MD17C rebuild

Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
Thanks MSter... Took the pump to the rebuilder and ran into this guy in NY who is very knowledgeable with these older Volvo engines. He has obsolete parts that he had made 3rd party which is where i got my two high press tubes and head gaskets. I called him up and told him of my plight and he said he had a "few" minutes to talk. I told him I replaced liners/pistons/rings/valve work etc and it has 400 lbs of compression. It started and run up in neutral but go into forward, and throttle it up and notthing happens. We discussed linkage between governor and injector pump whch seems good.Once we get it up and running, we can look through a borescope and see what's happening when it goes into gear. The gov shoud come up. This used to work before i ripped the plump out. So this guy in NY took me through the bleeding procedure and when he got to the inectors iI stated that I cannot bleed injector pumps because the heat exchanger sits righ ton top of the manilfold and injectors. Can't get in with a wrench to th injector nut. I just said i cranked until air makes it through the system....Well, most air lines go back to the fuel tank. Volvo returns fue bback to the seconedary fiter which heads back into the injector pump. I was told fuel woujld never get over the air locks that develop in the lines. So, this weekend, such that I have, I'm going to remount the pump and time it right. now that injectors are out I can turn the engine over by hand and get fuel up to the injector conccector Or I can try to make a flat bent over wrench that might slip in there. I might just take the belt off so no fwc running and no raw water runnig leave the HX off and actually try and bleed and start the engine then immediatly stop it as it has 0 cooling. Maybe there's a special tool somewhere. Not many of these were FWC though
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
Interesting update: got the pump back. No problems with it. Put it in and timed it. Bled engine properly. Put cooling system in. Got it started and it runs but with same problem. We can't borscope it while running but we had the brainy idea of starting it in gear and with some throttle. It started and it did run up. But, still won't run up in gear if started in neutral. So, this is telling us that it's a linkage adj issue. We're going through the internal governor adjustments. The manual is sorta sketchy and we have to remember that forward is backwards and vice versa as the engine is pointed "backwards". So, we know it's a fuel issue and we know the governor works. We're hopefully now down to adjustments. Evidently, you can't just remove and replace an injector pump.....
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
Mechanic has been talking to the pump rebuild co which is about an hr up the road. Seems as they're friends at some level. They called me and said they would come to the boat and get the engine running properly. And... free of charge!!!! Sometimes they like to get out of the shop. The owner will also come down as he's an "old guy" who has worked on older engines before. So, maybe sometime this next week we'll be done......
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
So the owner and the "old" guy made the trek from Bellingham to Anacortes earlier today. They discovered that there was not enough travel for the control rod on the rack for the inceptor pump. These two were amazing as well as being father/son. They just got in there with the inspection plates open and figured out how the governor/pump work. They made some adjustments and we put it together and fired it up. Put it in gear and throttled it up. Amazing...They took off and I was running it later and decided that the last 1/3 - 1/2 of throttle travel wasn't doing much. I pulled the raw water system apart again so I take the inspection plate off and gave the control arm adj screw another 1 1/2 turns out. Put everything back together and fired it up and it was better. Took it all apart again and gave the adj screw another turn and reassembled. Any time you mess with the fuel system, you have to partially disassemble the cooling system which means draining coolant out. Anyway fired it up and still won't reach max speed at dock but it will slightly over rev out of gear. I can really throw some water out behind the boat at the dock. So, a sea trial is in order late Fri or sometime Sat. I might have to readjust back somewhat. Oh ya found out how the automatic cold start feature works..Throttle has to be about half way and oil pressure will advance the rack. The acid test is how well it starts "cold". I asked why the difference in control rod travel since the pump should go back together the same way it came apart and are we a tooth off from how it was? When the engine ran, it ran fine. So, nobody really knows why all the control rod adjustments were needed. There are indexing marks on the pump which were used during assembly. They didn't know how those were when it came apart. Maybe somebody previous to me was in there before. So, I'm almost there. Hopefully only one more post......YEAHHHHHHH
 
E

eldstado

.
May 11, 2012
1
sjomann 22 norway
Adjusting control rod travel

Hi
Been following this thread, as I am working on the same engine myself. I also swapped injection pump and needed to adjust the control rod travel on the injection pump.

If I remember correctly, the travel should be 6,7 mm total(workshop manual)
You adjust the travel with the screw underneath the inspection cover.
You could adjust and set this correct without having to reassemble and start/test the engine.
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
I think that's right along with a fractional mm variance. And, the book says it's a "rough" setting. Right!!! I'm adjusting to the minimum movement needed to get full revs under way. I have FWC so to remove the inspection plate, the raw water tube has to come off and for that to come off, the HX needs to be drained which means draining one cyclinder. --For each adjustment--
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
Looks like it'll be a little more than just "one more post". Went to marina after work and started the engine. It started pretty good. Once it started running, it belched a bit of black/grey smoke (and cleared) so I think I'm going to limit the injector pump control rod travel by one screw turn and do a sea trial. I thought I'd try it again tomorrow with less throttle, but the auto cold start function puts it in full rack so there would be no difference. Once I think this is adjusted correctly, then final low/high revs will be tweaked with the external governor set screws.
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
SUCCESS!!!! Since the last start was a little smokey at first, I I limited the injector pump travel by 3/4 turn and started it. Still some smoke but less. I limited another 3/4 turn and put things together and left the dock. Ran for about an hr at all power settings. I'm short about 150rpm at full throttle (as recorded by laser tach) which is probably the external governor setting. I'm calling it good. Can't get to the boat for a week so we'll see how it starts then. Refer crapped out though......................
 
kloudie1

kloudie1

.
Nov 6, 2006
10,048
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Congrats !!!! You've had quite a learning experience with the little dear ! Good to hear that it is doing so much better.
 
DeniseO30

DeniseO30

.
Feb 26, 2009
716
Oday 30 Anchor Yacht Club, Bristol PA
Congrats Mark! I've been following this thread.. I've a friend with MD in his boat and he's having the same problems!
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
Be glad to share "the experiences". There is still one more acid test. Starting it next week after I get back.
 
sailcruiser

sailcruiser

.
Sep 6, 2011
435
Good to see things have improved. As you know we have the same engine I'd really like to keep going for several more years. SC
 
DeniseO30

DeniseO30

.
Feb 26, 2009
716
Oday 30 Anchor Yacht Club, Bristol PA
my Friend has his running too! just found out it's a MD6 B. pretty old. funny it runs nice now that it's running. Apparently his injector pump is obsolete. but he's had all the same problems as you mark.
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
The acid test: Started it today after 6 days of not running. It started pretty well with a little cranking. No black/grey smoke. Some blue smoke. It took a few seconds to clear out and run "correctly". But, there's only 10 hrs on the rebuild. I'm going to call it good and will probably tweak the injector pump control rod a bit more after it's broke in. It's definately useable now. Making preps to go out this weekend!!!!
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
Had three days of running over the weekend. It starts better with very little throttle and smokes a little at full throttle. Probably back of on the pump control rod travel. Maybe I should try and set it up per manual and see how close I am. Have not burned a drop of oil where I would have used ~2qts before rebuild. 40kt winds at anchorage all Sat night. Wasn't fun and that's another story. Alternator mounting bolt broke about 1/2 from home. Turned well enough to keep water pump going though......
 
E

erps

.
May 31, 2012
5
Fraser 41 La Conner
Mark,

I see you're in Anacortes. I'm just down the road in La Conner. I'm fixin' to pull my MD17C injector pump out next week. I made a preliminary attempt a couple of weeks ago, but after pulling out the four bolts on the top flange and trying to get a putty knife under the flange I quit. I was afraid of breaking something, so I put it back together. The pump is losing it's prime when it sits. When it starts, it leaks fuel around the top of the pump, those stubby things that the injector lines connect to. This is a new development. I recently had all the injectors rebuilt. The book I have just says "remove injector pump" I was wondering about the linkage between the governor and the pump. Is there something that has to be disconnected before a person lifts the pump out. I would sure appreciate any help from your experience.

By the way, I was going to use Northland diesel in Bham to rebuild the pump, but haven't called them yet to make sure they could do it. Who did you use?

Ray
 
Last edited:
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

.
Jan 25, 2011
2,435
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
Ray,
getting the pump broke loose from the timing cover will require some violence. Mine was really stuck and it required some good prying and some hammer blows. You won't be able to save the gasket and you'lll need to ascertain how many gaskets are there and replace with the same as that determines timing. Once it's broke free, put the throttle about half and lift it part way out. You have to disconnect the governor linkage from the rack and there's a little connector that will also come out. Be very careful as you could drop the little connector and probably never get it back and who knows where it would land. The little stubby things are the delivery valves. Talk to Roger at Northland Diesel. He did mine. Assuming the cylinder walls are OK, plan on about $500-600. Curious, are you FWC or RWC?
 
E

erps

.
May 31, 2012
5
Fraser 41 La Conner
Mark, mine was RWC but was converted over to FWC. I don't know at what point in the motor's life that occurred. I saw a very small pin in the exploded diagram that appears to be associated with a sliding lever. I'm guessing that's the governor linkage you speak of. I'm starting to think that if the delivery valves screw out and give me access to those o-rings, that I may try and fix the leak without removing the pump. I have a repower in my future. I just need to keep this thing running for a couple more years. Your quick response has been helpful.
 
E

erps

.
May 31, 2012
5
Fraser 41 La Conner
Well I pulled out each individual fuel delivery retainer on the pump to replace the o-rings and the high pressure gasket washer. The o-rings were ugly. I'm pretty sure that's the source of my problem. Parts should be in Thursday. I'll put it back together Friday and see if I saved myself the grief of having to pull the whole pump. It only took about an hour to disassemble. Fingers crossed.

Found that my exhaust elbow was starting to leak while doing the job. Pulled that off and ordered a new one. This elbow only lasted 4.5 years. Seems like they should last longer than that. If I was keeping this motor, I'd be tempted to send the elbow down to my little brother, who's a pipe fitter, to fabricate one out of stainless pipe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top Bottom