Volvo TAMD71B

[Carpediem44DB]

Anyone here have anything to say about the Volvo line of engines? I love my Cummins QSCs and we all know the issues with the 480CEs. To my knowledge Searay did not use Volvo much if all in there boats but I know many of you have owned boats other than Searays over the years. I'm looking at a 2002 Navigator with 375 HP Volvos. A few Navigator guys have posted that although they love the boat they are not super fans of the engines mainly due to parts supply chain and cost of major components when compared to other engine makes. Any input would be appreciated.
Carpe Diem

 

[fwebster]

Volvo makes good engines but they are criticized for not having good service or parts coverage. I think that may be regional, however. Volvo owners in this area (NW. Fla) have very few outlets for service (one!) and parts supply is the Volvo factory if the distribution warehouse doen't have what you need.

Early Volvos were smokey beasts, but in the years you specify, you will probably be looking at very clean burning electronic, common rail engines.

As far as Sea Ray and Volvo is concerned, Volvo was the favored engine for boats made for the european market and you see a lot of Volvo powered Sea Ray in Europe. The few Volvo powered SR's that you see here were because a dealer had a boat sold and a Europea boat was redirected to him.

 

[Henry Boyd]

TAMDs are old school. It is a six cylinder Turbocharged After cooled Marine Diesel engines, hence the acronym. They pre-date the EVC electronic engine management system and are purely analog. As I recall the 73 is 480 hp engine and following Volvo protocol the 71 would fall in the 375 - 400 hp engine I guess. They were pre 2000 vintage. The successor engine line is the D series that are a mixture of analog electronic with current being digital electronic. The TAMDs are pretty bullet proof.

Volvo Penta relies heavily on their dealers to be the customer interface and is serious about protecting them. Volvo also tends toward making parts proprietary and limit major repairs on the newer engines to certified techs. My impression is that this is more to ensure that nothing jeopardizes their emissions certifications. My experience is that your experience will be reflection of how good your local dealer is.

I initially had problems with my dealer and took it up with Sabre who in turn contacted Volvo. I now have access to a Volvo field engineer and response from the dealer has improved dramatically.

Parts are expensive and take time to get. I keep an inventory of all filters, impellers, zincs, belts and proprietary hoses for both engines. I had the annual oil service done last week using my inventory. I have not had all the replacement parts delivered yet. Considering it took a week to get a tech scheduled, that’s two weeks plus waiting for annual consumables.

As I said parts are expensive, but no worse then European performance cars like Porsche or AMG.

 

[carterchapman]

My dockmate owns Diesel Plus in Ringold, GA - a Volvo diesel dealer and he does lots of marine surveys and maintains the new Volvo Powered Cruisers sold by our dealer in Chattanooga. He has helped a couple of members here. His name is Mike Perkins (mikep@dieselplus.com) - from their website.

Phone us at 706-866-3619

or toll free @ 1-877-866-3619

You may also contact us at customerservice@dieselplus.com

 

[Carpediem44DB]

TAMDs are old school. It is a six cylinder Turbocharged After cooled Marine Diesel engines, hence the acronym. They pre-date the EVC electronic engine management system and are purely analog. As I recall the 73 is 480 hp engine and following Volvo protocol the 71 would fall in the 375 - 400 hp engine I guess. They were pre 2000 vintage. The successor engine line is the D series that are a mixture of analog electronic with current being digital electronic. The TAMDs are pretty bullet proof.

Volvo Penta relies heavily on their dealers to be the customer interface and is serious about protecting them. Volvo also tends toward making parts proprietary and limit major repairs on the newer engines to certified techs. My impression is that this is more to ensure that nothing jeopardizes their emissions certifications. My experience is that your experience will be reflection of how good your local dealer is.

I initially had problems with my dealer and took it up with Sabre who in turn contacted Volvo. I now have access to a Volvo field engineer and response from the dealer has improved dramatically.

Parts are expensive and take time to get. I keep an inventory of all filters, impellers, zincs, belts and proprietary hoses for both engines. I had the annual oil service done last week using my inventory. I have not had all the replacement parts delivered yet. Considering it took a week to get a tech scheduled, that’s two weeks plus waiting for annual consumables.

As I said parts are expensive, but no worse then European performance cars like Porsche or AMG.

Thanks Henry for the clarification, The listing for the boat I am interested in only listed as having 375 HP Volvos but did not specify the engine model. I looked up the engines on Boat Diesel and just saw that the 375 HP was the TAMD71. Ill look again. Broker is calling the selling agent I the morning to get more details.
Rusty