This is not necessarily a Volvo issue, but I didn't see any other forums to put it in so giving it a go here.
I have a 2003 4.3GL-C with around 250 hours on it. I have put about 70 hours on it over the past couple of years. The first season I owned it the engine did not seem to lose any oil at all. Last year it suddenly began to use about 1.25 to 1.5 quarts of oil over the course of about 30 hours.
Only thing I can think of that might have cause this, but doesn't make sense is: last Spring, I was trying to update from a 3-blade prop to a 4-blade prop and ended up going on vacation for a week with a prop that was a little taller than I liked. I don't think the prop was too much for the engine, per se, because it would top out right at the lower end of the recommended RPM range (4200 RPM). I also noticed that the boat used about 1/2-3/4 of a quart of oil during that week of daily use (~15 hours), which seems excessive to me. In addition, the engine seemed to work harder than I thought was comfortable, so we switched props after we got back from the trip and the RPM now tops out at the upper limit of the recommended range (4600 RPM) and the engine hums along better so I think we have the prop dialed in now. However, after getting the prop dialed in we took another week long boating vacation late in the summer and the boat continued to use oil at the same rate.
Is this level of oil consumption excessive? It seems excessive to me, and strange that it seemed to come out of nowhere. At this point I am looking for ideas what to check when I get the boat out of storage this Spring. I think I might run a compression test and also going to pull the exhaust risers and replace the gaskets just to see what I find, but curious what else I should be looking for. Might run a vacuum test also to see what happens.... What else should I consider?
As additional information: I have noticed there is a little oil on the bottom of the oil pan - just enough of a film to get your hand a little oily if you touch it but not enough to cause a drip and I don't see oil anywhere else on the engine so I am leaning toward the oil consumption is mostly due to burning it. I cannot say if the oil on the bottom of the pan is a "new" condition but would think that 1.5 quarts leaking would show up as oil drops on the belly of the oil pan and in the bilge somewhere but it hasn't. When I pulled the spark plugs for winterization last year the plugs were fouled with a little black scale, which could be an oil burning issue or could it be just from using fogging oil?
I have a 2003 4.3GL-C with around 250 hours on it. I have put about 70 hours on it over the past couple of years. The first season I owned it the engine did not seem to lose any oil at all. Last year it suddenly began to use about 1.25 to 1.5 quarts of oil over the course of about 30 hours.
Only thing I can think of that might have cause this, but doesn't make sense is: last Spring, I was trying to update from a 3-blade prop to a 4-blade prop and ended up going on vacation for a week with a prop that was a little taller than I liked. I don't think the prop was too much for the engine, per se, because it would top out right at the lower end of the recommended RPM range (4200 RPM). I also noticed that the boat used about 1/2-3/4 of a quart of oil during that week of daily use (~15 hours), which seems excessive to me. In addition, the engine seemed to work harder than I thought was comfortable, so we switched props after we got back from the trip and the RPM now tops out at the upper limit of the recommended range (4600 RPM) and the engine hums along better so I think we have the prop dialed in now. However, after getting the prop dialed in we took another week long boating vacation late in the summer and the boat continued to use oil at the same rate.
Is this level of oil consumption excessive? It seems excessive to me, and strange that it seemed to come out of nowhere. At this point I am looking for ideas what to check when I get the boat out of storage this Spring. I think I might run a compression test and also going to pull the exhaust risers and replace the gaskets just to see what I find, but curious what else I should be looking for. Might run a vacuum test also to see what happens.... What else should I consider?
As additional information: I have noticed there is a little oil on the bottom of the oil pan - just enough of a film to get your hand a little oily if you touch it but not enough to cause a drip and I don't see oil anywhere else on the engine so I am leaning toward the oil consumption is mostly due to burning it. I cannot say if the oil on the bottom of the pan is a "new" condition but would think that 1.5 quarts leaking would show up as oil drops on the belly of the oil pan and in the bilge somewhere but it hasn't. When I pulled the spark plugs for winterization last year the plugs were fouled with a little black scale, which could be an oil burning issue or could it be just from using fogging oil?
