VP 2030, life expectancy

[TiggerToo]

... does it have one? What is the record?

 

[cmedsailor]

I hope the anwer is "very very long as long as you take good care of it"!!

 

[jac]

I hope the anwer is "very very long as long as you take good care of it"!!

IT should be. Neglect will kill it before you wear it out

 

[MM5AHO]

My 1998 version is still performing well. Drives boat to 7 Kn flat out, (but dinks diesel at those revs) cruises nicely at 6kn, and performs exceptionally economically at 5kn (approx. 1 litre per hour).
It gets annual oil, filters, coolant changes, and last winter I cleaned the heat exchanger for 1st time. The exhaust elbow has been replaced once. That's the sum of the maintenance over that period, averaging about 200-300 hours a summer. Not the original hour counter, so total actual hours lost, but probably about 3000.
It shows no sign of wear, a little blue smoke on first firing of each year, otherwise very little smoke of any colour, and uses perhaps 500ml oil a year.

At that rate I think it does have a long life expectancy.

 

[aluijten]

I've heard people getting 3000 hours and people getting 8000 hours from it. Like others say. Treat it well and it will tread you well. Do make sure the ambient temperature of the engine compartment is not too high when running the engine for long periods. So ventilation is important. Make sure you have the right propeller as well, I've seen one killed because of a too big propeller. You should be able to reach 3200 RPM flat-out.

 

[johnalison]

My experience is similar to MM5AHO's from a 2000 boat. It has a professional service yearly and one, occasionally two oil changes in the season. It had a new exhaust elbow a couple of years ago and I can't distinguish its performance from when it was new. It was run to 3400 rpm when fitted out but not since. I usually cruise at around 2500 but have run at 2700 for 24 hrs on one occasion. The only abuse it gets is when chugging through Dutch canals when prolonged idling is unavoidable.

 

[tillergirl]

Installed in 1995, one exhaust elbow, glow plugs and consumables. Oil is still clean at the end of the season but I always service it winter and spring. No idea how many years, no white or blue smoke (but a little black smoke was the sign of the elbow replacement. I chose it over the Beta becuase the Volvo was quieter, smoother and didn't need an annual heat exchanger service and anode issue.

 

[TiggerToo]

I've heard people getting 3000 hours and people getting 8000 hours from it. Like others say. ....

Current one on Tigger is the original (from 1998). It probably has something like 6000hrs (original counter stopped working... then it was replaced by an external one).

No smoke to speak of. At any time. It is just that I am trying to guess what the future might hold.

 

[Tranona]

Generally accepted life is 8000 hours. However your pattern of usage suggests long periods of running so provided oil is changed frequently no reason why it should not go a lot longer. It is the ancillaries particularly the cooling system that are more likely to fail.

The one in my old boat did similar annual hours 3500 in 8 years completely trouble free. Much nicer engine than the D1 30 in my new boat.

 

[zeeotter]

My official (Dutch) Volvo dealer told me that the md2030 serie is the best serie Volvo ever made. Even better than the New serie.

 

[MM5AHO]

The MD2030 came out in 4 (? I think) models. A, B, C etc The original engines were a Perkins marinised by Volvo.

 

[Allergy]

Installed in 1995, one exhaust elbow, glow plugs and consumables. Oil is still clean at the end of the season but I always service it winter and spring. No idea how many years, no white or blue smoke (but a little black smoke was the sign of the elbow replacement. I chose it over the Beta becuase the Volvo was quieter, smoother and didn't need an annual heat exchanger service and anode issue.

Mine is a 2020 but basically mirrors tillergirl, especially replacing the exhaust elbow & cleaning out the carbon build up annually.
Note to self' must do mine.