Volvo Penta TAMD 22

Hi
Hope someone can point us in the right direction.
The engine was rebuilt two years ago. In dry dock since then.
Apparently it had been tested.
Before engine rebuild could never achieve full power.

After launching still not reaching full power. Oil alarm went off when in idle and stayed in alarm when running. Oil level ok. Oil pressure ok.

After 5 minutes running at speed engine heated up quickly. Started feeling lumpy. Smell of oil. Complete lack of power. Managed to limp back to harbour.
Checked engine, leak from fuel filter (appeared to be leaking from seal). Black oil, no smell of diesel. Loss of power. Felt like a cylinder was missing.

Tightened fuel filter, but still leaked.
When back, checked oil level and dip stick dry and hot.

So, leak from fuel filter, didn't appear to be diesel and Oil level dropped.
One mechanic suggested turbo maybe faulty and sucked oil out. Then oil found weakess path and leaked out. Does that sound feasible?

How did you confirm that the oil pressure was OK? What rpms were you actually reaching? Are you sure it wasn't the oil filter that was leaking? Can't think how oil gets to the fuel filter without something being very wrong.

aliboy said:

How did you confirm that the oil pressure was OK? What rpms were you actually reaching? Are you sure it wasn't the oil filter that was leaking? Can't think how oil gets to the fuel filter without something being very wrong.

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Oil pressure gauge indicated between 15 to 30 Psi. After leak it started fluctuating.
I checked manual and it is definitely the fuel filter that is leaking. It looks like a mixture of oil and diesel.
As i mentioned one chap said the turbo can draw up oil from sump etc and push it into fuel system. I'm no expert so i wanted to get other opinions. The fact we lost oil and saw a leak at the fuel filter seems to support his theory.
Cheers ian

I can not see any way that your turbo can push oil into the fuel system. It has no connection to the fuel system and your fuel system runs outside the block other than maybe the primer pump possibly(?). I think the injector pump is diesel lubricated but maybe there is oil in there somewhere? But it still needs to go back against the flow direction with the engine running so that doesn't make a lot of sense.
For the turbo to push oil anywhere it would have to be pressurizing the crankcase or oil system somehow. Either of those options means that you have serious issues and in reality are hard things to do. What is quite normal is for the oil seals in the turbo to fail and leak oil into the intake or exhaust side of the turbo. This mostly happens on the exhaust side which means a drop in oil pressure and oil being leaked out the exhaust.
The oil pressure alarm on many Volvos is a separate sender unit to the oil pressure sender so the alarm could just be a bad alarm sender unit if you really do have OK oil pressure. Your problem now might be that you have actually run out of oil pressure and seized something internally. If you pull the air cleaner off and the exhaust elbow off you can probably check for oil in the turbo housings. After that I would top up the oil and see if it will run OK and make oil pressure or whether it is now running like it is down one cylinder. If it feels like it is down one cylinder you can leave it at idle and 'crack' the nut on each injector one at a time to see which cylinder it is. If you find one bad cylinder it is time to pull that injector and do a compression test before doing anything else.

aliboy said:

I can not see any way that your turbo can push oil into the fuel system. It has no connection to the fuel system and your fuel system runs outside the block other than maybe the primer pump possibly(?). I think the injector pump is diesel lubricated but maybe there is oil in there somewhere? But it still needs to go back against the flow direction with the engine running so that doesn't make a lot of sense.
For the turbo to push oil anywhere it would have to be pressurizing the crankcase or oil system somehow. Either of those options means that you have serious issues and in reality are hard things to do. What is quite normal is for the oil seals in the turbo to fail and leak oil into the intake or exhaust side of the turbo. This mostly happens on the exhaust side which means a drop in oil pressure and oil being leaked out the exhaust.
The oil pressure alarm on many Volvos is a separate sender unit to the oil pressure sender so the alarm could just be a bad alarm sender unit if you really do have OK oil pressure. Your problem now might be that you have actually run out of oil pressure and seized something internally. If you pull the air cleaner off and the exhaust elbow off you can probably check for oil in the turbo housings. After that I would top up the oil and see if it will run OK and make oil pressure or whether it is now running like it is down one cylinder. If it feels like it is down one cylinder you can leave it at idle and 'crack' the nut on each injector one at a time to see which cylinder it is. If you find one bad cylinder it is time to pull that injector and do a compression test before doing anything else.

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Thanks for information.
This is probably a job for a professional. The only thing that doesn't make sense is the leak from fuel filter housing. It doesn't appear to be diesel. The loss of oil makes me think the issues are connected.
any thoughts?

I don't know that particular engine but have worked on KAD32's which are also a 4cyl Volvo of probably similar vintage. As far as I can remember the mount for the fuel filter is not connected to the block in a way that any oil can reach the filter. More or less just a bracket bolted to the outside of the block. Is that how yours is? If so, are you sure that no one has poured engine oil into your fuel tank? Nothing else really explains oil getting to the fuel filter if it is how I think it is. If you haven't got all the lost oil sitting in the bilge then it can only get outside the boat in certain ways. Bad oil cooler (if it has one), turbo seals as above, bad rings - but not normal to lose oil so quickly, a bad head gasket - but again not normally so quick.
One other possibility might be that the cam timing is wrong. That could explain low power and if it is out enough the intake stroke can suck oil out of the crankcase due to the inlet valve being closed at the beginning of the intake cycle. Engine may still run but poorly, smoky, and use lots of oil.Is it possible that the engine pressures could get so high with the extra oil that they then force oil through the injector and down through the fuel return line so you get oil into the fuel tank?? Probably not realistic I think as I have never heard of an injector opening backwards, but that would explain all that you are seeing and maybe a damaged injector to give you your bad running now. Let us know what the mechanic finds please. As a simple self test I would try and get a sample of fuel at the fuel filter fitting (just empty the filter into a glass jar) and see if it has any oil in it. The rough running could just be air getting sucked past the damaged filter seal so if the fuel isn't full of oil you could put oil in the engine, a new filter, prime the engine and try starting it again. That will make it easier to diagnose as you or the mechanic start investigating