Opinions on Volvo Penta engines and drives

[awyman123]

Looking at mid 90s to early 2000s Vistas, which all seem to have the volvo pentas. For the mechanics out there, what are your opinions, in general? I've only ever owned Mercruiser, and have never had an issue with mechanic and part availability. Don't want to buy something that is hard to maintain. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Lou C]

They have a bad habit of making certain parts NLA, the drives & transom mounts themselves are very good, maybe better than Mercruiser. Watch out for ones with either throttle body injection or port fuel injection, often ECMs for these are NLA. If it goes bad you're SOL. That and the modules for the Prestolite BID electronic ignition are NLA too.
You're actually much better off with a simple points/centrifugal advance distributor and a 4bbl carb. Those parts, are everywhere, I can even get any part I need for a 35 year old Rochester Quadrajet that hasn't been made in over 30 years.
If you bought it anyway you might never have a problem but if you did, the only alternative is to convert it to a Delco EST ignition, and a 4bbl carb (Holley was used by Volvo so the rigging would be a bit easier than Edelbrock) and you'd need a 4bbl intake manifold. Not a hard conversion but parts wise it ain't gonna be cheap. But far better in the long run.
Take the engine model # of one that you are looking at, and look at the Volvo Penta parts web site connected with site and start looking to see of mission critical parts are still available. I'm thinking you are looking at the SX series, which was built till about 2005 or 2006, after that, it was the SX-A which is similar but no parts are shared.

 

[awyman123]

They have a bad habit of making certain parts NLA, the drives & transom mounts themselves are very good, maybe better than Mercruiser. Watch out for ones with either throttle body injection or port fuel injection, often ECMs for these are NLA. If it goes bad you're SOL. That and the modules for the Prestolite BID electronic ignition are NLA too.
You're actually much better off with a simple points/centrifugal advance distributor and a 4bbl carb. Those parts, are everywhere, I can even get any part I need for a 35 year old Rochester Quadrajet that hasn't been made in over 30 years.
If you bought it anyway you might never have a problem but if you did, the only alternative is to convert it to a Delco EST ignition, and a 4bbl carb (Holley was used by Volvo so the rigging would be a bit easier than Edelbrock) and you'd need a 4bbl intake manifold. Not a hard conversion but parts wise it ain't gonna be cheap. But far better in the long run.
Take the engine model # of one that you are looking at, and look at the Volvo Penta parts web site connected with site and start looking to see of mission critical parts are still available. I'm thinking you are looking at the SX series, which was built till about 2005 or 2006, after that, it was the SX-A which is similar but no parts are shared.

Perfect. Just the kind of information I was looking for. Thank you!

 

[jimmbo]

Have had a VP for over 20 yrs, has been reliable. Uses Cone Clutches instead of Wear Prone Clutch Dogs. Cooling System, much less Complicated than MC. Raw Water Pump is inside the Boat, no need to take the outdrive apart to change the Impeller

 

[tpenfield]

They (Merc & V-P) are both based on GM engines in that era for the most part. V-P unique parts tend to be more expensive and there is less knowledge in general from both a professional and an Internet forum advisory perspective.

If you stay with carburated engines, then probably not an issue. If you get something with fuel injection (EFI/MPI), then it might be a bit more challenging.

If all else was good, I would not consider V-P (instead of Merc) as a show stopper.

 

[Scott Danforth]

AQ series or SX series drives?

The 290 based drives are bulletproof

 

[Lou C]

Also find out how available service is, in how many shops will work in them in your locale.