Volvo penta Tamd61a

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barryboat70

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Hi to everyone
I’m looking at buying a 42ft motor yacht with said engines would like to ask the motor boaters who have the Volvo Penta Tamd61a 1989 306bhp cir of any major faults they my have
ie turbos exhaust elbows and water pumps ?
Would like some information about these engines as I’m changing from sailing to power
Many thanks
 
barryboat70 said:
Hi to everyone
I’m looking at buying a 42ft motor yacht with said engines would like to ask the motor boaters who have the Volvo Penta Tamd61a 1989 306bhp cir of any major faults they my have
ie turbos exhaust elbows and water pumps ?
Would like some information about these engines as I’m changing from sailing to power
Many thanks
Click to expand...
A good engine .
Early ones failed catastrophic valve failure .
Depends what boat they are in as to wether they have been worked hard or not .
They do have bad points on cooling side , again depends on installation and accessibility as to wether they have been maintained properly or overlooked due to boat design .
 
I have a pair in my boat. Bought in 2005 with 2100hrs on, now have 3350hrs on them.

Touch wood, no major issues in 15 years and 1200 hrs of ownership. Both alternators replaced (not really an engine problem though!), temp sender and oil px senders replaced on one engine.

Meticulous oil and filter changes annually, I have also had the injectors refurbed once and cleaned the charge coolers / heat exchangers a couple of times, but that is about it.

Direct drive raw water pump, fresh water pump and camshaft are great, no belts to fail at awkward times. The alternator is belt drive, but worst case I can survive without an alternator for a while in heavy seas - I can’t say the same for a camshaft or water pump.

I have the remote oil filter kit too, as the stbd filter is all but impossible to get too in it’s normal on engine location on my boat.

Solid engines, sensible power output for the displacement- not a stressed engine, and built to last.
 
What boat are you looking at?
At 1989 vintage the historical problems should have been sorted by now:
Dropping exhaust valves
Corroding out exhaust elbows.

Other problems I have encountered: overheating, had all 6 heat exchangers removed and cleaned, didn’t cure it. Turned out to be the exhaust elbow cooling water spray fins, nearly fully blocked. Volvo mod is to bend out every other tab 4mm.
in the process of looking why overheat the flexible cooling pipe from gearbox oil cooler to exhaust elbow burst (internal rusty wire spiral had corroded) but also had blocked elbow and new impeller.
Check gearbox heat exchanger anode twice recommended frequency.
Fitted additional pencil anodes to bottom of other heat exchanger.
These engines are known for breathing oil from the crankcase breathers so I fitted additional engine fans and an extractor pipe over engine breathers
 
Hi everyone
Many thanks for your valuable info certainly need an engine overhaul especially the exhaust elbows as I’ve had problems with these in previous Volvo Penta engines plus their turbos again many thanks
 
I forgot about the he elbow spray fins - had one of mine block too. Incredibly easy to fix though - did it on the pontoon. Slide off rubber exhaust hose, undo qad clamp and clear the elbow. Bend the fins out a bit if not done already, and reassemble.
 
Mine are 2003, but fresh water.

Going to have a look, no harm.

No gaskets? All clamps IIRC??

Thanks for the info / pics
 
Just an FYI to this thread re. Exhaust Elbows. I decided to remove the stbd elbow today (KAD300).

Quite an easy task. The most difficult part was actually the elbow / turbo clamp.... used a vice grips to open it up when removing / re-assembling.

The rubber hoses were, of course, sealed on to the metal pipes. Friend (mechanic) gave me a little screw-driver like device to break the seal.

When re-assembling, I sprayed the hoses with a little Silicone spray, made putting the hoses back on a doddle.

Not too bad for 17 years old. All the ports were free. A little erosion at the bottom of the elbow, but plenty of life left. Remember, this is fresh water!
Q5Pyjqd.jpg


Just gave a quick clean up.... Oven Cleaner, left to soak for a while. A quick file with a circular file through the ports and washed off with some water...
(A lot cleaner than it looks.... was still wet when I took pic)
ZMrq9d3.jpg
 
Alt
Many thanks for the pictures of the elbows you have explained a lot thank you
The boat I’m looking at the engines are 31yrs old ?? 1989 and it’s always been on the sea so I think to be safe I’ll get new elbows and sea water pumps
Again you guys are such a great help thanks
 
barryboat70 said:
Alt
Many thanks for the pictures of the elbows you have explained a lot thank you
The boat I’m looking at the engines are 31yrs old ?? 1989 and it’s always been on the sea so I think to be safe I’ll get new elbows and sea water pumps
Again you guys are such a great help thanks
Click to expand...
At that age the elbows should have been replaced. Think that was mentioned earlier in a post
 
Yes Rocksteadee I would hope the they have been replaced and serviced as well which I will have to negotiate with the price if the boat after the surveys have been done thanks
 
Rocksteadee said:
What boat are you looking at?
At 1989 vintage the historical problems should have been sorted by now:
Dropping exhaust valves
Corroding out exhaust elbows.

Other problems I have encountered: overheating, had all 6 heat exchangers removed and cleaned, didn’t cure it. Turned out to be the exhaust elbow cooling water spray fins, nearly fully blocked. Volvo mod is to bend out every other tab 4mm.
in the process of looking why overheat the flexible cooling pipe from gearbox oil cooler to exhaust elbow burst (internal rusty wire spiral had corroded) but also had blocked elbow and new impeller.
Check gearbox heat exchanger anode twice recommended frequency.
Fitted additional pencil anodes to bottom of other heat exchanger.
These engines are known for breathing oil from the crankcase breathers so I fitted additional engine fans and an extractor pipe over engine breathers
Click to expand...
Hey (brand new to ybw) I too have smoky crankcase breathers and was wondering if you could possibly share pics and description of how you vented yours? I have a 1994 37.9 Azimut.
thanks
 
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