When it is cold my engine can be difficult to start. Nothing strange about that. It should have a cold start lever, or button. Where do I find it?  | When my MD7A was hard to start I simply opend the valve compression lever and let the motor spin up a bit faster. Once it is spining, drop the lever and it usually starts pretty quickly. I am currently rebuilding the engine and upon disassembly I found a broken compression ring. This appears to be the cause of low compression and would result in hard starting. You may want to check your cylinders to see if there is a drastic difference between the two. |
 | Cold start on the MD7A depends on whether you have a Bosch injector pump or a CVA. The Bosch has an automatic cold start. Balu has a CVA (or is it CAV) injector pump and this has a little vertical lever on the underside. The cold start cable pulls this sidewaysto enrich the fuel. I will try to scan a picture of it. To start the engine I usually give 4 pulls on the cold start level and leave it pulled up until the engine starts. It then needs to be push shut to build revs up. This is all academic as the cylinder head gasket has blown. So I am waiting for the head to be scimmed and valves to be reset and ground in. Yeo and Smith in Plymouth do an excellent and resonable job - they sorted the same problem for me on a MD5A in my last boat. It's not my year with the bent pulpit as well. |
| Jesper, If you have a manual cold start there will be a second lever by the stop lever. If not you probably have a Bosch injector pump. Dick |
 | Thanks for all the great tips. I found a lever at the rear end of the valve cover, is that not a decompression lever for cold start? It is not connected to the stop-lever in the cockpit. Unfortunately I have to remove the engine housing case, to activate it. Jesper Milling |
| Now that the weather is cold again, I am able to test the advice I was given. The lever I fond on the engine doesn't seem to help. I beleive the lever is a decompression lever enabling a person who is trying to start the engine manually, to crank the engine revs up, and then deactivate the lever to start the engine. I imagine you activate the lever, turn the starting handle as fast as you can, and then you deactivate the lever in the same second you stop turning the handle. Well this is just guessing. I have learned lately however that my cold weather starting problem is not only connected to the cold. The longer I wait between starts, the more difficult it gets. If I start the engine the day after previously starting and running it, it starts in 5 seconds. If I wait 3 or 4 days it takes 15 seconds. If I wait two weeks, it takes maybe 15 minutes of trying, and a recharge of the starter battery, and a new trying the next day. Any new advice on the peculiar behaviour is welcome, I will be back if my local Volvo mechanic has good advice. Jesper M. |
| Jesper,
Sounds like an air leak somewhere in the fuel system probaly the lift pump.
If the diagraph has a slow leak it will allow the fuel to drain back out of
the system. When you try to restart it it has to reprime the system. The
more time between starts the more has drained and the more priming you have
to do. Check the fittings first, starting at the injectors and move
backward through the system. It sound s like the leak is really small so it
may be difficult to find.
Good Luck
Rich
S/V Preludr II
MA, USA
>From: "Jesper_Milling"
>Reply-To: "Albin-Ballad"
>To: "Albin-Ballad"
>Subject: Re: Cold start of Volvo Penta MD 7
>Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 04:18:19 -0800
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> New Message on Albin-Ballad
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Cold start of Volvo Penta MD 7
>
>
>
>
> Reply
>
>
>
>
>
> Reply to Sender
> Recommend
>
> Message 6 in Discussion
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From:
> Jesper_Milling
>
>
>
>
> Now that the weather is cold again, I am able to test the
>advice I was given. The lever I fond on the engine doesn't seem to help. I
>beleive the lever is a decompression lever enabling a person who is trying
>to start the engine manually, to crank the engine revs up, and then
>deactivate the lever to start the engine. I imagine you activate the lever,
>turn the starting handle as fast as you can, and then you deactivate the
>lever in the same second you stop turning the handle. Well this is just
>guessing. I have learned lately however that my cold weather starting
>problem is not only connected to the cold. The longer I wait between
>starts, the more difficult it gets. If I start the engine the day after
>previously starting and running it, it starts in 5 seconds. If I wait 3 or
>4 days it takes 15 seconds. If I wait two weeks, it takes maybe 15 minutes
>of trying, and a recharge of the starter battery, and a new trying the next
>day. Any new advice on the peculiar behaviour is welcome, I will be back
>if my local Volvo mechanic has good advice. Jesper M.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> View other groups in this category.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Also on MSN:
>Start Chatting | Listen to Music | House & Home | Try Online Dating | Daily
>Horoscopes
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> To stop getting this e-mail, or change how often it
>arrives, go to your E-mail Settings.
>
>
> Need help? If you've forgotten your password, please go
>to Passport Member Services.
>
> For other questions or feedback, go to our Contact Us
>page.
>
>
> If you do not want to receive future e-mail from this
>MSN group, or if you received this message by mistake, please click the
>"Remove" link below. On the pre-addressed e-mail message that opens, simply
>click "Send". Your e-mail address will be deleted from this group's mailing
>list.
>
>
> Remove my e-mail address from Albin-Ballad.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
|
 | Hej!
Jag tror att din motor kanske b철rjar bli lite tr철tt. K채nner igen det fr책n min egen MD6B. Du kan ju b철rja med att testa spridarnas funktion,철ppningstryck och sprutbild.Enkel operation som g책r snabbt att g철ra p책 en verkstad om du har spridarna med dig. De kan vara lite kr책ngligt att ta loss dem,men det g책r om man 채r envis. Ta ocks책 ett kompressionsprov s책 f책r du lite att b철rja med.Det 채r ju s책 att motorn 채r k채nsligare p책 att starta ju kallare det blir.
H채lsn fr책n Bengt - Ballad 1258 |
 | I've learnt that if it has enough compression (ie not defect) it will always start when it has enough fuel in the cylinders. So if it is cold, I give my md7 full throttle with gear in neutral, and as soon as it starts I throttle it quickly back to idle. With this procedure it always starts within 10 s. Peter, Ballad 532 |
| Thanks for a lot of interesting tips. I feel the idea that the idea that I have a leak in the fuel system is especially interesting since it could explain why my engine will not start very easily after 2 cold weeks, where as after just one cold day it starts fine. The cold of course is a problem, but time seems to be an even worse problem in my case. I also have some weird fuel pipes. They are hydraulic pipes with snap on connections. When I wiggle them a little they leak quite obviously, so of course they are meant to be under pressure to be tight. With air leaking into the pipe the fuel level in the pipe will fall, and the engine has to be starting for a longer time to actually fire. I will exchange my pipes as soon as possible. Jesper Milling |
 | Hi
I have learned when trying to start my engine in extreme cold that it was
not enough to use the full trottle, i then took a spray of WD40 and sprayed
into the inlet while turning the engine with the valves lifted for a few
turns and then when starting normal it came on.
i also once helped a fellow sailor who could not start, at that time we
actually started the engine on the WD40 so we could de-air the fuelsystem as
the problem was a bit of air in the system that would not come out by
venting with the handpump.
Hans J첩rgen Skov
Ballad 1018
>From: "Albin-Ballad"
>Reply-To: "Albin-Ballad"
>To: "Albin-Ballad"
>Subject: Re: Cold start of Volvo Penta MD 7
>Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2006 08:37:15 -0800
>
>We attempted to deliver this message to you with HTML formatting. However,
>your e-mail program does not support HTML-enhanced messages. Please go to
>your E-mail Settings for this group and change your E-mail Preference to
>"Text only".
>http://groups.msn.com/Albin-Ballad/_emailsettings.msnw
>
>MSN Groups
>
_________________________________________________________________
F책 de bedste s첩geresultater med MSN Search: http://search.msn.dk
|
 | The problem with WD-40 or any other starting fluid is that there is no way to control the timing! It is possible for the cylinder to fire before the piston passes top dead center basically jamming it backwards and possibly bending or breaking connecting rods or crank shaft. The old Volvos are very solid engines so it you will be more likely to get away with it, but the newer, lighter, diesels are more vulnerable. Using a starting fluid is something that no mechanic recommends but they have all done it; use it as a last resort and cross your fingers. Regards, Tony Allport Pleiades #191 |
| |
