Turbo diesel inboard help needed in Palm Beach

[Man-O-War]

I am having some issues under load on Volvo Penta 2.4L 4cyl turbo diesel inboard. It revs to redline 3800rpm without problems when in neutral OR in gear with duoprops turning (outside of the water), while it will only rev to 1925rpm when in the water

Can anyone recommend a good mechanic who knows these motors?

[dagodiver]

I am having some issues under load on Volvo Penta 2.4L 4cyl turbo diesel inboard. It revs to redline 3800rpm without problems when in neutral OR in gear with duoprops turning (outside of the water), while it will only rev to 1925rpm when in the water

Can anyone recommend a good mechanic who knows these motors?


Do you own anything that does not have a turbo charger on it.? :D


Dago.

[SpearMax]

Wolf, I get my diesel serviced at Florida Marine Tech on US Hwy. One in Riviera Beach next door to Larry Smith Electronics. My mechanic is a wise, older, part-owner of the company named "Doc." He is an amazing diagnostician, but I do not know if they work on Volvos. Their number is 561-844-7007.

[Man-O-War]

Do you own anything that does not have a turbo charger on it.? :D

Haha let me see

supra turbo 6-speed
f250 turbo diesel towing bitch 6-speed
turbo diesel boat :beer:

LOL :thumps:

[Man-O-War]

Wolf, I get my diesel serviced at Florida Marine Tech on US Hwy. One in Riviera Beach next door to Larry Smith Electronics. My mechanic is a wise, older, part-owner of the company named "Doc." He is an amazing diagnostician, but I do not know if they work on Volvos. Their number is 561-844-7007.

Called them now, unfortunately they don't work on Pentas :(

[bug_power]

make sure your turbo is spooling. Do you have a boost guage...sounds like you may not have enough power to push it past 1900rpm. Could be a boost leak as well. While out of the water and at idle or no load there isn't much load to build exhuast gasses to spool the turbo, with the lack of resistance against the prop you don't need any HP to spin the screws. Now add a boat and water resistance and you'll need much more HP.

[Man-O-War]

I checked the turbo, compressor side spins freely, with no shaft play. I can also see it spinning at idle with the air filter off. There is no black exhaust smoke out the back, just normal fumes. It sounds like fuel related (not enough fuel when load gets high) or maybe even turbo. I don't have a boost gauge installed, I ordered one today.

[Capt.Gene]

Dirty bottom? An extra 2500# weight in the boat you don't know about?
Need a filter change? Probably be dumping black smoke but I don't know about these new electronic controled diesels. Maybe the ecu won't let it spin up without the fuel, or maybe the fuel won't deliver because it can't build boost.
I had similar problems, over and over again on a 600 hp Cat. I don't trust any engine you tune with a laptop. :beer:

[Man-O-War]

Engine is from 1993. So its pretty old tech (mechanical this mechanical that). No extra weight. Bottom is clean. Props are correct for drive ratio, boat weight, boat lenght. All filters are brand new (air & fuel). Absolutely no excess smoke out back. No weird noises from the motor. Throttle travel operates fine from idle stop bolt, to max RPM stop bolt. Fuel supply sounds abt right

[dagodiver]

Engine is from 1993. So its pretty old tech (mechanical this mechanical that). No extra weight. Bottom is clean. Props are correct for drive ratio, boat weight, boat lenght. All filters are brand new (air & fuel). Absolutely no excess smoke out back. No weird noises from the motor. Throttle travel operates fine from idle stop bolt, to max RPM stop bolt. Fuel supply sounds abt right


Did you vis test your crank oil.? With it being an older mechanical motor the injectors may not show up bad unless you have them under load. If the crank oil smells alot like fuel your problem might be a bad injector. I was running a VT-12-900E cummings that had only 1 bad injector but would fill the crank up with fuel in no time. I alway ran 9250 for case oil just for this reason but for the newer motors it is not needed. Just a thought.

Dago.

[bug_power]

if the compressor spins freely and you don't hear any high pitch squeeling the turbo should be fine, especially with no shaft free play. I don't know what kind of fueling the Penta is, but I'd say check your filters to make sure you have enough flow, and check your injection pump to make sure you have enough pressure. It could be either of them. If it's a diesel, and your at WOT you should have an nice black chimmney :)

[Safari]

Check the pickup in the tank some of the older ones had a small screen type filter that would clog up and produce problems similar to the one you describe. Also if you have recently changed the raw water impeller on some pentas it can cause low RPM issues under load...

[Im1chunkymunky]

wolf- a guy named Dave, is fixing my buddy's boat, its an outboard, but supposedly he is a great mechanic. call 561-655-9555 and tell them whats up, i think they may have multiple mechanics, but hopefully they can help you out!

[fishhunta]

Wolf, call me, I got a great mechanic helping me put my boat together..........
\Sounds like fuel flow problem. Your racor is usually the culprit. Take it out and soak it in mineral spirits, clean it and try it again.......

[Man-O-War]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll call tomorrow (Justins mechanic and you Paul). Thanks alot, this shit is frustrating. All who helped are invited on my boat as soon as its full tilt!

[Capt.Gene]

Share the soluton to the mystery with us. Good Luck! :beer:

[CWitch]

By any chance...did you just change the fuel filter element? If so, check the filter number and make sure it is the correct micron. I had the exact same problem when a filter was in the wrong box. If you are not smoking (black) it is almost certainly fuel starvation.

[fishhunta]

. If you are not smoking (black) it is almost certainly fuel starvation.

You can get black smoke from fuel starvation too..........That's exactly what mine did. Mine was rough at idle and had no high end. It smoked black (usually smokes VERY little). I manually primed it and it smoothed out and stopped smoking as long as I primed it. I made it to the marina and I'm now not only cleaning my racor, but re-rigging all fuel lines....

[Kahuna]

You are not having an air side problem. If you were you would have smoke. Either a bad injector, pump issues, or filter. Also something that goes missed. Your fuel pickup screen could be clogged up in the tank. Get a 5 gallon can and pull the hoses off the tank and run it with the can.

[Killer&Griller]

Did some trouble shooting on a buddies last summer. He had changed his fuel filter and the o-ring gasket was not seated properly. It let just enough air in to mess up the fuel flow. While we were at it, cleaned up the pick upscreen, checked fuel out of the tank for water, another new filter, cleaned out the trap and off we went. Do you have on your fuel line, an inline directional valve? Some of the older boats let the fuel flow freely from, and to, the tank which can effect your pressure. If you don't, ask the tech, he will probably recommend one. They are not that much and easy to install.

[Kahuna]

Its very simple on the pre-tech motors. If you are making smoke you have more fuel than air, no turbo, packed up intercooler, clogged air cleaner. If you can't make RPM's under load, LACK OF FUEL, or worn out motor.

[Man-O-War]

Got the boat to PLANE!!!! Installed some B4 props and it got up to 17kts into the wind and chop @ 3150rpm....at 3800rpm it should go 24-26kts. i wasseverely overpropped before! Now its ON! :) Thanks all for help

[Im1chunkymunky]

that boat ran BEAUTIFULLY!!!! woohoo!!! thanks for the ride Capt. Wolf :thumps:

[Man-O-War]

that boat ran BEAUTIFULLY!!!! woohoo!!! thanks for the ride Capt. Wolf :thumps:

Its quite alright deck mate Chunky! :cowboy:

[Steve-o]

You had no black smoke while you were over propped?

Also, I don't know if it makes a big difference in the long run, but I think the B series props were for gassers, and the A series were the duoprops for this era of diesels (or the C series which were stainless).

Glad you got it sorted out.

[Man-O-War]

No smoke, I was up to 1925rpm at full throttle and boat was wedged in the water with A8 props with no chance of getting up on plane. Yes, B series props are from gasoline engines, but when cross referenced with A series they very closely match A5 in pitch/size. It seems to work great for my boat, these RIBs are notoriously hard to prop due to alot of aft weight. I will do some more tests and see if I can fine tune it...including running it with full load of divers/gear. One Volvo tech told me gas props might put more strain on steering/driveline than diesel props, but he also thinks extra load is marginal.

[Capt.Gene]

Did you just get the boat, or did you just change your prop to a bigger bite?
If you were running the bigger props with no problem before and now have to go smaller with your wheel I think you still have a problem.

[Man-O-War]

I just got the boat, for me it never got on the plane with the props that came with it. What confused me is the fact that it came with spare set of same A8 props in a box, on top of the ones already on the outdrive. So I was pretty much convinced that A8 is correct size...even tho parts dealer referenced it and told me he NEVER sold a pair of A8s, and that they are designed for 300-400hp motors (mine is 130hp).