Volvo leaks oil

[landes_h]

I had purchased a 10 year old (charter) Bav. 38 with MD2030 (21kW) Volvo Penta. Despite the age and wear due to charter, the boat is in rather good condition and practically everything functions well. After all, the price was right.
I love the boat, it's very spacious and comfortable. Of course there are lots of options for mods and upgrades.
It was known to me at purchase that the Volvo leaks oil at a very small rate on the starboard side by the sea water pump. The charter mechanic replaced the o-ring by the lever for engine speed, but with no effect. I believe the gaskets at the timing gear casing leak. Maybe earlier the seawater pump was taken off and the did not replace the gaskets when reassembling.
I wonder if there is any Volvo Penta forum similar to this where I can get some help. I just want to educate myself before putting all in the hands of the "Volvo Man".
Locking forward to your inputs.

[Alec]

Hi Landes,
I tried looking for a Volvo forum and after market parts suppliers due to their ridicules over pricing but did not have much luck. I did though only 2 weeks ago put a new kit through my sea water pump. I also had a small amount of oil leaking out in the same place but changing the "O" ring seal fixed the problem(mine is not gasket paper and I assume yours would be an "O" ring as well) my engine is the D2-40 so not sure how much difference there is though by your picture it looks the same. It is a very easy job and only takes about 15 minutes if you want to do yourself. Not sure how many engine hours yours has but I needed to do mine and it only has 480 hours.
Good luck

[Spirit of Mary]

I also own a Bav 38 2003 with the VP MD2030. The seawater pump seal against the timing gear housing is an o-ring. It takes only a few minutes to disassemble the seawater pump (4 bolts). Check the o-ring for damages. Clean the surfaces and grease or oil the surfaces and o-ring before reassembling. Also inspect the shaft seal of the seawater pump.
Ger

[landes_h]

Just to inform any one interested; the problem is fixed. The paper gaskets front and back of the timing gear was replaced and the leak is gone. Unfortunately the mechanic must have been a bit rough because now there is water leaking in the opening right behind the impeller case. There must be an O-ring behind the impeller which is now letting water through. At the opening you can see the impeller shaft turning and that's were water drips out. Not much but anoying. Will look into it in Spring. B.T.W., I checked the price for a complete new seawater pump; it's over 500 Euro , rediculoso.
Of course I will only need an o-ring not the entire pump.
Has anyone taken the pump apart and also taken pics?

[Odysseus]

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/boat_projects      have a look at this site shows a rebuild of pump, also Utube has rebuilds

Odysseus

[Spirit of Mary]

Just to inform any one interested; the problem is fixed. The paper gaskets front and back of the timing gear was replaced and the leak is gone. Unfortunately the mechanic must have been a bit rough because now there is water leaking in the opening right behind the impeller case. There must be an O-ring behind the impeller which is now letting water through. At the opening you can see the impeller shaft turning and that's were water drips out. Not much but annoying. Will look into it in Spring. B.T.W., I checked the price for a complete new seawater pump; it's over 500 Euro , ridiculous.
Of course I will only need an o-ring not the entire pump.
Has anyone taken the pump apart and also taken pics?

At this place there is not an O-ring but a (GACO DPSM 12247) lip seal. The replacement of this seal is easy and  is not really expensive. In fact there are 2 identical seals, one against oil leakage with the lips directed to the oil side (engine side) and one against water leakage with the lips directed to the water side (impeller side). The space between the 2 seals is where the bores are where now the water is coming out.
To replace both seals you must remove the gear wheel which is on a taper on the shaft.
In case you want to replace only the water seal this is maybe possible from the impeller chamber. However, very often the shaft is worn at the location where the lip of the seal runs. At the end you need a new shaft (also very expensive). Sometimes you can extend the shaft life by placing the seal at a slightly different location as the old seal and by doing this the lip runs at a non worn surface of the shaft.

[Alec]

Hi,
Just to add some comments as just mentioned by "spirit of Mary" if the shaft is worn where the seal sits take your shaft to a small machine shop and get them to make a new shaft and also buy your bearings and seals from a bearing supplyer, they will cost about 1/10 of replacement parts from Volvo and will do exactly the same job. I have bought a lot of spare parts over the years and Volvo takes the cake when it comes to pricing for parts, Volvo should be ashamed.

[landes_h]

I have bought a lot of spare parts over the years and Volvo takes the cake when it comes to pricing for parts, Volvo should be ashamed.

That's why we all love Volvo. Their cars are already built by Chinese 

Thank you guys for your tips. More work for Spring time