Volvo Penta TAMD 60 C died in sea trial

We popped an engine on our sea trial yesterday. Best guess is our Volvo Penta TAMD60C had a bit of carbon come loose and break a ring causing the crankcase back pressure to increase to a puff of smoke and pressure on each power stroke of that cylinder. Engine runs with good oil pressure and no overheating, skips and puff. 20 years ago I would already have it apart and the parts ordered. I must decide now:
1. to sell at a drastically reduced price
2. have someone in Jax fix it at high labor and parts+ time+dockage, the lease is up here at Ortega in Jan. All the yards want you there on their dock.
3. Take the boat around on one engine to pine island where the house we bought has a dock and fix it myself as time and back allow.

There may be more choices I don't see at this time. The engines and diesel are no mystery to me. I have repaired bigger and smaller types of diesel. The best solution has not appeared as I look at my options. Any Ideas? Yes, I know Volvos are expensive and parts are hard to find. Anyone have a salvaged dry engine lying around the dock?

I keep hearing about how wonderful it is to have twin engines. Put them to good use.

Bring it around to your house on one engine.

Bring out a nice comfortable chair to the lawn.

Sit in the chair with a drink of your choice and look at the boat.

The answer will come to you after a while.

If you have a yacht insurance policy this is probably a covered loss.

Get your insurance company involved, and have the issue fixed properly.

If your buyer is willing to wait for the proper repairs then continue with the sale.

Parts are expensive, yes, but they are not hard to find. Call Dick at Vosbury Marine in Annapolis, MD. He and Cary will have it to JAX in two days or less. Volvo parts distribution is in Mississippi and they fill their orders very quickly. That said, internal parts for the 6.0L motors have been around for a while and should be no problem getting.

If you are comfortable pulling the pistons and sleeves and have the mechanics manual, I would do a combination of 2 & 3. Pull the boat around to your dock, do most of the disassembly yourself, then hire a mechanic to help you with the hard stuff and reassemble yourself. I feel that you would really take a hit trying to sell it with a fluffed motor. About the same or more than if you just fixed it.

Good luck

If you decide to do it your self!!

I recently completed a full rebuild on a Volvo MD31A and found the following company in Greece as FOMANIS SPARES-GREECE –sales@fomanisprpower.com –contact Vasilis

I received new liner kits /pistons/seals etc but they have many other parts as well for Volvo, interesting thing once received although made by obviously a base company (not Volvo) all the casting numbers were the same as the old Volvo parts(Telling me they manufacture for Volvo as well as many other Brand names) Im only telling you this as all the parts averaged 40-60% cheaper than Volvo original parts!

Cheers Steve

I should fix it myself. Pull it around to my dock

The operation of this boat with only one of the twin engines operating is said to be difficult. Jacksonville to Cape Coral, across the O or around the Keys. Then the repair will be slow. I will find an apprentice and use this as a teaching moment.

How is the operation with one engine?
Those are tiny rudders.
No backing up

Anyone else do this?

We have GIECO/Boat US. According to the policy, you will have to come steal the engine. When could you do that? Bring enough help the engine is 1200# and you will have to provide your own tools. Thanks For the reply. I did read the entire policy.

Would TowBoatUS provide you a tow to where you need to go?

We are in Jax @ Marina at Ortega Landing, the dock we own is in Pine Island Florida 340+- miles near Cape Coral. I don't think Boat US will do that. Thanks

I'd do the miles, and keep something like my 15hp avon in tow on the sheltered/close waters. To use as a bow thruster, obviously a two+ person operation.
But then, I've started a gulf stream crossing with 2 out of 8 cylinders out on a single engine boat. So, don't listen to me!

There are many companies that rebuild diesels that have access to perfectly good parts not made by Volvo. It's a matter of finding a rebuilder/machine shop on your coast. I've run many diesels in my life but mostly Detroit Diesels. For the last 40 years or so, I've only bought an overpriced part from Detroit if not made by someone else. I rebuild my own and did others as part of a boatyard business. My customers got the same life out of their engines as others did with OEM parts, More if they listened and didn't abuse their engines.
Your engine is pleasure duty so probably no sleeves. The block will have to be bored. So oversized pistons and rings. Everything else should standard if you changed oil.
Another option is mic the bore, it may be ok for it's hours. In that case you just need a light honing, new rings, gaskets and seals. It should seal as good or better than the other engine. If it was mine, I'd change all the rings in that engine after a new crosshatching honing, new bearings cause the engine is already open.
In the old days when people were thrifty to a fault and labor was cheap, it was common to repair a single cylinder. No harm done.
Moving on one engine. I brought my current boat down the Washington coast in winter and across the Columbia River bar on one engine. Small craft or gale warnings all the way. Nice to have 2.

I appreciate your comments and sharing experiences. I trained as a diesel tech way back and they have no mystery for me. My problem is my back has been repaired now 3 times in 4 yrs. I do not want another back surgery. I will consider bringing her around on one engine from Jax to Cape Coral and hiring an apprentice or helper to teach. We will see what happens. Always an adventure. Semper Fi!

You said the engine runs but puffs. Run easy on one engine and start the bad engine only to dock.
When you are moving ahead, it will behave ok on one engine.

Which Marine Trader?
I had a whole summer on one engine. I have a C&L 44, which is the Marine Trader hull, with TAMD41s @ 200hp each. Docking against wind and tide was interesting, but with a little practice, not difficult. Make the propwalk your friend. Don't try what the propwalk fights. Only go with propwalk your friend and you will be OK.

No problem with advice so far, and yes running on one engine is OK. Start the second one for docking assistance, as docking with only one engine on a twin engine boat can be challenging as I found out last year.

But your first step ought to be another conversation with the potential buyer. Is he still interested? Does he want a working second Volvo or might he consider a re-power with something different? Can you, or he, source a working take-out from somewhere that could be replaced in JAX or nearby? Does your buyer have access to a diesel repair shop? If so you could agree on a repair cost as a deduction from your sell price. I don't think you should consider 'taking a big hit on price' anytime soon. And best to give some time to test the above scenarios before the long journey on one engine. Particularly as you had obviously decided it was time to be selling.

Autoteacher, sorry to hear of your issue discovered during the sale process. I`m going through something similar,equally unexpected,equally unwelcome.
The DIY option after "getting her home" is a problem with your back. Strangely, we share back issues, yours sounds nasty and recurrent. Can you get the work done professionally near home at your leisure? Don`t DIY it, you`ll be tempted to do something you should not, and end up the worse.
Think about it as realizing the value of an asset. You wanted to sell,perhaps because of your recurrent back issues, so how to get the most $ out of it. It is either worth a lot less as is, or you can restore the engine to saleable condition. Selling "as is" looks forced, and will encourage bargain hunters or a mechanic/dealer. You need to have an idea of the likely price. What will it cost, ballpark figure, to repair. Deduct that from the potential sale price, is the $ result better repairing and selling or selling as is.
?
Consider that if you motor it home,which should be doable,to DIY, the thing may end up on the backburner and slowly degrade with lack of use and maintenance.
No solution, but perhaps the discussion of possibilities will throw up a course of action. Good luck with it, it`s not easy.

Having a kid learn a trade as you sit and supervise is worth the extra time it will take.

You will know the quality of the workmanship.

The cost will be 1/10 of yard job , and you will have helped with a kids education.

All positives to me.

Assuming you have lost your buyer, consider putting yourself in the position of the next buyer. Unless you deny having worked on the engine, many may question whether the repair was done well or bandaided to get the boat sold. It might be worth getting an estimate and being able to show a perspective buyer that the repair was done by a mechanic other than you.

Ted

alormaria said:

I keep hearing about how wonderful it is to have twin engines. Put them to good use.

Bring it around to your house on one engine.

Bring out a nice comfortable chair to the lawn.

Sit in the chair with a drink of your choice and look at the boat.

The answer will come to you after a while.

Click to expand...

The chair and the drink will come in handy while the mechanic works.

"It might be worth getting an estimate and being able to show a perspective buyer that the repair was done by a mechanic other than you"

Fine if the engine was R&R and rebuilt at a good rebuilders shop, then replaced..

But the quality of work at most yacht boatyards would scare the heck out of me.

I would much prefer a mechanic owner , and an oil sample after 50-100 hours are on the engine.

If the OP is skilled in engines, but has a bad back, then supervising an apprentice sounds like a great idea. If there is a community college nearby with a diesel class, contact the school and see if you can make arrangements that way. Win Win Win.

Document the repair with photos and records, with the OP's background that should not scare a reasonable buyer.

Also use outboard decarb spray on the other five holes once you have heads off. Problem probably started with hard carbon above top ring. The decarb spray will soften it up while you work. The soft gunk will burn out with post fix sea trial.

TAMD 60 has wet liners, if other holes look good, see no problem with just fixing the one with a problem.