvo Penta D6 350hp (2007/08) I would very much like to hear from you. My father is currently looking at boats with these engines and all are with stern drives. We would prefer shaft boats but unfortunately there are not many of those sub 40 feet. As such, if you have any experience we would very much appreciate any advice!

 

[julians]

I don't have experience of the d6, but I do have a few years experience of the d4, which is a very similar engine and uses the same out drive.

Pros
- mostly reliable, but with a few exceptions, see below
- very fuel efficient
- no smoke
- low vibration

Cons
- parts prices are high, eg £4k for heat exchanger
- the engines have a few known weaknesses, things like the heat exchanges blocking up every couple of years and needing cleaning .
- the drives have similar known weaknesses like the steering rams failing every few years.

 

[volvopaul]

If anyone here have any experiences (good and bad) with the Volvo Penta D6 350hp (2007/08) I would very much like to hear from you. My father is currently looking at boats with these engines and all are with stern drives. We would prefer shaft boats but unfortunately there are not many of those sub 40 feet. As such, if you have any experience we would very much appreciate any advice!

Too much to list , do a search on here you will find all the bad points .

 

[Switch]

I ran a Sealine S42 with D6 350's for 8 years. I always found them reliable and certainly smoother and cleaner than the KAD300's I had on my previous boat. I don't recall any major issues other than the usual heat exchangers and steering rams previously mentioned. However, I had them serviced every year by Volvopaul so they were well looked after. Paul has is own thoughts on them (as you'll see above) and he's very qualified to judge but personally, I wouldn't be put off. My new (to me) boat has D6 370's to prove my point. I would recommend you have Paul look at them as part of a survey if you get that far with the purchase.

 

[roa312]

Thank you everyone for providing input on this! It is much appreciated to hear from people with experience on the matter.

@Switch: We are located in Denmark so rather than having Paul fly over here we will probably be finding someone local instead . But it is good to hear about your experiences and now we definitely know what to look for in the surveys.