Diesel Question

Michael T

A friend called with a question that I can not answer. He looked at a Rinker 400 that has Volvo diesels. The engines are 6VP D6-350s. He said each engine had a certification plate on it and one section said "Useful Engine Life 1000h/10yrs.

To me that is self explanatory but as the engines are 9 years old (he didn't say how many hours) he wondered if he was looking at a rebuild.

All I could say was: Knowing the operating hours would help. How was it used and maintained? If you're serious have a diesel mechanic look at it and have the owner have maintenance logs available for the mechanic to scrutinize.

I couldn't think of anything else. It does seem a bit strange to me that Volvo would rate their engines'  "useful life" at 1000 hours?

Am I missing something? Could these engines - even if maintained well - be looking at rebuilds at the 10 year mark?

F1100

you could store the engines, and then after 20 years bring them out and use them.

Age has little to do with engines, wear and tear however does. AKA hours

unless of course you leave the engines to bake in the sun or something, which is not the case on a boat.

Handymans342

MT, can you post a picture of that tag? I have seen many diesel engines with 3500 plus hours. Old Cats, Detroit's, Cummins, etc. My Yanmar Mechanic has seen the motors I have with 10000 hours. Its all how you take care of them I guess. 

LaRea

Your friend has mis-read the label.  Volvo tells its commercial users to go 1000 hours between oil changes.  

LaRea

I grabbed the D6 operator manual from volvopenta.com.  One of the recommended service intervals calls for routine maintenance (belts, hoses, etc.) every 1200 hours or 5 years.  So, clearly VP does not expect the engine to be spent after 1000 hours or 10 years.  

Dream_Inn

Maybe the label said 10,000 hours?  Although 10 years just wouldn't be right either.  Hopefully it doesn't deter your friend because there are some fantastic deals on the used market right now for the 400s, especially the diesels (I've seen some under the 150k).

Handymans342

You gassers, keep dreaming LOL

Handymans342

Your right again AL. Have you ever tried to assemble an IKEA piece of furniture? Holly Cow. 

212rowboat

i used to work on a specific military device that was built under contract by an english company... we received 28 new ones directly from across the drink instead of through the US office- and I pulled their hard drives and went through them to make a few operational adjustments for the area/region... the ones from directly overseas had several applications on them the ones from the US office didn't have, and a few PDF files for instructions... .

the applications were diagnostic tools, and one of the PDF's were flow charts/timelines of PROGRAMMED failures.... they had notes... the sole reason for the 1200 hour failure, for instance, that could only be recovered by OE technicians, was for them to collect the device and pull data to build understanding of how the devices were employed, environmental usage data.... for their records and supposedly to improve their product.  it cost us $1800 one way to ship those things, and we'd ship ten at a time...  the diagnostic software allowed us to turn off the fault and return the devices to service...

about a year after receiving the 28 replacements, i got a call from the US office wanting to know if we were still using their device... and why we weren't shipping them for OEM Repair.... I told them why point blank... a day later I got an email followed up by a call from the systems command to "pull all the hard drives from the newer devices and return them to the OE for repair/refurb as there was a possibility they had contaminated software on them which could inject itself onto the .mil environment.... and oh yeah, there is proprietary software on them too which needed to be reclaimed".... sure... I sent them off as requested... after making copy of the diagnostic software.... which i used, and saved huge $$$ with.... I actually drafted and presented a report about this, and gave it to the 'right' people, and was told to shut up.... it's a farce... 

with this volvo thing, it sounds like a farce too... I get that they would like a volvo penta mechanic to get his hands on the engine with those hours to see if anything is about to go bad, and possibly tarnish the companies reputation, but trying to do so with tactics like those is about stupid.... there is zero reason a diesel engine that has been properly maintained can't peg 5k hours before serious interrupt issues start to arise.  

Michael T

I'll see if he can send me a picture of the label. He did not misread it as I read it too in the picture. It was very clear and said "Useful Engine Life" 1000h/10yrs.

It could be that the 1000 was a misprint at the Volvo factory and should have read 10,000.....but at 9+ years don't you think a technician or someone would have said something?

I'll pass on your comments. Thanks, everyone.

LaRea

Here's an answer.  I found it on the internet, so there's only a 20% chance it's correct, but it's an answer.

Apparently, the purpose of the label is to certify compliance with a UK law related to the durability of boat engines.  The law states that inboard or stern drive engines must last at least 480 hours or 10 years.  So VP adds a label saying their engine will exceed that requirement.  

Here's where I found it - about halfway down the page:
http://www.ybw.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-174044.html

It makes sense.  They aren't saying the engine is toast after 1000 hours; they are guaranteeing that a properly maintained engine will last a minimum of 1000 hours.  

All is right with the world, and we can go back to harassing Handy about his slow, stinky diesels.

Handymans342

HA! My boat is faster than a 400 with Volvos

Dream_Inn

Not sure where you read that Handy, but it does not surprise me.  The one that travels with us (actually go on our upcoming trip with us) can stay with us at our lower end of the cruising speed we like to go (~30mph), but has a tougher time when we go ~33mph.

Michael T

Now that all is good here I'm really going to start a stink (pun intended) with a post about a possible "hint" from Rinker boats. You guys had better go look for it LOL

Dirtythirty

So we got way off topic, but I'd like to chime in here...first of all Handy, the ONLY place you're going to beat me to is the gas dock.  And that's one race I'd be happy to lose.  But back to the question.  Volvo recommends a full 1000 hrs service.  At 1000hrs, there is a plethora of maintenance that Volvo suggests be completed. Computer updates, seals and a ton of other items.  The 1000 service was completed on my boat prior to me buying it last year. Not because of the hrs (it only had 160hrs) but because of the age. It's a 2007. I can provide you with an entire laundry list of the items that were completed if you like. The previous owner paid for the service before he listed the boat for sale. The service cost him $11,000.  
I highly recommend that this service be done either for hours or age, as the repairs would easily exceed that cost of the preventive maintenance is not completed.

LaRea

Holy Smokes!  So the operating cost for those engines is all of the normal stuff, PLUS another $1100 per year just for the 1000-hour service?

MDboater

Dirtythirty said:

At 1000hrs, there is a plethora of maintenance that Volvo suggests be completed. Computer updates, seals and a ton of other items.  The 1000 service was completed on my boat prior to me buying it last year. Not because of the hrs (it only had 160hrs) but because of the age. It's a 2007. I can provide you with an entire laundry list of the items that were completed if you like. The previous owner paid for the service before he listed the boat for sale. The service cost him $11,000.  
I highly recommend that this service be done either for hours or age, as the repairs would easily exceed that cost of the preventive maintenance is not completed.

Is that $11,000 for just the engines, or for just the pods, or for both engines and pods?

Dirtythirty

It was for the engines.  I had some work and updates done to the drives after I bought it and that brought everything up to date.