Hi all,

I have a Volvo AQ130 with a 280 drive and having problems getting a simple answer from anywhere. The leg travels up and down ok, but on the travel down, it gets almost to the bottom and then drops suddenly. It's not a big drop and doesn't drop all the way down, but it drops a short distance just the same.
I had it to a Marine shop and they replaced the worm drive in it as part of a $900 service and they said it now worked fine. I wont mention the Adelaide Volvo Dealer that did the job. I got it home and expected it was now finally fixed and proceeded to tilt the leg down and "Bang", It dropped at the same point as it always does and has still continued to do it every time since. I haven't removed the unit as yet to have a look at it myself, but it's almost like a tooth or two missing of a gear?
I don't want to have to replace the whole unit if I can help it, becasue they are quite expensive. Surely this problem is consistent with a part inside that simply needs replacing but know one will tell me the answer. I can't be the first person ever to have had this problem.
I have looked at an exploded view of one of these complete units and there is parts everywhere and clueless where to start. If I just knew what part is faulty, I'm sure I can pull it apart and put it back together again with the new part.
Can you give some clues,,,,,Please....?

 

It sounds to me as if the down limit switch is not adjusted properly, or there is a bump rubber missing somewhere.....if you were near Sydney I could recommend a really good Penta guy.
Or you could ask here:
Volvo Penta Gas Engine Forum

Regards, Andrew.

 

Thanks,

I found the problem. Trying to keep it short, and with the help of a mate so we could see what was happening at the rear with someone at the front pushing the button. There is a stainless arm that comes up from the locking unit and springs at the bottom that comes up through the lifting fork with a nut adjustment on the arm. The arm comes up through a hole in the lifting fork and sticks out a bit above this. When the leg is activated to go down, a piston rod comes down from the lift motor, hits the top of the arm and pushes it to unlock the leg at the bottom, then contining it's travel on the lift fork. I'm sure you know what I mean here.
This locking arm has been broken and welded back up by the previous owner and a bit out of shape. The arm at the top where it goes through the lifting fork is a bit bent, like it has been belted quite hard at some stage, probably when that arm first broke. As a result it was catching on it a little bit and delaying the travel momentarily.
There was no more adjustment left in the adjuster nut, so I found an old clamp in the top of tool box that has come of something proably ten years ago that just happened to be strong and sturdy enough to wrap around the arm with the adjuster nut now all the way backed right off. It clamped perfectly and won't come off. This gave me a whole new start on the amount of ajustment I had. With a bit of a tweak getting the adjustment correct, the leg now happily travels up and down all day long without catching and dropping and still allows the leg to unlock and lock in properly at the bottom.

So there we go it took two backyard amatures 15 minutes to find and fix a problem that the main Volvo Penta Dealer in Adelaide couldn't find.

Ultimately that arm really needs replacing altogether, but I worry about that another day. At least I'm clued up now as to what th problem is if it starts again.

Thanks for your help Typhoon.

Inidentaly, this really good penta dood you know in Sydney, Don't spose he could lay his hands on an exhaust manifold and elbow for an AQ130D could he? Either a new one at a good price or a good second hand one with some life left in it. The AQ130 and AQ115 were on there own in the Volvo 4 cylinder range and harder to find parts for. New ones are generaly a fortune. Much cheaper in America but then just as much agian to get it posted home, so I would save nothing. All the second hand ones I've seen ar just about as stuffed as mine and not worth buying unless its been a fresh water used one only.
Any help you can give me on this one would be greatly appreciated also.

Thanks again man.

Brett