Volvo 5.0 SCARE or Trouble

[spdms02]

(Volvo 5.0 V6 1995 in a Wellcraft)<br />I was out all day on the boat. As I was heading in I noticed the temp gauge started to go up.. 230-260, at the same time I heard the rockers making a racket, quick look at the oil pres gauge,,, down to almost zero. The oil pressure did go up with rpm', but would go down to zero at idle. The engine started to smoke lightly, burned oil smell. I made it to the dock, shut it down and let it sit for a couple hours. Went back down, started it up and everything seemed stable, oil pressure at 40-50, temp at 175. The one thing I found was a huge clump of weeds wrapped around the lower unit. It's dark(night)so I have to wait until tomorrow to try it... or maybe I am so afraid of running it(aka chicken) because I don't want to see my boating season come to an end. Could the weeds have been the culprit. If the intakes were blocked and the engine heated up so badly would this make the oil so thin it would drop the presure to nothing? Any ideas would be appreciated. Was I lucky or is my boating season shot?<br />Thanks You

 

[f_inscreenname]

Re: Volvo 5.0 SCARE or Trouble

Short and sweet. Yes. The next thing is how bad did you hurt it by running it hot (to hot). The first thing I would do is change the oil. You can also see what it looks like. Second I would worry about the pump in the outdrive. Hopefully there was enough water going through it to prevent it from burning up.You will have to keep a closer eye on your temp gage for awhile to find out or pull your outdrive apart, I would watch the gage and not be to far from the ramp. Remember,the longer you wait the harder it will be to leave the dock. Time to get back up on that horse. It only July,lots of time left.

 

[spdms02]

Re: Volvo 5.0 SCARE or Trouble

Thanks for the info f_inscreenname. Took the boat out this morning. Seems to run fine, ran it for about an hour except..... the temp seems higher. It goes up to about 215-225 and stays there idling and under load. Exhaust/water discharge appears to be good. Temp seems higher though. What is the normal temp for this engine. Could weeds have gotten in to the intake and are now blocking something. Or worse yet could some damage have been done? I guess I will have to bring it in for some diagnosis if the temp stays up. Thanks

 

[oldboat1]

Re: Volvo 5.0 SCARE or Trouble

What was the normal running temp. before the problems? It sounds as if you are currently running pretty hot.

 

[spdms02]

Re: Volvo 5.0 SCARE or Trouble

It always ran at about 180-190. This is wierd though. I took it out today, now it stays at about 200-210. Ran it for about an hour. All of a sudden it would drop to +- 170 then back up to 200-210, same load. I wonder if I could now have a thermostat problem. 200-210 still seems too hot.<br />Thanks for any ideas.

 

[kdmiller8251]

Re: Volvo 5.0 SCARE or Trouble

Just a thought... Could have faulty gauge or temp sending unit. <br /><br />Tallman

 

[burp]

Re: Volvo 5.0 SCARE or Trouble

Spend the $30 or so and replace the raw water impeller. The impeller will be damaged if the water pickup on the outdrive is clogged or obstructed. A sign that the impeller is damaged is engine temperature fluxuations at different speeds. Also Volvo has an audible alarm kit which will sound for either an engine overtemp or a low oil pressure condition. In my book, the audible alarm kit is "cheap insurance". It costs about $75 but will alert you of a condition which if it went un-noticed for a short period of time, could cost big $$$'s to fix. Both the impeller and audible alarm are easy to install.

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Volvo 5.0 SCARE or Trouble

The Volvo's I've had had the impeller fitted to the engine - not in the lower unit. Makes work on it a whole lot easier.<br /><br />In your case I would start by replacing the impeller and the t-stat along with the oil.<br /><br />And my wishes for next X-mas or birthday would be a sea-water filter and a temperature warn system.