Volvo Performance

[colemj]

Originally Posted by 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.

Volvo stopped making the 2003 model in 1995 or 1996. By 2000-20001, it would be the 2030 model - a good engine made by Perkins.

Mark

[shakey doug]

The 2003B series went thru to 2003.

[koalla]

found some pics of the green devil...i dont know if this is raw or fresh water cooled.

[Paul L]

That is a freshwater cooled 2003 with, for some reason, the decompression lever set in the decompress position.

At least access seems pretty decent on this boat.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by shakey doug

The 2003B series went thru to 2003.

Volvo lists all models of the 200x series out of production by 1993: Publication search - Publications / Manuals : Volvo Penta

The 2030 series (a completely different engine) were produced until 2005.

Mark

Edit: that link doesn't take one all the way. I will try to post the relevant info:

MODEL # PRODUCTION YEARS
2003 Work Boat Diesel Inboard 29 3 1983-1990
2003AG Diesel Inboard 28 3 1983-1990
2003B Diesel Inboard 28 3 1991-1993
2003BG Diesel Inboard 28 3 1991-1993
2003B-SOLAS Diesel Inboard 29-31 3 1992-1993
2003D Diesel Inboard 28 3 1992-1993
2003-SOLAS Diesel Inboard 29-31 3 1992-1993
2003T Diesel Inboard 43 3 1986-1993
2003TB Diesel Inboard 43 3 1986-1993

[nhschneider]

On my brother's Volvo D2-75, there's a plaque riveted to the block that says 'This engine has a useful life of 1,000 hours'. His engine has more hours on it than that but he's also had his share of issues with the engine and he's one of the most diligent when it comes to maintaining an engine or anything else.

Our boat came with a Volvo MD40A and after almost 8,000 hours, I replaced it. I was quoted almost $22,000 for just the parts to rebuild it and I was able to buy a new engine and transmission for significantly less.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by nhschneider

On my brother's Volvo D2-75, there's a plaque riveted to the block that says 'This engine has a useful life of 1,000 hours'.

Did your brother add that plaque? While I can't directly refute this, it doesn't pass my logic filter. There is no person who would buy a diesel engine designed with a 1,000 hr lifespan. In addition, I can find no evidence to support this designed lifespan on a web search. And I know of no other Volvo (or other brand) model of engine with such a plaque or designed lifespan.

I am not questioning the problems your brother is having with his engine.

Mark

[nhschneider]

Before I bought the Beta Marine to replace our old MD40A, I seriously considered the Volvo D3-110. However, one of my concerns about that engine was that Volvo stated in their documentation that the engine was designed to deliver 300 hours of use per year and if the conditions are light, we can put double that on in a single year.

If I had more time and inclination, I'd take a photo of the plaque that's on my brother's engine. However well Volvo conceals this information in on-line documentation, the reality is that for most recreational boaters, 1,000 hours might well represent a lifetime of day sailing. Hardly, though, an appropriate application for a blue-water sailboat.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[Pete7]

As Paul says its a freshwater model. Whilst it's easy to knock these engines particularly compared to the latest Yanmars worth remembering the design is now over 30 years old. Other designs from that era weren't great either.

Also Volvo sold a shed load of these engines to boat manufacturers because manufacturers didn't have to pay for them until the boat was sold. That's quite an incentive helping to keep cash flow under control. It also means lots of spares and engines about.

The one question that is worth asking though is if the gearbox splines have been changed. Since the splines go from the gearbox to the flywheel they aren't lubricated. So after a couple of decades of chatter they wear. The solution is to replace the flywheel coupling and the input shaft of the gearbox, total cost in the UK is about £400 for a dealer to carry out.

Volvo Penta MS2 Spline Repair

When we checked ours, the splines were starting to wear (2200 hrs) so went ahead anyway. This wouldn't put me off the engine because once it's sorted that's it. Useful point to knock the price a little when buying.



Pete

[Doug Brown]

Hi - I have one of the early raw water cooled 2003 engines that I purchased new in England in 1985. It is still working just fine and has about 2700-hours on it.

I have had the injectors re-built twice and have had the valves ground and cylinder head surfaced once. When the head was off, I cleaned out all of the water passages of their salt deposits with muratic acid. There was actually very little salt built up - maybe 1/16" - in 25-years of use.

The cylinder head had some build up too, but the bigger problem was all of the rotted off zincs that were in the main water passage. These disolved easily with the muratic acid.

The exhaust mixer elbow was severely restricted due to carbon/soot build up due to bad injector nozzles and had to be cleaned out.

As mentioned in previous replies it is not hard to remove the fresh water cooling pump and pipes and convert to raw water cooling. You get rid of a huge number of potential leaks and make access to the engine much easier.

You have to make a couple pipe/hose fittings, but the basic part that you can modify to use is availabe at Lowes/Home Depot etc for just a couple of dollars apiece.

When you do a valve job, very carefully inspect the valve stems as they are prone to develope cracks.

The only real maintenance needed on the engine is to change the oil filter very frequently (every 25-hours) and the fuel filter elements (both on the engine [every 200-hours] and on a Racor [every 100-hours]).

I did install a remote oil filter that allows the use of standard Ford spin on oil cartridges. These are available everywhere and are really inexpensive - I buy 24 at a time and keep about 6 of the Volvo filters as emergency spares.

Maybe I have been extremely lucky, but with just normal maintenace over the years I have had a very reliable engine.

Doug Brown

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Doug Brown

Hi - I have one of the early raw water cooled 2003 engines that I purchased new in England in 1985. It is still working just fine and has about 2700-hours on it.

I have had the injectors re-built twice and have had the valves ground and cylinder head surfaced once. When the head was off, I cleaned out all of the water passages of their salt deposits with muratic acid. There was actually very little salt built up - maybe 1/16" - in 25-years of use.

The cylinder head had some build up too, but the bigger problem was all of the rotted off zincs that were in the main water passage. These disolved easily with the muratic acid.

The exhaust mixer elbow was severely restricted due to carbon/soot build up due to bad injector nozzles and had to be cleaned out.

As mentioned in previous replies it is not hard to remove the fresh water cooling pump and pipes and convert to raw water cooling. You get rid of a huge number of potential leaks and make access to the engine much easier.

You have to make a couple pipe/hose fittings, but the basic part that you can modify to use is availabe at Lowes/Home Depot etc for just a couple of dollars apiece.

When you do a valve job, very carefully inspect the valve stems as they are prone to develope cracks.

The only real maintenance needed on the engine is to change the oil filter very frequently (every 25-hours) and the fuel filter elements (both on the engine [every 200-hours] and on a Racor [every 100-hours]).

I did install a remote oil filter that allows the use of standard Ford spin on oil cartridges. These are available everywhere and are really inexpensive - I buy 24 at a time and keep about 6 of the Volvo filters as emergency spares.

Maybe I have been extremely lucky, but with just normal maintenace over the years I have had a very reliable engine.

Doug Brown

G'Day Doug,

Thanks for the informative report. However, I'm not favorably impressed by that service record. An engine that requires a valve job and a head surfacing well before 2700 hours is not doing all that well IMO. And having to change the oil filter every 25 hours is crazy, even with your remote filter (good idea, that, at any rate).

Converting to raw water cooling may remove some issues with that engine, but in general, diesels like to run hotter than is possible with RWC, so you may give up some longevity by that change.

All in all, if your description is accurate, I would not be inclined to buy a boat with that engine installed.

YMMV, of course.

Cheers,

Jim

[seahag]

Change oil filter at 25 hours? Seriously ? Why not let it get dirty first?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

All in all, if your description is accurate, I would not be inclined to buy a boat with that engine installed. YMMV, of course.
Cheers, Jim

That fact so many people have experience of these engines on here shows how many Volvo actually sold. When I think of some of the other options back then "thank the lord" Moody put a Volvo 2003 in my boat

Oh and Volvo still provide spares for them, not bad for an engine that has been out of production for 20 years.



Pete

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Pete7

That fact so many people have experience of these engines on here shows how many Volvo actually sold. When I think of some of the other options back then "thank the lord" Moody put a Volvo 2003 in my boat

Oh and Volvo still provide spares for them, not bad for an engine that has been out of production for 20 years.



Pete

Perhaps, Pete, if it had been a better design it would still be in production... like many of the other engines of that era.

Cheers,

Jim

[Doug Brown]

Hi again - This additional post is basically for Jim & Ann -

I probably didn't write the sentence very well about repairs/engine hours.

We had one injector tip fail at about 2500-hours (1999). I had them all rebuilt - the first major maintenance since the engine was new in 1984.

The major sevicing / preventive maintenance was at 2700-hours (2011)). The engine was down on power and the rpm's would not go past 2,000, so I pulled the head to find the problem, do the valves, inspect the water passages, etc.

The problem turned out to be the sooted up exhaust manifold and one bad valve.

So all the valves were re-ground, the head was milled to bring it into spec with the reground valves (only took about .010 off the head) and all the injectors were checked for proper opening/spray pattern, water passages cleaned out, replaced the injector sleeves, etc.

The engine is now good to go for another 2000-hours, so I don't have to worry about it on our very soon to happen next multi-year cruise.

Diesels love clean oil and oil filters are cheap - so why not change them often and keep the lubrication system happy and functional? To each his own, but I'd rather spend $5 on a oil filter than a couple of thousand on bearings.

By the way, my engine still has 58-psi oil pressure at 3000-rpm under load and 52-psi at 750-rpm idle with the oil hot - both at the high end of Volvo specifications for those rpm. Excellent for a 28-year old engine.

As I mentioned before, the engine has been what I consider to be basically trouble free and easy to repair if a problem arises. For an engine that I only paid $1800 for when it was brand new all those years ago - I think the maintenace / repairs I have done are pretty minimual for a recreational diesel engine.

Any way, just my thoughts. Happy cruising!