C30 (D6-435) Heat Exchanger Service

[dbsea]

Hi All,

I feel like I'm approaching the time where my heat exchanger should be serviced. I had it scoped last year, and my mechanic (trusted, and also a friend) told me it was still in good shape with only minor deposits / blockages. He showed me the photos/videos and I concurred. The great thing is that despite 200hrs of cruising a year with the bulk of it in salt water, I always come home through the locks and back into fresh water, so everything gets a free rinse!

My question is, has anyone done this service and most importantly, how did you get the heat exchanger out?? The front of the engine sits right up against the cabin bulkhead with very little room to work, and certainly not enough to room to extract a 2ft long heat exchanger. Would love to hear how others have dealt with this so I can plan accordingly.

Dave

 

[Martin610]

I just had mine done recently. In my opinion it's a difficult job for a DIYer, especially if you don't have experience. I have a C-28 with the D4-260. Similar design as the D6, just two less cylinders. Still a bear to remove and lift out.

Volvo has a design where the components, fuel cooler, oil cooler, heat exchanger, etc. are bolted together without hoses. Makes the engine more compact and eliminates problems with the hoses. However, it also means you can't take off the elements individually. All together the system is heavy.

I had mine done at Forked River Diesel. I got some very good advice from Brian Brown on this forum. You can look for my posts on this forum. One of the things he mentioned is that even if the HE is not blocked substantially, the O rings degrade over time. That was the case with mine. I did use barnacle buster every couple of years.

The mechanics said the HE wasn't that bad but all the O rings were weeping. I probably waited longer than I should have. They had to soak the components for a couple of days to get everything apart. This mechanic has the ultra sonic cleaner setup that is supposed to good for all this.

I can keep the engine at max RPM and temp is steady as a rock.

In case it helps here's a fairly recent YpouTube video on HE cleaning of the D6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD-UKi4bq78

-martin610

 

[dbsea]

That's a very helpful video and information! My engine is running at a very healthy operating temp across the RPM range (175-185F), so I'm not worried but I like to stay ahead of my maintenance. It seems like the path of least resistance is to remove the entire heat exchanger vs just the core for servicing. I feel like that might be easier to do than just removing the core, but also not sure how this works with an engine full of oil given the oil filters are part of the heat exchanger based on what i'm seeing...