1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

[GLPmike]

Hello,

Our stern drive is not taking in water with muffs or in tub. When we attach garden hose to intake pipe to salt water pump entire system going forward is working correctly.

Any thoughts? We ran the water hose in opposite direction and water came out water intake on lower unit to rule out obstruction.

Thanks

 

[GLPmike]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

We just disconnected the intake hose from the fitting on the outdrive and flushed a garden hose in to the fitting and water came out of the lower unit intakes without any obstruction. We also attached the hose from the boat side of the intake hose and water flowed freely to the other end which is still disconnected from the outdrive fitting.

We have not taken the boat out as of yet. Does the outdrive need to be totally submerged for this to work? We tried muffs secured with a bungee cord and placing the outdrive in a tub with water 2-3 inches above the water intake.

 

[howlnmad]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

I'm not a Volvo guy, but if I remember my reading, the Volvo doesn't have an impellar. It uses a true water pump mounted at the front of the motor by the lower pulley. If you have flow on muffs and not in a tub, the hose water pressure could be throwing you off. I would look closer at the pump. I may be completely wrong, in which case, disregard this entire post.

 

[GLPmike]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Thanks. Yes you are correct there is no impeller in the outdrive. We installed a new impeller and gaskets in the salt water pump. No visible leaks when we attached a garden hose with low pressure to the pipe going in to the water pump. From what we could tell everything worked correctly going forward with heated water exiting the exhaust. We ran the motor for 15 minutes in the driveway and the temp gauge stayed around 195...

What is a safe operating temp?

 

[howlnmad]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

I was hoping someone with real Volvo knowledge would have answered by now. To me, that temp seems just a bit high but as stated earlier I'm not a Volvo user. What kind of water temp were you running before?

 

[GLPmike]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

We bought the boat used a couple of months ago and just got the motor running the other day.

We were told the boat ran last year and that the previous owner reported that there were some problems with the heat exchanger.

We cleaned it, took it apart and flushed the core, replaced all the seals and do not see any leaks.

We inspected the salt water pump impeller yesterday which we installed new a couple of days ago and it looks good.

 

[GLPmike]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Connected garden hose to Disconnected water hose at outdrive and the cooling system works like a charm.

Any thoughts....

 

[howlnmad]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

You mentioned something in your first post. The outdrive may have to be submerged for proper operation. Are you close enough to trailer it to a ramp and try it. You won't even need to unload.
I hate how Volvos get glossed over, OMC gets bashed and the Mercs get white gloves and golden wrenches.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Did you plug the hole at the nose of the drive when you use the muffs? If you don't do that, you will suck air.

There is also a joint where the hose from the drive to the water pump joins that corrodes and can let in air.

 

[Jeepster04]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Volvo does have a water pump but it's mounted on the crank pulley and not in the out drive. Far as as I know, the water pump is too high to 'pull' water up into the out drive if youre just on the muff's. Ive seen people dry the outdrive off thoroughly then duck tape the muff's on to try and seal the muff's to the out drive with success. If you fill that tub up close to where the water would be on the out drive if it were in the lake I bet you would find everything would work correctly.

Since youve ran the engine without water that new impeller is probably destroyed.

195 does seem a little high. A

 

[bruceb58]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Volvo does have a water pump but it's mounted on the crank pulley and not in the out drive. Far as as I know, the water pump is too high to 'pull' water up into the out drive if youre just on the muff's. Ive seen people drive the outdrive off thoroughly then duck tape the muff's on to try and seal the muff's to the out drive with success. If you fill that tub up close to where the water would be on the out drive if it were in the lake I bet you would find everything would work correctly.

Since youve ran the engine without water that new impeller is probably destroyed.

195F seems high to me, depends on what temp stat has been put in the engine. Our volvos run around 160-175(We have two 1990 5.0 Volvo DP's and a 2007 Volvo 4.3 SX).

Curious, did you ever run any of your Volvos on muffs? They are basically the same configuration as the OP.

 

[Jeepster04]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Curious, did you ever run any of your Volvos on muffs? They are basically the same configuration as the OP.

Not the 1990 5.0 Volvo DP's. That boat has yet to be pulled out of the water since weve owned it(3 years). Our 2007 boat with the volvo 4.3 SX has a hose that you hook a water hose to for flushing.

 

[GLPmike]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Checked the impeller. It's fine.

I will try running it on the muffs with tape. I will also plug the bottom hole behind the prop.

What is a safe operating temp?

 

[Jeepster04]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Checked the impeller. It's fine.

I will try running it on the muffs with tape. I will also plug the bottom hole behind the prop.

What is a safe operating temp?

Ive never seen our 5.0's get over 160F

 

[captmello]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Ive never seen our 5.0's get over 160F

Your's is raw water cooled Jeepster, the OP's is not. Time to get your barge out for some maintenance and TLC..

All the specs are in your manual.

 

[howlnmad]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Is my understanding wrong? I thought any system that was supplied through the outdrive and discharged through same as a raw water system.A self contained and cooled, recirculating, a closed system. I just want the proper terminology.

 

[GLPmike]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Ran it this morning for 30 mins. At 1500-2000 rpm with a garden hose on the cooling hose on the outdrive.

Engine ran fine and temp did not go over 195f.....

This weekend we really need to drop it in the local lake to give it an easy run.

Is okay to run it at 195f?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

Is my understanding wrong? I thought any system that was supplied through the outdrive and discharged through same as a raw water system.A self contained and cooled, recirculating, a closed system. I just want the proper terminology.

The difference with the OPs is that the raw water is sent to a heat exchanger and then goes through the exhaust before exiting the drive. His engine is cooled by coolant that exchanges its heat through the heat exchanger.

 

[GLPmike]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogwHLtT_Qm4

 

[GLPmike]

Re: 1992 Volvo Penta SP Stern Drive Not taking in Water

We reconnected hose to fitting on out drive and installed muffs along with plugging drain hole behind prop. Filled filter cup next to heat exchanger as to avoid burning out impeller. Fired it up for s few minutes and the pump is still not drawing water.

Any thoughts?