Seattle area Volvo mechanic

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Chriscz128

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Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C
Does anyone have a recommendation for a Volvo mechanic in the Seattle area? I am just looking to have a routine service done (changing filters, impeller, etc.). In the future I hope to do this myself, but wanted to watch a pro do it the first time.
 
I’d recommend Bellingham Yachts up in Bellingham. Worlds biggest Cutwater dealer. Great service staff. Reasonable rates.
 
I would recommend Coastal Marine Engine. They are a Volvo marine dealer and repair service located on the ship canal in Ballard. There is a boat ramp right there on the premises for haul outs. They have always done very good work for me.

www.coastalmarineengine.com
 
In Seattle (not going up to Bellingham or Anacortes or down to Tacoma), your two solid options are Pacific Power and Coastal Marine. If you ask around the boating community (incl. this forum), these are the two options you will hear most frequently mentioned and both are well-regarded (I haven't heard anything bad about either).

When we got our boat a year ago, I researched and received quotes from both (as well as a few other options farther afield).

The biggest difference between the two is that Coastal quoted significantly more (on the order of 75-100% more) than what Pacific Power quoted for exactly the same work. Labor rates were comparable, but Coastal estimated a lot more time for the same job (as long or longer than I figured it would take me to do the work myself) and a larger markup for identical Volvo parts (for one part almost 50% more than it would have cost me to order from Fluid Motion). Coastal's estimate really rubbed me the wrong way, as they claimed that's how much it would take to get the job done -- but the labor hours quoted by Pacific Power were in-line with other estimates. Coastal was the outlier.

I ended up going with Pacific Power and was very very happy, will use them again this spring.

scross":3trwz57x said:
I’d recommend Bellingham Yachts up in Bellingham. Worlds biggest Cutwater dealer. Great service staff. Reasonable rates.
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I love Bellingham Yachts (we bought our RT from them), but they are not a Volvo dealer. They will outsource to Northwest Diesel Power in Bellingham (IIRC, at no markup), so you can work with them directly. This is what happened for the engine work post-survey when we bought our boat.
 
I use Coastal Marine for about 10yrs for servicing my Four Winns Sundowner VP 5.7 engine and they do quality job so I trust them with the boat. It's hard to find good quality mechanics and Larry/Martin from Coastal Marine are great. Sounds like Pacific Power is another viable alternative.
 
srhawk454":2m1dgpfn said:
I use Coastal Marine for about 10yrs for servicing my Four Winns Sundowner VP 5.7 engine and they do quality job so I trust them with the boat. It's hard to find good quality mechanics and Larry/Martin from Coastal Marine are great. Sounds like Pacific Power is another viable alternative.
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I would not recommend Coastal Marine based on our horrible experience some years ago, when we took our Bavaria 38 Ocean to have our Volvo Saildrive replaced. They botched the $14K job and we had to get a second saildrive installed.
So when we bought our R31-SE, we used Jacques Endreo at Blue Horizon Marine, who services Volvo engines at Elliott Bay Marina in Seattle. He is an excellent mechanic with a reasonable hourly rate.
 
note, if I recall correctly Pacific charges time for the transit time to the marina in their hourly quote.

I also had a poor experience with coastal and wont use them again.
 
We have had good luck with North Harbor Diesel in Anacortes.
A bit distant from Seattle, I know.
 
Cutwater28GG":1e302y00 said:
note, if I recall correctly Pacific charges time for the transit time to the marina in their hourly quote.
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The "travel" fee was $75 each way to EBM / $150 total, which is the cheapest travel fee I've ever been quoted at EBM (Pacific Power is coming from Kent; as I discovered a few years back there are mechanics who come from Ballard and charge $200 in travel fees!).
 
nice!

the mechanic a few years back from pacific power I used was really great. did the full volvo service bulletin plug into the evc in addition to the service.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions and info. I will call and compare as well. I had a great experience with folks from Northwest Diesel Power out of Bellingham, who I used during the purchase. A bit far for Seattle, but may still ask them. If I remember correctly, they said they are often down in Seattle. Sounds like mixed results with Coastal Marine Engine and good results with Pacific Power.
 
What did everyone end up being charged by either Pacific Power or Coastal? I just got an estimate from PP for my R29 that comes to over $2,000, which of course seems steep. Wondering what others have seen locally, recently.
 
These maintenance items (impeller, fuel filters, oil/filters, coolant) can be done in less than 2hrs on your own with the proper tools. Especially on the D4 and smaller D6 engines where there is more room to move around the engine compartment. Happy to teach / help for anyone in Seattle.
 
2k seems like too much but perhaps I’m out of touch now post COVID inflation.

Want to say 1.2k but this was a few years ago.
 
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