Volvo Penta MD7A

[rwi4]

In the hope of not being brought to my knees by a lofty power above, in the guise of a marine diesel mechanic- can one of you knowledgeable souls tell me the steps I should take before turning the key on a very dormant engine?

I recently bought a 1978 CD28 that has not been used for at least three years. The previous owner said it worked fine before he walked away (for what that's worth). The boat has a raw water cooled Volvo, which has lived about half its life in fresh water. I'm somewhat savvy with engines, but have never owned a marine diesel before, and don't what to do something stupid, and have to call in the calvary. The boat is currently in the water.
Cheers,
Richard

[Stan W.]

MD7As are tough old birds so odds are you'll be o.k. no matter what you do. Is the oil at the proper levels (check the reverse gear too), do the throttle and fuel shut-off cables work and does the flywheel rotate smoothly by hand with the compression release engaged? If so, my advice would be to substitute fresh fuel to the extent practical, bleed any air using the bleed screw at the top of the primary fuel filter (in my experience, the rest of the fuel system usually will bleed itself) and then just try to start it. You may have to crank it for awhile to get it going, especially if it is cold out and/or it has never been rebuilt. If it doesn't fire after about 30 seconds, close the raw water seacock so water does not backup into the cylinders. As soon as the engine does fire, open the seacock and check to make sure water is coming out of the exhaust. In general, I would disturb as little as possible so if it doesn't start it will be easier to troubleshoot. Once you know it runs, you can do the routine maintenance like oil, filters, exhaust can zinc and the raw water pump impeller and consider nonroutine items like cleaning any crud out of the fuel tank.

[Judith]

Knowing you were searching for the right boat, it's nice to see you've found something that suits you. And that you're still in the Cape Dory zone

Much enjoyment to you.

Cheers,
Judith

[rwi4]

Yes, I've been in the zone and have the disease, and now can go for the ride. Just need to get the engine started, and then see what else wants a piece of me.
Mahalo for the above replys,
Richard

[Oswego John]

I thought this might be of interest. Keep scrolling down. I don't intend to scuttle the thread.

http://www.geocities.com/~olelo/sheltie ... aloha.html

Aloha,
O J

[The Patriot]

... can one of you knowledgeable souls tell me the steps I should take before turning the key on a very dormant engine? ... I recently bought a 1978 CD28 that has not been used for at least three years ... The boat has a raw water cooled Volvo, which has lived about half its life in fresh water ...

Las summer I went through this on a CD28 that had been sitting for (an estimated) 4 years without attention or maintenance. This is a Volvo 2002 which was a replacement for the original raw water cooled MD7a. Yes, these beasts are tough, but certain systems on the engine require special attention. These engines depend on 4 clean fluids to operate well and last a long time. They need, in no particular order, clean lube oil, clean cooling fluid (water, ethylene glycol, or both), clean air, and, perhaps most importantly, clean fuel. Of course you want to make sure that the engine has access to cooling water and one of the first things to do is check and if necessary replace the impeller in the circulation pump.

With respect to fuel oil you must either have a very effective filtration system and be prepared to run through as many filter elements as it takes, or you must first drain the tank, check the "crud" factor, and use fresh diesel oil. I went with the same fuel that had sat for I don't know how long. I filtered it through a Racor and the fine filter mounted on the engine. In fact over the course of the summer while I was running in the engine and messing about with it, I went through quite a few elements and fine filters. In the end the engine seems to run as well as ever, and when I sent off an oil sample for analysis the report confirmed this fact.