28 FB Cruiser-- Anyone with experience with this boat... hav

[Jim Ward]

We're looking at a 1989 FB cruiser with original Volvo TAMD 41 A diesel.

I have heard that the Volvo diesel had a known transmission defect and wondered if anyone knew if this was corrected in a particular year? Or if the how to determnine if the boat is liekly to experience the defect...???

It appears Volvo has a retrofit replacement... any info on this???

How many hours can one expect on a maintained engine before major service?

Any issues I will be faced with from an expense side from experience ... likely short term failures?


Are there any known issues or defects I should look for?

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you one and all in advance.

Jim Ward



jsward@mediaone.net

[Walt Bilofsky]

I have heard that the Volvo diesel had a known transmission defect and wondered if anyone knew if this was corrected in a particular year? Or if the how to determnine if the boat is liekly to experience the defect...???

The MS4 transmission has a cone clutch that has been known to have problems. Search the message board for "transmission" to find previous posts on this topic.

If you put the shift lever into gear at idle and there is more than half a second or so of hesitation before the transmission thunks into gear, the clutch may be getting polished. When it gets bad, it becomes necessary to goose the throttle a bit to get it to go into gear.

I had the cones resurfaced on my CD 30 powerboat (twin TAMD41B's) under warranty, not long after getting it. When the problem recurred at 900 hours I replaced the transmissions with the hydraulic HS1's, which are quieter and have been trouble-free so far. My dealer got Volvo to pick up part of the cost. It still was not totally cost-effective unless I keep the boat for 10 or 20 more years. But I probably will.

If there's another fix short of replacing the transmissions, I don't know what it is, but if you find out please post it.

I suspect that a lot of the problem came from many long hours trolling at idle speed. With little power in the gear train, the cone is not being held in as firmly and can slip and polish itself. I am not a mechanic so this is just my surmise.

Other than that, the engine has been reliable.



bilofsky@toolworks.com

[John Walden]

Had problem at 50 hours with cone clutch. Warranty covered repairs, no problem since. 1500hrs with no problems, engine or transmission.

I have heard that the Volvo diesel had a known transmission defect and wondered if anyone knew if this was corrected in a particular year? Or if the how to determnine if the boat is liekly to experience the defect...???

The MS4 transmission has a cone clutch that has been known to have problems. Search the message board for "transmission" to find previous posts on this topic.

If you put the shift lever into gear at idle and there is more than half a second or so of hesitation before the transmission thunks into gear, the clutch may be getting polished. When it gets bad, it becomes necessary to goose the throttle a bit to get it to go into gear.

I had the cones resurfaced on my CD 30 powerboat (twin TAMD41B's) under warranty, not long after getting it. When the problem recurred at 900 hours I replaced the transmissions with the hydraulic HS1's, which are quieter and have been trouble-free so far. My dealer got Volvo to pick up part of the cost. It still was not totally cost-effective unless I keep the boat for 10 or 20 more years. But I probably will.

If there's another fix short of replacing the transmissions, I don't know what it is, but if you find out please post it.

I suspect that a lot of the problem came from many long hours trolling at idle speed. With little power in the gear train, the cone is not being held in as firmly and can slip and polish itself. I am not a mechanic so this is just my surmise.

Other than that, the engine has been reliable.

jwalden@mediaone.net