Ready to paint and to install  - rebuilding our Volvo MD 11D engine

I have all parts in place and the valves seats and valves have been reground.  And I have a pretty good understanding about the measurements I have to take when reassembling the engine. 

But before I procced with the installation I want to paint the parts .... and for that I have to wait for warmer weather.

So, if anyone wants to know the outcome of my engine overhaul, well, you have to wait a while and come back and check the entries.

Let's hope for an early spring!

In the meantime I will start on another project:  a dinghy cover!

I am making progress - rebuilding our Volvo MD 11D engine (and doing it in the boat!)

The cold spell is over and I am back to work.  I was successful in removing the cylinder without any problems, except that I do not manage to push out the liner from the cylinder.  It is stuck!  The manual is saying something along the lines:  "tap lightly and push down with your hands ...".  A NO go!  And I tried quite a bit more than that!  I will have to have it pressed out in the shop.

I then tried to remove the piston pins.  I really did not want to go into the scenario where I had to remove the connecting rods and the big end bearing cups - and then reinstalling all of that.  Manfred's article suggested that I can remove the pistons without that.

The only problem was that the piston pins did not want to be removed!!!

A day later, and equipped with a heat gun, some aluminum piping and a large clamp, I tried again.  If you have three (!!!!) hands, YES,  this system will work great.  If you have only two .... ?  But with some contortions, I managed, eventually, and the pistons are home.

But the pistons show that they have been in service for a while.  The major issue - I think -  is that the top ring has a ring clearance exceeding Volvo's specifications (we have 0.25mm, compared to 0.10mm as per handbook).  In contrast, all the other rings appear to meet specifications.

I called French Creek Marine and asked Wilburt to put aside 2 pistons and liners for me.  It looks like we are going to have a brand new Volvo MD 11D in our boat, coming spring!

The main reason I removed the cylinders (and liners) was to access the water cooling passages of the cylinder behind the liner wall.  Manfred's symptoms regarding engine overheating issues were very similar to ours, and I suspected that, despite our acid treatment in Martinique, the procedure was not enough to clean thouroughly these passages.  Indeed, when you look at these small holes around the liner (you may not see the built up of stuff around the hole, but some of them are significantly smaller) you wonder why anyone did not have cooling problems earlier.  And I recall a diesel mechanic mentioning that these holes were a problem with these engines.  Now I understand!

If we had NOT removed the cylinder, and had just worked on decarbonizing the engine (i.e. valves), we would not have found out about the aging piston rings etc.  I am happy (?) we did!

Now everything is stripped down enough so that I can consider getting things back together.

More about this in the future.

MD11D rebuild (progress report) ....

Well, we are moving forward.  I built my valve spring compression tool (it worked great) and I was able to remove the springs and the valves easily.

Next, I got the caustic soda (sodium hydroxide - AKA Draino in powder form, 1 pound per can) mixed it up (1:10 to water and some detergent) and cleaned the heads.

Nice and clean and ready for inspection.  But - oh boy, I found some serious damages to the outlet side (exhaust side) of the valve seats; they are severely pitted.  No wonder we had starting problems, the compression could not come up under these conditions.

This appears to be past "regrinding the seats by hand" and I will contact a machine shop to help me here.

In the meantime, weather is supposed to improve next week, so I might be able to get back to the cylinders and liners and get them home.

It is time for TLC for Marcel!      (AKA: Volvo MD 11D rebuild)

If you wonder who "Marcel" is ... well, we tend to give (or should I say, M. does that ???) important components names on our boat!  It seems to keep "bad spirits" at bay!  Or the "Klabautermann"!

It seems to work!

For example, we have:  Felix (wind generator), Steinhaeger (wind vane, and don't ask me why this particular name!), and "Marcel", our diesel engine.

Before Marcel knew its/his identity, it/he was installed on our boat in 1981 and did perform very well for all the years to come!  With our guidance, we had him down to Cuba, Bahamas, the Caribbean, and a couple of times back again.  What can we say?  No complaints on our part (most of the time!).

However, Marcel started to raise some issues.  Some we did not hear very well, others were pretty loud and clear!  Like giving us issues when we tried to negotiate the entrance to Bermuda in bad weather, or passing through Riviere Salee in Guadeloupe (at night, of course) to meet the bridge openings, and at some other times.

But Marcel (definition:  reliably, trustworthy, hard working, follows order (?) ...) made it clear on our  home bound journey that we had to give him some TLC.  And we promised!  And just to remind us on the last start-up in the season of 2011 of our promise, he waited a good 30 seconds before he agreed to fire up.

Ok, we got - definitely - the message.

I am (H. that is) not a diesel mechanic  .. just in case anyone wonders!

But!  I prepared  myself.  In addition to the Vovlo workshop manual (which assumes you can read a lot between the lines and instructions given), I also had a copy of Nigel Calder's "Marine Diesel Engines" book (2. Edition, 1992 - it uses the Volvo MD 11/17 series in a lot of images and descriptions; the newer one does not!).  In addition, and I was very happy to come across an excellent website by a German sailor who offered information on a lot of the gaps I found in the other books, and who was also very helpful with his emails when I had questions.  Thanks Manfred! 

His Homepage:  http://www.kavenga-segeln.de/

His engine repair details:
http://www.kavenga-segeln.de/media/2b574205c78c63f8ffff893aac144227.pdf

There are also many other boat related projects for studying.  The pages are worth an extended visit.

I also found detailed drawings at this website (and some ideas about costs involved; however, pricewise I was doing better at French Creek; see below).  All parts, from bolt to washers are listed here, together with part numbers.  This helps!
http://www.marinepartseurope.com/en/e-volvo-penta-603-MD11D.aspx

Having said all this ... time to get "Marcel" his TLC.

In case, you may not have noticed, I live in Canada, and yes, we have winter.  You know? Winter as in Europe right now?

Dressed like a Michelin person (you know, the heavy set guy will all these tires  around him, that's me when I go to the boat), I try to squeeze myself into the engine compartment and around the engine.  There are times I get cold feet - in every sense.  But the results show, piece by piece the engine comes apart and is being moved into my workshop.

Taking things apart is the easy part ... I have been told.  I hope they are (definitely!!!!) wrong!

The forecast if for nasty weather.   That means, I can drop my Michelin outfit and work on cleaning the parts I removed.  The valves are leaking and need to be grinded (or replaced, I don't know yet).

Fortunately, we have - "close by" in Clayton, NY (http://www.frenchcreekmarina.com/) - a major Volvo distribution and repair centre, and Wilburt  (the owner) has always been very helpful to get parts to us and give us great advice while we were cruising in exotic places.  My guess is, I will see him again shortly!

Stay tuned!