Volvo Performance

[koalla]

hello
i'm looking at a sailboat to buy, it has a volvo penta with 2500 hrs on it and i would like to know what the expected live of such motor is given that it has been maintained.
please get back to me.....thanks all of you

[witzgall]

Volvo made lots of engines. Do you know the exact model?

[DRS]

I've got a 2MD 2030's with 4000 hours and they are still going strong

[landonshaw]

I have a MD 2040, only 1300 hr and it is a great engine

[Pete7]

Volvo 2003 with 2500 hrs, 24 years old. Just had a top end overhauled and I expect another 5 years from it. No leaks, minor difficulty in starting it but all the 200* series suffer from a lack of cold start in cold climates. Good size for a 31ft yacht.

Pete

[koalla]

thanks everyone, why i ask is because the boat i'm about to buy has that engine and hours ..... i don't know the exact model but it is safe to assume the worse of all the volvo penta engines. reading all your replies, i get the impression that 2500 may be a lot of hours ... does any know what sort of signs and symptoms i should be looking for that indicate a repair being in the near future?.... it is the boat i'm looking for but then again 10k is much moolah out of my light weight wallet.
best of wishes
koalla

[Paul L]

The model and the age is pretty important for anyone's opinion to mean much. If it is a 1980's Volvo, then the age will have more bearing than the hours. If its a 2010, then hours is relevant.

[Acushla]

The easy checks are does it start from cold easily, is the normal running temp normal (60 -70 deg C) is the closed circuit cooling water clean (no rusty water) and has anti freeze in it, does the heat exchanger work OK, i.e. is hot water available.

The engines are capable of many more hours than this when properly maintained.

Acushla

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by koalla

thanks everyone, why i ask is because the boat i'm about to buy has that engine and hours ..... i don't know the exact model but it is safe to assume the worse of all the volvo penta engines. reading all your replies, i get the impression that 2500 may be a lot of hours ... does any know what sort of signs and symptoms i should be looking for that indicate a repair being in the near future?.... it is the boat i'm looking for but then again 10k is much moolah out of my light weight wallet.
best of wishes
koalla

2500 hours may be a lot or it may not be a lot. It really depends on how it has been used and maintained.

I now have 2 Volvo marine engines sitting in pieces in my dining room. Here is what I would be looking at.

- Exhaust mixer & heat exchanger. The second engine I just bought for parts "split" the exhaust mixing elbow. In addition the joint where the mixing elbow joins the heat exchanger/exhaust manifold is completely corroded away. In a 24 y/o engine this part has likely not been replaced, usually gets a minimal look even at a top end overhaul and is very expensive. I just priced the HE and core pack at around $2,000

The failure is corrosion related as this is the most "toxic" area of the engine (the exhaust)

When this part failed sea water spewed all over the engine and failed the starter and alternator (apparently)

The exhaust muffler should also be evaluated. Mine was in marginal shape and needed replacing about 2 years on. It was almost completely corroded out at the stainless end plates. This was a $500 part.

Other items -

The engine should start easily, blow no to little smoke. You should be wary if you arrive for a sea trial and the engine is already "warmed up." I like to see them cold.

You should run it long enough to get to temperature. You should run it under load. You should run it in reverse.

If you get this far yourself I would pay a mechanic to do a compression check. I would pay for an oil filter, remove the filter and have the mech cut it open and look for metallic debris.

I would have the heat exchanger end plate opened to see if the core pack is clogged or contaminated.

After that you have done about your best in evaluating the engine.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by koalla

thanks everyone, why i ask is because the boat i'm about to buy has that engine and hours ..... i don't know the exact model but it is safe to assume the worse of all the volvo penta engines. reading all your replies, i get the impression that 2500 may be a lot of hours ... does any know what sort of signs and symptoms i should be looking for that indicate a repair being in the near future?.... it is the boat i'm looking for but then again 10k is much moolah out of my light weight wallet.
best of wishes
koalla

Which engine...? I would probably avoid the model 2003, just based on heresay of troubles, but there are some users out there satisfied with that engine.... an old MD2, or 3 will go a lot of hours if treated well... you need a specific model. One of the models after the MD2/3 era had a habit of overheating when pushed hard.... I would find out the model and Google it... you'll learn alot about what to look for on that specific model.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by koalla

... i get the impression that 2500 may be a lot of hours ...

It all depends on how well it was maintained. Bit of a crap shoot if you don't know that. Well maintained, 5,000 hours would not be an unrealistic expectation before needing a major rebuild. Poorly maintained...who knows.

An engine oil analysis is one of the most effective, non-invasive, ways to assess the condition of an engine. Very common for this to be part of a good survey.

[Rocketman]

Without more information, it is very hard to determine if the engine you have would be of concern. What is the age of the boat it is in? How many HP does it have? What boat is it in? Even if you do not know the exact model of the engine we can probably determine what it most likely is from the given info. Volvo put there name on a lot of engines, some they made and some they didn't. Some of the engines are hard to find parts for and are expensive to repair, others not so much. 2500 hours on almost any deisel engine is not much, if it is mantained and cared for. If the boat is 30 years old and only has 2500 hours I would be more concerned about the motor then if it had 2500 hours and was 10 years old. 2500 hours is not many hours at, but if it is an older boat it might indicate long periods of non-use which IMHO would be of some concern.

[koalla]

hello again
i did find more details on the engine.......it is a 2003 model with 2500 hrs.... year is either 2000 or 2001 not known for sure... it seems to be all heresay.....it great to know there is a place like this on the internet....thanks.

[Paul L]

The 2003 was not Volvo's shining light in the diesel lineup. As I understsnd it the 2000 series was the last small block diesel actually built by Volvo. After that they marinized other blocks. A well taken care off, raw water cooled, one has a pretty long life. The freshwater cooled ones are more trouble, the turbo, 2003T even more trouble. The cooling system probaby looked great on the engineers drafting board, but in practice it is marginal and has pipe seals that will drive you crazy. I used to refer to my 2003 as the Green Devil. It isn't that these can't be made to run a long time, it the incremental hit each time you fix spmething. I finally said it was time to stop 'investing' in the green beast and bought a silver beast. The green one was 24 years old with 2500 hours. Really not a bad life span.

[witzgall]

I will ditto what Paul L said. The 2003 internals are fine it seems. The cooling system was an afterthought - if it is fresh water cooled. The seals used are fickle, and while it all works, it is a bit of pain to deal with any time you need to do something that calls for one or more pipes to be removed. I know, we have one now, and had a 2002 model (same engine with two cylinders) on our previous boat.

Having said that, we have friends that have the same engine, but raw water cooled, and it seems that this is a better setup. We are seriously considering converting to raw water cooled - it is a fairly easy conversion, only about $300 in parts. The argument that raw water engines rust out does not seem to apply here - their engine is quite old, runs great (they do keep it nice, and have redone the head/valves).

Chris