Volvo sterndrive exhaust riser recall

volvopaul

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A few of my customers have had the notice for recall which is nice to hear that there getting something for nothing or so I thought.

The deal is that its only carried out when there said boats out of the water for winter service to drives so the owner has to pay for the lift. Also the dealers insist the drives are serviced and are quoting normal service quotes, parts and labour yet the dealers are being paid already to remove the drives and refit them by Volvo as its part of the warranty job to enable the support ring behind the drive bellow to be separated at the transom shield to push the engines forward approx 4 inches so the exhaust hoses and bolts can be undone. I had a customer who was on the phone yesterday who found this a bit of a pi55 take as there wanting to charge normal service labour figures plus there already
being paid by Volvo to carry out parts of the job.

Anyone else been presented with this protocol and paid on top without realising it?

Once the drives are off the only extra labour is to remove 5 anodes, fit new ones, change the oil in both drives which is about 1 hour per drive, so why would they want to charge the full labour as the bellows have to be removed as part of the recall.
 
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A few of my customers have had the notice for recall which is nice to hear that there getting something for nothing or so I thought.

The deal is that its only carried out when there said boats out of the water for winter service to drives so the owner has to pay for the lift. Also the dealers insist the drives are serviced and are quoting normal service quotes, parts and labour yet the dealers are being paid already to remove the drives and refit them by Volvo as its part of the warranty job to enable the support ring behind the drive bellow to be separated at the transom shield to push the engines forward approx 4 inches so the exhaust hoses and bolts can be undone. I had a customer who was on the phone yesterday who found this a bit of a pi55 take as there wanting to charge normal service labour figures plus there already
being paid by Volvo to carry out parts of the job.

Anyone else been presented with this protocol and paid on top without realising it?

Once the drives are off the only extra labour is to remove 5 anodes, fit new ones, change the oil in both drives which is about 1 hour per drive, so why would they want to charge the full labour as the bellows have to be removed as part of the recall.

Thanks Paul - I'm in the serial number range which I wouldn't have known apart from the original post (thanks OP - Nordics Poster I think...)

Anyway, you personally know my local crowd and why I'm reverting to them vs the excellent service I've had from you previously i.e warranty. So, I walked through the door, had a chat - all very pleasant. Then got a date for the "inspection" via email then nada then phone/email and then nada again. Oh and another small issue was emailed to them - rudder indicator (warranty). Guess what... I ring today and it's like the first time I've ever talked to them. Someone ringing me back. That was today apparently. I must have missed it.

Not happy and I suspect your commentary above might be valid however I'm boogheered if they're expecting me to lift etc to do this. Their problem, plan to pursue..

Cheers, Mat
 
I blame it on the manufacturer (volvo penta) not having proper controls in place of their approved service dealers…and lack of competition. We have recalls, we are not allowed to charge for anything, a specified labour time for a recall is issued to us, if it takes us twice that, that's our problem. The marine industry strikes again.
 
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We are also in the serial numbers affected. Spoke to RK who came across within a couple of days to check out the installation.

Got an email with the information, yes we are affected, VP will not cover the cost of lifting as a critical failure at this age is unlikely, work will be carried out FOC when next ashore.

No mention of any service required at the same time. Mind you, I would challenge them if they did as the service bulletin from VP did not state any restrictions on the work being carried out FOC.
 
We are also in the serial numbers affected. Spoke to RK who came across within a couple of days to check out the installation.

Got an email with the information, yes we are affected, VP will not cover the cost of lifting as a critical failure at this age is unlikely, work will be carried out FOC when next ashore.

No mention of any service required at the same time. Mind you, I would challenge them if they did as the service bulletin from VP did not state any restrictions on the work being carried out FOC.

So if VP are saying 'at this age, critical failure is UNLIKELY'....... where does that leave you if it does fail?? Insurance claim?? But then again its now a latent defect, isn't it??
 
We are not insisting on doing a service when we replace the exhaust, however most are detected during service as we are finding many which are not in the campaign are affected. So now we remove the exhaust bend/riser as a matter of course on a service to inspect the downpipe, owners are happy to find out if their exhaust needs replacing, campaign or otherwise as a flooded engine room is a much bigger problem for all.
 
So if VP are saying 'at this age, critical failure is UNLIKELY'....... where does that leave you if it does fail?? Insurance claim?? But then again its now a latent defect, isn't it??

When I checked the VP publication page it returns the following info when I enter my serial numbers:

Your Volvo Penta product is subject of a service campaign which will be performed at next planned service at your Volvo Penta dealer. State your engine serial number as a reference.
4877-1776 Service Campaign: 4877-1776 D4/D6 AQ exhaust pipe. PS. ONLY IF EXHAUST RISER IS INSTALLED!!!!!!!


The risers are 14 months old with 65 hours use. There seems to be no information on the web about failures at that young age but you are right, if they did catastrophically fail without any warning then I am sure my insurance company would be looking to off-lay the financial pain onto VP.

Cheers
Paul.
 
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We are not insisting on doing a service when we replace the exhaust, however most are detected during service as we are finding many which are not in the campaign are affected. So now we remove the exhaust bend/riser as a matter of course on a service to inspect the downpipe, owners are happy to find out if their exhaust needs replacing, campaign or otherwise as a flooded engine room is a much bigger problem for all.

One of my clients isn't happy about the dealer over the cost for a service as its already half done in the warranty job.
 
I know this is opening up an old thread. How long do the works take and is it possible to slide the engines forwards after the legs are removed to replace the parts. Still some sc35 out there with the rebates cut in the engine liners but no anode horns fitted!
 
I know this is opening up an old thread. How long do the works take and is it possible to slide the engines forwards after the legs are removed to replace the parts. Still some sc35 out there with the rebates cut in the engine liners but no anode horns fitted!
I don’t think this campaign is active now .
sliding engine forward depends on what boat you have .
 
An sc35 Sealine. For some reason the cut out are in the liner for the anodes but the original risers are fitted. Did the campaign effect certain models ie if a gen set was fitted etc.
 
Thanks Paul, just wondering if you knew why some were done on Sealine sc35 and not others of the same age but the anode cutout was made to the hull liner
 
Thanks Paul, just wondering if you knew why some were done on Sealine sc35 and not others of the same age but the anode cutout was made to the hull liner
To accommodate the later exhaust horn which was standard in later production, Sealine on the ball if later engines supplied.
Id guess yours are the later serial numbers which don’t fall into the earlier sub standard exhaust pipes .

If your buying this boat make sure you have a survey by someone that knows the pitfalls of the sc35 and an independent engine inspection.
 
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