Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

[woywoyboy]

My Volvo Penta 170hp B30 has water in the oil I discovered this today when she wouldn't start. I removed all the plugs as I thought I had flooded it and discovered water in the chambers. I then had a look in the rocker cover cap and saw it looked like lithium grease. Next I dropped the sump plug and out gushed a lot of water with the oil.<br />What may have caused this ? Do I need "flush" the motor in any way before replacing the oil ? Anything else I should be aware of ? Can I fix it ?<br />Thank you all.

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Further thought: water was only noticeable in 1&2. The water pump made funny rattling sound like a shot bearing does last week when it was last run.

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Look out, the old brain is going here as I watch Thunderbirds with my kids (it is 0600hs here). Would a compression test eliminate the head gasket?

 

[G DANE]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

WoyWoyboy<br /><br />The water pump ( Camshaftdriven ) has a seal, seperating freshwater from motor oil. If your axel in pump is worn, seal wount last. I had to change my axel to get rid of leak.<br /><br />If you have water in cylinders as well, it is probably headgasket. The reason for the "cylindermayonaice" on camcap is water in oil, but can occur when running short trips when oil doesnt warm up. Glad to hear you still have the old B30th i thought it was only here.<br /><br />Try to do a compression test - i guess 1 and 2 are lower. If you loosen camcap when running you should get a steam up from there. You could do a search for replies from GENE70 - it seems he has a lot of experience and offers people to call him for advise - VERY nice guy !

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Thank you G Dane. I shall follow your suggestions. Is there any way to test the pump seal ? Can you also advese me re headblot torque specs ? I have searched for this topic and from what I can make out it points to the head gasket but I really would like some assurance that it is only something minor like a gasket. I am taking my kids to our caravan this morning and will otherwise worry myself silly. Afterall, this is my boat we are talking about, and you all know what that means !

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Hi woywoyboy (og davs G Dane)<br /><br />A B30..? Wow, used to have a couple of those years back.<br /><br />Not to spoil your day, but those engines really weren't Volvo's biggest hit. The 'E'(injected) series even worse than the carburetted. Volvo had their legendary B18 and B20 series and needed a 6-banger for the car known as 164. They simply added 2 cylinders and prolonged shafts etc.<br /><br />The engine was marine converted but never really reached the reputation of the smaller Volvo's. As you might know, this was the largest block Volvo made by themselves - all V8's were made on US (GM) blocks. Those days all Volvo blocks were cast in England.<br /><br />If your gasket is blown, you'll want to know why it did. If you remove the head, the only wise thing is to have it all renovated. When you're at it check your exhaust manifold and all other related parts.<br /><br />This was the point where I decided to accept an offer from the workshop to replace the B30 by a AQ145 4-banger with OH cam, heat exchanger and all. Almost same cost. It went right in, connected to the drive and performed almost as good (maybe the 170 wasn't up to full performance) at a much better mpg - also due to the lower weight.<br /><br />I decided to stick to Volvo although Merc made a very attractive offer because the cutout in the transom is larger for Volvo and I didn't want to have to rebuild that as well.<br /><br />Just make sure you get a picture of the total cost before you start. Afterall it's an old lady and you wouldn't wanna pay the price of a replacement just to keep the old thing running.

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Thanks UU, can you advise me compression figures and also head bolt torqueing spec ? If the compression tests OK, what else should I look at ?

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Volvo made 4 versions. 170A from 1969-72, 170B from 1972-73, 170C from 1973-78 and 170D from 1978-80. They came with the 250, 270, 270T, 280 or 280T outdrive. There are three different head gaskets (different thicknesses) and oval in stead of round holes.<br /><br />Those days in Sweden a used head for it costs around $600. Ofcourse shipping to the US will add severely - and still it may need some work before fitting. Some are fitted with oversize valves to help performance.<br /><br />Compression when new was 10:1, it's 2.978 litre volume, approx 23.5 kpm torque at 2500 rpm.<br />Compression should read about the same on all cyls. although not neccesarily a full 10.<br /><br />I'll have to do some searching to get the torque figures so be patient.<br /><br />Apart from the already mentioned regarding head, valves, valve seats, obvious faults in rockers etc., I'd like to be sure to find the reason why the gasket blew. If you have cracks in the cylinder head or the block or if the head is somehow no longer sitting perfectly tight on the block, you have to get a renovation the complete head. valves etc. The exhaust manifold connects to a bended piece - by Volvo called 'the elbow' (where exhaust and cooling water it mixed on the way out). Check that one as well.<br /><br />When I had the problem I wasn't up to that much DIY on the engine, but today I think I'd spend the time to check compression and lift off the head to see what's in it. Once removed you can take it to a specialist workshop for advice/offer.<br /><br />In my case there were too many dark horses - even before digging into the details. The bargain I got on the new engine was only slightly over the calculated repair price and I really wanted the more modern AQ145. Alone the freshwater cooling was tempting.

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Tx again UU. Mine is a 170A mated to a 270 leg. I am waiting on my shop to provide me with repowering options but in the mean time I am going to lift the head and at least have a look. Reckon I'll start with manifold first and the the head.

 

[G DANE]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Woywoyboy<br /><br />My brother in law had the same problem with his AQ170, in a fletcher 17' . The head was warped a bit, probably due to a little overheating sometimes, but alle the valves looked OK. The valves got grinded a little bit with carborundum powder, the head was corrected at a cylindershop and bolted back on again. He ran it for 3 years, doing a lot of skiing, and later on sold the boat, never heard of any problems since.<br /><br />Fore some reason some of these corrodes at gasket edge, on outher cylinderwalls, you have to be sure this is not the problem. If it is, it is cheap to get an automobil block, and move all your cranck, head and stuff to that. Remember, onlu use marine headgasket, the steel inforcement on auto will rust and the gasket will blow in a year or so. I would start at headgasket. Good luck.

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Here goes for head torques:<br /><br />If you look at the engine from the front end (that is when the fan belt is towards you), you'll see 14 bolts on the head. Number these 1-7 on the left side and 8-14 on the right side.<br /><br />Make sure all threads are clean and oiled.<br /><br />Tighten the bolts SEQUENTIALLY in this order:<br />4-11-10-3-5-12-9-2-6-13-8-1-7-14<br /><br />in three steps according to these torques:<br /><br />First tighten to 40 nm = 4 kpm<br />Second tighten to 80 nm = 8 kpm<br /><br />Run the engine at low rpm for 10 minutes.<br /><br />Third tighten to 90 nm = 9 kpm<br /><br />G Dane's right. Sometimes those fixes are not too complicated. On the other hand, several hours of work and the money... G Danes' brother in law only got three years out of it. Think about it.

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

BTW: Remember to check diesel options. Modern diesels has a lot to offer.

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

woywoyboy<br /><br />Not until now did I notice you're an Ozzie. Sorry 'bout that. Which part?<br /><br />If you should get the idea of using a head from the Volvo 164 (which basically has the same engine), keep in mind that cooling channels may differ. Volvo did something to cope with the changed conditions on the marine engines.

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Tx again UU. I just spoke with my dealer and he said I won't be getting much change out of $9000 for a new repower so a diesel is certainly something I will be looking at. He also suggested first examining the sea water pump seals before even worying about a compression test - both of which I am about to go and do right now. He also said to bring it in and he'll have a sticky. I am indeed from Oz - Wollongong actually. Home of the Wollongong Windowlicker. I will report back this evening after checking the above.

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Only got a cusory examination in before I decided it was too cold to be outside tinkering with boats (must have been all of 15 deg C. Never mind that my confidence was decreasing with the hour - I rang a friend who works at one of the local outoard dealer/repairers and he put me onto one of his colleagues who said "oh f^%$ Windowlicker, I've 'ad about 3 of those things and you can't kill 'em with a fr#@%&^* stone. What's wrong with the $%^& ?" I told him and he said "gotta be a f%*#^*^ head gasket. We don't want the f%^&(#@ thing here but the boss is havin' both of his Mercruisers rebuilt by this bloke. I'll have him call you and we'll supply him the parts at the right price. He'll do good work and he won't rip you off." Bloke is a local auto repair guy and I will report back when he has had a look. Tx again G Dane and UU.

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Won't go into my travelling memorandum, but suddenly it all starts to sound very Ozzy. Have a couple of friends in Adelaide who specialize in getting cars++ flying. To my experience creativity is very good down under.<br /><br />Let's hear how it goes. <br /><br />Have a good one.

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

UU, these would these blokes happen to enjoy driving long blue cars over large salt lakes at very high speeds ?

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

It's more like cruising any road, attempting to keep the car straight. Cars looking pretty normal on the outside but.. lots of turbo's and intercoolers and other gizmo's under the hood. Also scooters going like rockets..

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Finally got motivated (only took a slab). Compression test returns the following:<br />1: 0 psi<br />2:90 psi<br />3:175 psi<br />4:175 psi<br />5:170 psi<br />6:165 psi<br />Off with the head !

 

[woywoyboy]

Re: Vovlo Penta AQ170 water in oil.

Got the head off. Definetely the gasket. Had a big piece missing. Off to the machine shop with it and then back on. SHould I use a gasket sealing compound and also put it around the bolts ? SHould I replace the head bolts ?