Hi! Does any know if a D2-55 + 130S-A sail drive has a damper plate or perhaps someone has experienced a clattering noise coming from the engine when in neutral. The noise started in the morning (light), I heard it just before leaving my berth, but became louder by the evening when I got back. It reminds me of a worn damper plate noise on my shaft driven previous boat. Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Raphael.
Do you have a feathering/folding propeller ? They can rattle.
Yes a VP 3 blade folding. Doubt however this is the cause. The noise sounds like a tin can bouncing up and down on the engine when it's in idle. The noise disappears when the engine is under load.
If the engine were an md22l I would suggest the belt guard for the raw water pump touching the engine [mine sounded as you describe] Geoff
My damper plate failed on my D2-55 and stripped the splines off the sail drive, an expensive repair!
I was told that the damper plate was a known weakness, it was replaced with an upgraded unit. I had very little warning of the failure, which occurred several miles out to sea. I would seek expert advice sooner rather than later.
Thank you Brian and all. Season over it seems, anyway I am planning to haul out shortly for wintering and it's time to replace the diaphram also so it going to be quite an expensive Christmas present to myself!
Regards,
Raph.
My D 2-55 has about 1600 hours and same noise. I also suspected the damper plate and this confirmation means I will also be in for some work Soon. Is the upgraded damper plate a Volvo part or aftermarket.
Thanks
Tom (Sophia)
The D2-55 is a Perkins engine and I'd say VP actually manufacture very little of it themselves. I have been looking around on the internet but no success. I'm planing a haul out next January and the job is on my list this winter so I might find a manufacturers name on the part and it's available on the aftermarket at a reasonable price otherwise no alternative but to pay a ridiculous ?800 plus for the VP part. Regards, Raph.
While the basic engine is made by Perkins (but actually originally a British Leyland design) the marinisation is mostly Volvo, although Perkins did sell it for a short time before the link with Volvo. So you may well find the damper plate is a Volvo unique item. However worth checking to see if it is the same as the Perkins marine unit, but even if it is doubt it will be any cheaper.
I had the damper plate and drive shaft replaced in Greece about 4 years ago. As far as I can recall the total cost was no more ?800, that included the engineer having to travel 50km twice to the port where the boat was moored. This would suggest that after market units are available at a fraction of the cost of a genuine part.
I also had my damper plate replaced in Turkey - I have an early engine series A where the plate is known to engineers as a weakness - with a non-vp part maybe hurth/zf.