Spring startup: A couple issues

skydiveD30571

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2007 Volvo Penta 5.0GL-H with SX drive on 2007 Seaswirl 210 BR.

A little background experience on this engine:

Last summer was my first summer with this boat and engine. When purchased everything worked and ran great. Idled about 550rpm and WOT at about 4600rpm which is what Volvo suggests. I started noticing a squeal during the first startup of the day but it would go away after a couple minutes. As the summer went on, the noise would last longer and longer, and eventually would never go away. On the last outing in August, I noticed it was idling higher (about 900rpm in neutral and 800rpm in forward gear). Temperature was also rising more than normal and the squealing was constant. I put it away for a few weeks, then had it serviced/winterized in october by a family friend mechanic. He mentioned that the impeller had never been changed and was im many pieces which would explain the temp rising. He also said to his knowledge it looked like the drive had never been pulled before. AKA the previous owner didn't do much maintenance at all. I figured the squealing was caused by the bad impeller.

Pulled it out of storage a couple days ago to clean/flush and get ready for the season. The 07 GL-H has a hose attachment inline with the water pump so I didn't use muffs on the driveway. On startup the squeal was very noticeable, but got quieter and less frequent as time went on. After about 10 minutes it was non-existent. Temp sat about 160+/-. Idle was still around 900rpm but I understand that it is a useless number when not loaded. Obviously its pretty difficult to pinpoint where noise is coming from in an engine compartment, but I could follow the white paint on the belt (manufacturer info I believe) and the noise was continuous with the belt speed. By that I mean the squeal or chirp happened when the belt was in the same location each time which makes me believe it is actually the belt or a pully instead of something else in the engine compartment.

I took her out to the lake last night for the first run of the season. It started right up like normal and ran good. The squeal was very noticeable again, but never went away like it did on the driveway. Idle in forward gear was still about 800rpm. While I was checking the engine on the water, I did notice that the engine water circulation pump pully (not the raw water pump) has a very very tiny wobble to it. It's small enough that you really have to stare at it to notice. The engine has a serpentine belt and the tension is good. I'm just wondering if anyone has seen this kind of thing before, and if it could be this pully causing the noise. That would still leave the high idle question, but atleast its a start.
 

Don S

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Re: Spring startup: A couple issues

My guess without being there is the belt may be too loose. Then when you start it, the alternator kicks in full load and causes the squeal. Or maybe an idler is failing, hard to say. Remove the belt and check things out.
 

skydiveD30571

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Re: Spring startup: A couple issues

I will check all that out as soon as possible. Its weird that it went away on the driveway but not on the water. For the high idle, could it be related to anything with the belt or is it simply a case of needing to adjust idle?
 

tpenfield

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Re: Spring startup: A couple issues

Got video?

Also, you could use tube and point it at variaous locations on the engine (carefully) to see if you can listen for/isolate the sound.
 

skydiveD30571

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Re: Spring startup: A couple issues

I keep the boat on property without running water so I haven't had a chance to fire it up recently. However today I was by the engine compartment checking stuff out and pulled off the carb cover to get a better look. The hose running from the flame shield (I believe it is called the valve cover hose) is barely hanging on and definitely has a huge gap for air to enter. Being that the boat idles high and I understand I should be looking for a vacuum leak, could this be the cause? Or is this hose not designed to be air tight?
 

skydiveD30571

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Re: Spring startup: A couple issues

Talked with a volvo mechanic last night. He said that hose is a pcv hose and returns unused gas so it does not need to be air tight.
 

skydiveD30571

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Re: Spring startup: A couple issues

Update on the belt noise. After eyeballing the pulleys I noticed the power steering pump pulley was anything but in-line with the other pulleys. But instead of being pushed in or pulled out, it was tilted so that the top was further in than the bottom. I'm confused at how this could happen. We loosened the 3 bolts that mount the pump to the block, added a washer on the bolt in the attached pic, and tightened everything up. The pulley is now vertically even and there is no noise what-so-ever. I'm happy to fix the noise, but I wonder how a solid bracket, that had no play in it, could tilt like that.
Untitled.jpg
 

Jeepster04

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Re: Spring startup: A couple issues

Glad you figured that out. We have a volvo 4.3l that does the exact same thing with the belt squealing exactly like you've described. I've taken the belt off and checked all of the pullies, all were tight. Ill have to check the power steering pulley for alignment.
 
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