Paul, a bit more information is needed to give you some help.
How many hours are on the engine now?
How many hours are on the oil in the crankcase now?
Did you get maintenance logs at the purchase that showed good habits regarding regular oil changes? What were the months and hour intervals if so?
Did this problem started immediately after a new oil filter and fresh engine oil were installed? Or was it several hours or days later?
Testing with a mechanical/non-electric oil pressure gauge confirmed that what you were reading from the helm mounted instrumentation was correct ?
Did oil pressure increase with higher engine RPM in a linear pattern, not increase at all or very little, or immediately increase by a great deal? This is very important
to know.
Does the engine burn more than a liter of oil in 50 hours of running time?
Did the Volvo dealer immediately suggest engine removal with out any other testing?
Did anyone suggest that you have a spectrographic engine oil analysis performed ? Do a web search on this. Not expensive and extremely telling about the engines
internal mechanical condition.
Slowly decreasing oil pressure is most often an indication of internal engine wear that increases/opens the tolerances/gaps between components like bearings and bearing journals.
I will await and respond to your answers but I would strongly suggest changing the engine oil filter and if nothing changes then obtaining a spectrographic engine oil analysis before the engine is removed. The oil analysis will, for sure, tell you plenty about the engines’ relative health. Much the same as getting your blood work done before a visit to your medical practitioner.
All The best, Joel
From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io> On Behalf Of Paul Dowd an
d Sharon Brown
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 2:21 PM
To: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io
Subject: [AmelYachtOwners] Volvo oil pressure
Hi all,
I have a Volvo D3-110i-C with low oil pressure. I’m told by the local Volvo dealer that the engine will have to be taken out in order to replace the oil pump. I’m wondering what other factor may cause low oil pressure. Any opinion on this would be most welcome.
A bit of history on the problem. I changed the oil and oil filter after 188 engine hours which was 3 years. I then started getting low pressure warning after reducing from 1100rpm to idle. I checked the oil level and topped up to the top of the mark. After a couple of days I started getting low pressure warning whilst running at 1100rpm (to heat water). This was confirmed when the engineer attached a pressure gauge.
Cheers,
Paul
S/Y Ya Fohi - Amel 54 #98 - Grenada
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Cheers
Paul
Ya Fohi - Amel 54 #98
