Volvo says NO to responsibility

[ChrisCraft]

I called Volvo Penta about my problem with water inversion. They said that the engine I have was an OEM to OMC and that they were no responsible for the faulty design. ChrisCraft was owned by OMC in '99. Seadoo owns OMC now and ChrisCraft is owned by a german company. <br /><br />You'd think these marine companies were dotcoms! <br /><br />Problem is, if I have to take care of this myself, the engine is so new that there is not a good supply of remanufactured ones out there. Do you think I should pick the motor and send it off for rebuilding? any estimates on how long this would take? Cost?

 

[DJ]

Re: Volvo says NO to responsibility

ChirCraft,<br /><br />Actually, Bombardier owns Johnson/Evinrude. OMC is no more. The sterndrive business was orphaned, with no takers. Your outdrive, assume it's a SX, was built by Volvo. It do not entirely buy there "faulty design" statement.<br /><br />Anyway, all that doesn't fix your problem.<br /><br />Did your engine "ingest" water? If so, do you know how? What size engine? You should be able to find one, try: drmarine@aol.col

 

[ChrisCraft]

Re: Volvo says NO to responsibility

See my earlier post, 7.4 VolvoPenta with water in heads. My boat is a ChrisCraft 24+' cabin cruiser, '99, sold in 2000. It's got 200hrs fresh water use and about 30hrs salt, only in the last few months. It would appear from my inspections of the heads that water has been eating at the valves for awhile. (rusty valve springs and rockers) The VolvoPenta guy was in agrement that the risers need to be raised. Problem was that my moter has a T0 serial number and, according to Volvo, this was not their motor, but OMCs. I knew that OMC was BK and sold for parts. He told me to pound sand with Bombadier, ChrisCraft, or anybody else but VolvoPenta, the manufacurer of the engiine.

 

[ChrisCraft]

Re: Volvo says NO to responsibility

I forgot to mention that it's a 7.4Gi DP. The boat is about 6500lbs, rides high, but has a narrow beam for it's size. The boat rides perfect under power but rocks and rolls when powered down. I bought it for weekend cruising to Catalina Island out of Oceanside CA., and tuna finshing, so a deep V with narrow beam seemed to be the ticket for rough seas. I didn't think about how the motor would sit so low in the water. Something I will always look for from now on.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Volvo says NO to responsibility

I can't help you with your fight with the bankrupt companies.....<br />But, the 7.4l is a chevy based motor they've been building for about 25yrs..... parts are Not a problem... the cheap way out is, send your motor to the machineshop for an overhaul.... just a guess, $500. to a couple thousand... depends on the damage done... Or drop in a brand new volvo crate motor.... again, just a guess, $5000. to $7000... <br />Whichever way you go... i'd take Vinny's advice,+ add some tall riserblocks under your risers....

 

[Lou C]

Re: Volvo says NO to responsibility

They will still probably try to duck responsibility, but as far as I know OMC sold off their sterndrive unit to Volvo, they had a joint venture going on for a few years before that. Ever notice how much a Volvo SX Cobra looks like an old OMC Cobra?? (Of course they are different inside, but Volvo used the OMC castings and modified and improved it). So at the time your drive system was built, the company was called OMC, it has an OMC serial #, but was at that point probably wholly owned by Volvo Penta.

 

[hondon]

Re: Volvo says NO to responsibility

If you think carefully about the conversation with that rep you might remember that they said the boat builder is resposible for what is happening to you.All engine and drive manufacturers send a set of installation instruction with the packages designated to it,just as they do to you if you order a repower or new package.That power builder,MERC,VOLVO,INDMAR,MARINEPOWER,ETC,ETC,ETC,ADNAUSEUM,has no control over how that package is really installed,so if the product sold is installed improperlly by the boatbuilder ,where is the the liability of the engine maker?

 

[ChrisCraft]

Re: Volvo says NO to responsibility

I understand your point, but this is not just a case of freds boat builders throwing in a motor and hoping it works. This was ChrisCraft and they were in bed with VolvoPenta. This hole OEM deal with no responsibility stinks. I'd hoped to at least get some help in recommendations for fix and recognition of the problem. This problem has shown up pretty early in this boat. I would be sure that in a couple of years, this will become a much bigger problem for those who don't get it fixxed. Thanks to Vinney's help I found a guy out here that knows the problem well. He says that there are some fixes for this and I have room for a few more inches of riser. Problem is with the roller cam is that mosture is still sucked into the engine when you are puddling around. Because of the oil pan design, the water condenses at the bottom, just pushing the oil level up, but staying below the pump. The oil stays clean on the dip stick until the pump pulls the water into it and WAM.