D4 warranty issue

[backman]

I've had an oil drip on both year old D4's all summer. It was perhaps a teaspoon per 8 hr day and I lived with it all summer after having it diagnosed as a cam cover leak.

What an f-ing P.I.A. it turned out to be - Volvo gave my yard 10 hr's per engine to reseal the covers - everything had to come off - chain gear cover; aftercoolers, injectors, common rail, all filters, to reseal it correctly. My yard ate a bunch of time on each engine.

That experience made me decide to buy the extended warranty because at ~15 hr's per engine; that's close to 2/3 the cost of the 2500 warranty right there.

Now the bad - somehow moisture gathered on my engines. We don't umderstand how, but the engine design with the cam covers higher than the injector seats caused standing water to pool on both #1 injector housings and cause rust to form between the injector casing and the top of the head. Rust did not penetrate the cylinder due to the injector o-ring, but its not a pretty sight and something I will be monitoring closely from now on.

[CClassic28]

Wow, That's alot of work to complete a minor repair.

Do you think that the angle of the motor in the boat had anything to do with the water pooling or is it just a bad design by the couch engineers at Volvo?

Any way for you to stop the water pooling... that picture after one year doesn't look promising for 10 yrs from now.

Hope that the purchase of that extended warranty will be nothing more than piece of mind for you.


Chris

[Bullish]

This would make me very upset. I do agree, extended warranty is the way to go. The cost of a catatstrophic failure far outways the cost of the warranty. The short warranty of two years that comes with these engines just shows you how little faith the manufaturers have in their ability to build an engine that can operate long term.

I hope this is only a bump in the road for you.

[Split Decision]

Why did'nt volvo do the work themselves?

I have a slight oil leak in the rear seal on my starboard engine. Cummins will do the work. Just trying to schedule the work to coinside with the gear change so they don't have to pull the gear twice.

[backman]

My yard is Volvo certified

what's bothering me the most is that the D4's come with a aluminum shield to cover the common rail and injector lines to protect the operator in case of a leak in the pressure system.

You can't see the tops of the engines with those shields on.

My suspicion is that water pooled after I was done for the boat this fall and was away from it for 2 weeks. I was out of the country; had the boat pulled and when i returned saw some water condensation on the visible parts of the engines.

I typically ran the boat every 3-4 days and thje mechanic and I agree that water would boil off once the engines got up to temp.

Here's a picture of the tops of the engines with the valve covers on, injectors and tubes our which illustrates the design problem.

[Patriot]

Any way for you to stop the water pooling... that picture after one year doesn't look promising for 10 yrs from now.
Chris

If the corrosion and water pooling can't be rectified, these engines won't last 5 years. You won't be able to pull an injector in two. The valley looks like it will hold lot's of water. I would start documenting this design problem with Volvo right now, extended warranty or not. As a matter of fact VOLVO should be extending the warranty at no cost considering what the engine looks like after one season. A CC-28 has one of the most dry engine compartments afloat. Imagine what a D-4 would look like after being coupled directly at the transom to a stern drive surrounded by bilge water!

Backman- I feel for you. The good news is that your frequent operation will stem the tide so to speak, the once every 7-10 day boater is going to get hurt by this.

[TwinFin]

Preventative action?

Larry:

I did not fully understand the source of the water that pooled up in that depression - I'm guessing it was condensation. Would it be practical to implement some sort of preventative method like running a heating blanket over that area whenever you are not running or are laid up? Just to keep that area warm enough to prevent condensation.?? Perhaps if you can do that, you have caught a design flaw before it really bites you.

You are lucky your yard ate those extra hours. The last VP authorized outfit I used billed me for anything in excess of the authorized time. I have not been very impressed with my extended warranty coverage. Lots of exclusions. The other guys are right - be sure to document this as best you can.

[backman]

Its all cleaned up and back together now

and they will do sea trials sometime this week.

The problem is the injectors (see attached) rusted at the casing to head connection where cast metal is lying against steel. You can see the bottom of the injectors, where they penetrate the head are clean and still have sealant.

I wish I had been there when they opened the engines to see how much water and condensation existed down there.

I think its going to be OK for me as i caught it and will be on it like a hawk. My guess is the rust occurred after I was done with the boat for the season, either on my last run, or perhaps when it was run up by the yard to change the oil and winterize. I'll make sure to take the covers off on a regular basis and keep that area dry; I really am not concerned with it once I start running the boat twice/week.

The other thought I have, though unlikely is that I carelessly pooled water there once as a result of cleaning the bilge with a hose. I'm pretty careful about aiming the water into the bilge and engine pans, but its possible that could be a causal factor.

My yard is on Volvo; I am staying out of it for now. I do believe this is a serious design flaw which will doom the D4 series unless addressed.

[backman]

Engines back together and ran today

and when it rains it pours. the f-ing dipstick tube; not the dipstick blew out. It was during the mechanic's trial run. Apparently there is a ferrule with metal clip mechanism that attaches the dipstick tube to the oil pan and it was not secure.

I'm not having a good year and the boat has yet to be in my hands ;(

On the plus side the mechanic was about 3 feet away watching the Vodia when it blew so the timing was perfect.

[CClassic28]

Some of the joys of boat ownership. It can never be simple & straightfoward. Hoping all will be corrected soon, as the season is around the corner.

Chris

[backman]

Today (and yesterday's fun)

So the batteries were dead since the hatch was up/main was on for close to a month. The yard could not get a charge in to them and was all set to replace them till I pointed out they had replaced all 4 last year.

They swapped a couple batteries in to get her started and charged the mine just fine on a shop charger. After the oil blowout they looked and found the battery charger was not putting out amperage. Ka-ching.

This morning after cleaning up the mechanics took it out for another sea trial. First; all the oil that had gone into the false bottom under the engine pan came out in the sloppy sea conditions and once more the engine room is a mess.

Engines ran fine this time; paired nicely up to 3500 RPM on the Vodia with equal boost, load and fuel burn. Then one spooled up to 3645; while the other separated and stopped spooling up at 3580. Burn and load was asymetrical at that point which is a concern. My mechanic who is a top Volvo tech. says w/ the electronic synchronizers anything more than a 20 RPM split is cause for investigation.

Next step next week is to shorthaul the boat and check the reconditioned props; the new shafts, and bearings for problems there.

No fun knowing that at the end of this Volvo is going to pay the yard a lot less than the time the yard is spending on the boat - I know where that leads.... ;(

[Bullish]

If there is a good side to your problem, you are getting attention and they seem to be working diligently to fix the problems. I had to call Volvo directly last year because two of their certified dealers wouldn't return my request for work. I contacted them for over a month with little response and no committment to see the boat. Next time, I give the dealers one week to get to the boat or I go directly to customer service at Volvo.

Hopefully, you'll get your headache straightened out without breaking the bank.

[jeannieb]

I bought an extended warranty with my last new Volvo (KAMD-44). I didn't go for it on my new one (D4-260) because of all the exclusions, flat rates and a lot of other problems that only came to light after I attemped to cash-in after a problem (blown head gasket). Total bill came to $3,500. Extended warranty only paid $1,700. After that, I figured this time I'd take my chances, but after reading this....wow. I told everyone I'd never do another Volvo after that KAMD experience...maybe I should have followed my own advice.

Steve

[code blue]

D4's

As a fellow D4 owner with a rear seal requiring pulling the engine and breaking the hatch lift in the process I feel for you. My question is, did you have an injector problem to alert you to this rust problem or was this an incidental finding during waranty work. Does vovlo reccomend examining this area of the engine routinely? Is yours an isolated incident. Thanks Rob

[backman]

It was an incidental discovery/no damage

Volvo has no other records of issues like this. We are waiting 1 month; then pulling the cover some cool damp morning to see what is or is not pooled in there.