Help VP D-6 310 A-B DP

I have a VP D-6 310 A-B DP. It has 1047 hours on it. At about 950 hours I started to use a little oil. The dealer said do not worry... They use a little oil. At 1047 hours I had oil blow thru the air filter. The NEW owners of the dealership said my engine is toast! Without looking at it they said I needed to buy a new long block. They also said that to do a comp. test I needed to pull the engine. This means cutting the roof and the floor... It runs into time which equals $$. I have a couple of friends that have run VP 41's for a long time. They said WHAT on pulling the engine for a comp. test. They also said since the engine sounds fine and appears to run well except for the oil blow by that I probably just blew a ring. I live in a rural area of Alaska which limits choices of mechanics. Any input would help. Thanks

I guess I kind of forgot to ask questions clearly... 1. Am I getting stroked with the Comp. test? 2. Will a cold comp test give reliable indicators as to the problem? 3. Since I have never owned a Diesel before... Is this dealer blowing smoke (no pun intended) giving me a Doctors opinion without seeing the engine? Like I said.... any input would be a great help. Thanks

Yes they might use a little oil normally. My 3500hr 5.9l 330hp (non-Volvo) engines use maybe 1/2 - 1 pint between 500hr oil changes. I wouldn't expect your engine to be much different. There should be a spec sheet that says how much oil the engine should consume as a % of the fuel burned. Oil through the air filter is probably (depends on the engine plumbing) a symptom of broken rings or a damaged bore etc. Saying that you need a new long block without looking at it sounds like lots of BS unless they happen to know that the D6's have a serious known issue. The only reason to pull the engine for a compression test would be if you can't physically access the injector ports. We pulled a pair of Volvo KAD32's at 2500hrs because of serious blow-by issues. When we took them in to the engine rebuilders and told them the symptoms they told us that the 2nd rings were probably broken because thats what those engines do at around 2500hrs. Sure enough, most of the 2nd rings were broken. Engines were pretty good other than that, so a quick rebuild and back on the water. I wouldn't have expected your d6's at 310hp to do the same after 1000hrs however, so there must be some underlying cause. Are you comfortably reaching the max WOT rpm's when running with your normal load? Running too much prop and overloading the engine might cause the problem you are having. If doing a re-build, make sure that you find what caused the original problem if possible.

aliboy.... Thanks so much. I used a lot more oil than you do. 1 qt. every 12-20 hours. The injectors are open to inspection. I run this baby pretty easy. Every once in a while I did open it up for a short time. You made some good suggestions... Your input was good... Thank you.

if you can see the top of your motor, you can compression test with engine installed. just buy diesel engine compresion gauge and test it yourself, its easy. remove injector lines, remove injectors, screw in gauge fitting, crank over and record reading, move gauge over to the next cylinder, crank/record, and so on.

compression readings will answer questions about your engine condition

and.....find another dealership, or a honest mobile mechanic

Hey stringer_bell Thanks. I can get to the engine. I did talk to another dealer about 90 miles away... It was informative, helpful and really put my mind in a much better place. I think the local guys naturally assumed that they would be the ones to do the work. At least that is the ONLY reason I could think off to pull the motor for a comp. test. The 90 mile away dealer said that if I do not have a knock or the motor is not shaking that chances are I do NOT have a "toasted engine". Buying a diesel and running it has been an education. I know that they are the best for my application.... But I still miss outboards! Thanks for the instructions. The dealer did echo your instructions... with a caution that I would get a rough guide or indicator not a exact reading due to the engine not being warm. Thanks again....