Buying a boat with Volvo 3.0, need advice

Hi, I'm going to look at a boat tomorrow and possibly buy it if everything works out. It is a 1996 with the 3.0 Volvo w/sx leg. The seller says he does not winterize it but instead keeps it in the garage. Here in the PNW it does not often get below freezing but we have had a couple days of below freezing weather in the past 2 months. He says it runs excellent but I want to make sure the block is not cracked. My question is, if the block happens to be cracked and he changes the oil before I get there how long does it take to notice the water in the oil?? And also where are the most common spots on these 3.0 motors to crack?

Thanks!

Re: Buying a boat with Volvo 3.0, need advice

These motors tend to crack on the exterior port side behind the intake and exhaust. Look for pin hole stains of rust or smoothed out expoxy. I stitched up a couple of these before. Good luck

Re: Buying a boat with Volvo 3.0, need advice

If you're looking to do skiing or pulling tubes the 3.0 might be a little weak. We have a 4.3 Merc and it does well with pulling skiers and not costing a fortune in gas.

If you're just putting around or fishing, then it'll be good.

Re: Buying a boat with Volvo 3.0, need advice

df909 said:

If you're looking to do skiing or pulling tubes the 3.0 might be a little weak. We have a 4.3 Merc and it does well with pulling skiers and not costing a fortune in gas.

If you're just putting around or fishing, then it'll be good.

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I have a 21.5ft searay express cruiser for pulling tubers, skiers, etc. I find the searay too big to haul around everywhere all the time. I'm just looking for a smaller fuel efficient boat like this one (18ft wellcraft )that we can tow around easier and use it for just short cruises to our "island get away" where we hang out and camp all the time with others on short notice. The searay will be the fishing/ocean/fun boat and this will be our little fuel efficient cruiser. Is there anything else I should look out for on these particular engines or is it pretty much just the same as any I/O?

Re: Buying a boat with Volvo 3.0, need advice

df909 said:

If you're looking to do skiing or pulling tubes the 3.0 might be a little weak. We have a 4.3 Merc and it does well with pulling skiers and not costing a fortune in gas.

If you're just putting around or fishing, then it'll be good.

Click to expand...

A 3.0 on a 19' glasstron pulled me on a wake board and I am 6'0 290 + the boat had 4 adults in it. Not saying I would want that to be my permanent tow boat but it worked.

Re: Buying a boat with Volvo 3.0, need advice

It could have internal cracks in the block, in which case you won't see. If the cracks are small, you may not even see water in the oil if running the engine on muffs. This time of year, and knowing the boat has not been winterized, do an on the water test, only way to know for sure short of blocking off the engines cooling system and pressure testing.
IF you get to run it, check the oil before and then after your run, run it for 15 to 30 minutes and do some WOT runs to verify max rpm is obtaines. If you get milky oil and the level is over what it was in the beginning. RUN AWAY. That is a cracked block, and Not a bad head gasket as the owner will try to make you believe.