Volvo Penta issues, or is it just me?

[harvey38]

I can't get over the amount of VP engine problems that appear on the forum, are they a bad engine, poor design, too many sensors? It may be that as they are fitted to huge number of boats, it appears they have a lot of issues but very little about Ford Sabres, Perkins (older boats so less about maybe) Cummins, Yanmar etc.

 

[Daydream believer]

I would have told you that my MD 2020 was wonderful. But on the way to Ostend last Thursday it suddenly decided to die after an excellent 5000+ hours. over 20 years from new. Was running like a sewing machine until the last 20 mins. Has meant my holiday has been cancelled, But looking at the weather that is no big deal.
However, I am now in for £10+K for a new engine. But it will be another Volvo as it has - up to now- been so reliable at starting etc.
Very few issues. 3 exhaust elbows. 3rd alternator refurb.(non volvo) A new set of injectors in 2020. A broken engine mount circa 2018- made my own replacement. .
The usual disposables-Fan belts, glow relays, several impellers, filters, all of which I am prepared for & carry spares, so easily sorted.

Personally I think that issues are often down to poor maintenance. I asked Volspec to check compression, fit new elbow & change the injectors in 2020. The chap did a couple of other adjustments & commented how well it was running. He said it was probably due to the fact it had been looked after & used regularly. He had seen engines, with as little as 1500 hours, returned to their works. They had been left unmaintained, unused & basically allowed to get damp & deteriorate.
So one needs to consider how the engine has been stored, before blaming it for problems.

 

[simonfraser]

obvious non use / maintenance issue, but apart from that, the smaller units in yachts are possibly not so stressed as the bigger units in mobo's ?

 

[oldgit]

Vast numbers of Volvo Pentas out there and the engine of choice for the " leisure market" , of course well known for its skippers habits of sticking to every last detail regards regular servicing of the engine.
For good or bad Volvos use of electronics has allowed a whole new litany of problems to surface and it is regretable that some sort of reverse engineering has not been engineered in to allow a simple conversion back to mechanical control when electronics have failed.
Many of the other makes of engines were choosen for installation in commercial vessels and reliabilty and ease of servicing was the requirement as opposed to squeezing the last knot out of the engine by whatever means possible.
As most will be aware the Perkins Sabre had capacity of 6 litres, the similar VP engine was around 3.6 litres made to generate considerably more power and at much higher revs.
Have been to look at mid range MoBos where engine(s) have been replaced with only a few hundreds of hours on the meters.

 

[Dino]

Having had a pair of Volvos in my last boat, I am very happy with the Perkins Sabre M265Ti,s in my new boat. Thankfully I had no major issues with the Volvos but parts were very expensive.
The Sabres are big low revving lumps that are easy to work on with no electronic controllers. I also seem to be avoiding the Volvo tax. I recently bought 4 secondary fuel filters for €20 from a local machinery parts shop.

 

[ChromeDome]

Once upon a time engines were selected for marinization after proving themselves ion other applications. Tractors, trucks, generators and then some.

Recent years have seen Volvo put brand new technology into boats. Electronics, sensors and a lot dependencies of tubes, wires and hoses.

There is a Facebook group "Volvo penta victims" of disappointed owners. 8000 members I think.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

I don’t think it’s just you. It’s partly because they are so widely used in leisure boats that there are many more people with problems with their VP lumps, but there’s no denying the fact that they do go wrong.

My own experience is not good. I’ve had two boats in the last 10 years with VP engines, a sailing yacht and a motor boat which had twins. Both of the boats were bought new. The yacht engine had a fault with the ECU, took weeks for the spare to arrive. Boat unusable in the meantime. The motor boat had problems with injectors and cooling on one of the engines, and it also had four replacement propellers. Boat unusable in the meantime.

All these works were covered by the VP warranty so in that respect cost me nothing, but I had lost the use of the boats for weeks, it was frustrating and annoying. And none of these faults could possibly be described as something you should expect.

The boats could be specified with a variety of engines but all were from Volvo. Not a good experience in my view.

Based on this I’d never choose VP power if I was in a position to buy a new boat again. And buying used, I’d probably be put off. But never say never.