Difference between Volvo Penta MD2040 and MD2030

[gordonhinds]

I rather stupidly destroyed my MD2040 by running it at idle with the oil pressure gauge disconnected... I wasn't on board and the oil pumped out through the gauge pressure connector and yes, the engine stopped. The bearings are shot plus some other stuff. It runs at idle OK so it might be fixable.

The options are to rebuild the 2040 but I'd like a smaller engine (it will fit better in the engine bay) so the 2030 sprung to mind. Hard to get so maybe a brand new D1-30?

The questions to the brains trust are;

What are the differences between the 2030 and 2040? Ditto the ID30 and 2040?

And will the existing gearbox fit the 2030 or the ID30? It's a MS 2AB?

I will check the specs for the new folding prop I have with the prop guy.

Stupidity is expensive.

[GordMay]

They’re both 3-cylinder diesels.
The MD2030 is rated 29 hp at 3600 r.p.m.; whereas the MD2040, is rated 40 hp at 3600 r.p.m.

[gordonhinds]

Thank you. I knew they were both three cylinders, how much of their parts are interchangeable? And can the same gearbox be fitted?

[skipperpete]

Originally Posted by gordonhinds

I rather stupidly destroyed my MD2040 by running it at idle with the oil pressure gauge disconnected... I wasn't on board and the oil pumped out through the gauge pressure connector and yes, the engine stopped. The bearings are shot plus some other stuff. It runs at idle OK so it might be fixable.

The options are to rebuild the 2040 but I'd like a smaller engine (it will fit better in the engine bay) so the 2030 sprung to mind. Hard to get so maybe a brand new D1-30?

The questions to the brains trust are;

What are the differences between the 2030 and 2040? Ditto the ID30 and 2040?

And will the existing gearbox fit the 2030 or the ID30? It's a MS 2AB?

I will check the specs for the new folding prop I have with the prop guy.

Stupidity is expensive.

Oh Bugger, the good bit is it still spins. I’ve done quite a few of these zero oil pressure lower end temporary seizure repairs and all but one had a happy ending. One was a Lehman Peugeot, another was a 4JH3. The one that didn’t survive was interesting in that originally the owner reported a fuel problem, the engine would start but stop again shortly afterwards. The truth of the matter was that the low oil pressure switch had failed and squirted a jet of oil to the outside edge of the engine beds so no alarm and no pond of oil under the engine, just an intermittent seizure and restart. There’s a very dark ending to this Perkins Prima story but that would wander too far off topic, maybe later on another thread.
Yours is quite possibly repairable because it seized at low rpm and even though the bearing definitely picked up on the crank it may not have spun in the carrier or damaged the journal. A new set of bearings from “Parts4engines” …and a full gasket set might be all thats needed, the hard pill to swallow is that to do a decent professional job you have to strip down the engine and blow out all the oil galleries if there’s substantial amounts of metal in the oil filter folds and sump and given the capricious nature of the Shibaura lube oil pump, put a new one of those in too.

[gordonhinds]

Thanks… that is what the rebuild mechanic thinks is possible… do you think as a back up plan installing a new D1-30 could work using the same gearbox?

[skipperpete]

Originally Posted by gordonhinds

Thanks… that is what the rebuild mechanic thinks is possible… do you think as a back up plan installing a new D1-30 could work using the same gearbox?

My first reaction to that question was “hell yeah” but after a moment of reflection and the firm knowledge that Volvo changes the configuration and fit of stuff they buy in and attach to their ( well actually NOT their’s but Shibaura’s) engines I changed my opinion.
I have an MD2030 in my little canal boat and the Hurth gearbox on that engine has been modified in a few ways that prevent it being replaced by anything other than the Volvo Hurth so once I’d seen the renaming of the gearbox models on the D1-30 I assumed the Swedish tricksters had possibly again modified the garden variety Hurth into something that even volvo’s own MD2030 Hurth differed from.
My answer to your question is NO, I can’t confidently confirm that the gearbox will fit a bobtail D1-30 but hopefully someone who’s actually done it will weigh in with the correct answer.
One of these days I’ll get around to posting a thread about all the modifications Volvo made to the D2-75 to adapt the turbo and still didn’t get it right.

[gordonhinds]

Thanks for that. The cost or replacing new (D1-30) for old is maybe $15,000. The cost for rebuild (MD 20/40) is $10,000 ish. The MD fits with everything. The D1 is a bit unknown but is a bit smaller.

[skipperpete]

Originally Posted by gordonhinds

Thanks for that. The cost or replacing new (D1-30) for old is maybe $15,000. The cost for rebuild (MD 20/40) is $10,000 ish. The MD fits with everything. The D1 is a bit unknown but is a bit smaller.

Give “Dieselworks Australia” based in Loganholme here in Brisbane a call, they do a lot of rebuilds for way less than $10,000….. google em and have a browse of their website.

[gordonhinds]

Thanks for the tip, the figure included pulling the motor out, parts, labour and putting it back in. They might have a smaller one as well. Appreciate the tip.

[DougR]

Here’s a few thoughts about swapping from a VP2040 to a D1-30:

- your MS2 gear could work on the D1-30 engine, but it’s not a direct bolt up. The flywheel housings are different. The 2040 has a ‘flywheel housing’ and a cover plate which bolts to it. The MS2 gear then bolts to the cover plate.
The D1-30 has a one piece flywheel housing with an SAE 7 ( Borg Warner) bolt pattern on it. You will need an adapter plate to go from the MS2 to the Borg Warner bolt pattern, similar to the plate shown in the photo. This adapter plate is the same as the one used by VP on today’s saildrive engines.

- the D1-30 engine will be supplied with a flywheel torsional damper with a spline suitable for Hurth based gearboxes (10 spline). This damper will have to be removed and replaced with one to match the MS2 gearbox, as also shown in the photo. This can be removed from your 2040 engine or sourced new.

- as I haven’t done this exact swap, I can’t state that the offset between the gearbox spline and the torsional damper spline will be perfect, though I’m inclined to think it will be workable. It might require a spacer or two to be perfect..

-The 2040 engine was rated 40 hp @ 3600 RPM and the D1-30 is 30 hp @ 3000 RPM. This might cause a little mismatch in propeller load, though not as much as one might expect. Looking at the prop load curve for the 2040 shows that at 3000 RPM the 2040 prop absorbs close to 30 hp, which means it will be a fairly close match for the D1-30. You might need to add or remove a bit of pitch from the existing prop for a perfect match.

Hope this info helps with your pondering..

[gordonhinds]

Thank you. That’s great information. The advantage of the 30 hp engines are they fit better in the space. But the integration with gearbox might defeat them.

[Jeannius]

Rebuild your 2040. I had two of them (catamaran) and they both had over 10000 hours on the clock when I sold the boat. They leaked a bit and smoked a bit, but I reckon they'd have gone on for ages longer. In my opinion they are much better than the D series because they have no electronics to go wrong just give them diesel and air ( oh and oil ) and they'll go.

[gordonhinds]

The engine got shipped to them. They will tell me if it’s fixable… great suggestion thank you

[gordonhinds]

Great suggestion - they have the engine now.

[Klaartu]

Originally Posted by gordonhinds

I rather stupidly destroyed my MD2040 by running it at idle with the oil pressure gauge disconnected... I wasn't on board and the oil pumped out through the gauge pressure connector and yes, the engine stopped. The bearings are shot plus some other stuff. It runs at idle OK so it might be fixable.

The options are to rebuild the 2040 but I'd like a smaller engine (it will fit better in the engine bay) so the 2030 sprung to mind. Hard to get so maybe a brand new D1-30?

The questions to the brains trust are;

What are the differences between the 2030 and 2040? Ditto the ID30 and 2040?

And will the existing gearbox fit the 2030 or the ID30? It's a MS 2AB?

I will check the specs for the new folding prop I have with the prop guy.

Stupidity is expensive.

I’m just about to pull a perfectly good MD2040 out of my boat. The header tank and a few other bits and pieces need repair or replacement but the motor has low hours, has been serviced annually since new.

If you want it you can have it, free!
(If you wanted pay for the crane, I wouldn’t say no.)

It’s the whole unit including gearbox.
The new motor is going in at the end of September so it will be at Castlecrag Marina in Sydney’s Middle Harbour.
I don’t have an exact date, yet.
Cheers,
Bill