4 cylinder volvo 1983 any good?

[richardk5457]

gentlemen, is the 4 cyl,volvo which has 2 carbs any good? she's a 1983 with appx 145 hp. fella has one in a 21v and boat looks good but motor had head removed & resurfaced due to venturi falling into head, totally redone but needs to be reinstalled.prior eng performance was very good, input appreciated thanks richard

[Monkey Butler]

I had a 4 cylinder Volvo Penta in my old Wellcraft/Manatee 18. It was the single carb (AQ125A ?) I think.
It is the same motor as found in Volvo cars except for the cam and cooling system so you can get parts at AutoZone and/or the junkyard.

Common to have head problems. For instance see:
http://www.baylinerownersclub.org/forum/archive/index.php?t-3104.html

Mine had a Solex carb which was a piece of crap. There were no bolt on replacements available.

I replaced the points with a Pertronix electronic kit. Well worth it.

What drive does it have? Most likely a 270 or 280. Both are good and can hanldle torque from even V-8's but take good care of them as parts are in the stratosphere. The 270 and most 280's only have a problematic electric tilt feature that can only be run all the way down and only tilted up with the engine out of gear for trailering. The 280 may have the optional hydraulic tilt and trim which much is preferred.

Make sure the cooling system is in order. Even used parts demand big money.

To me it would seem a little heavy and anemic for a V21. Make sure you are happy with the performance first but otherwise if it is in good shape and you take care of it I wouldn't turn my nose up at it.

BTW, I don't know what "due to venturi falling into head" means. Can you explain?

Steve P.

[reelapeelin]

I can't imagine owning/operating a boat w/trim that doesn't work while in gear :head: ... if you're still considering this boat, heed Monkey Butler's heads up on that one....

[spareparts]

its not a trim, but a tilt only,probably Volvos biggest issue with the AQ drives, the later ones had trim, but it was a complicated set up that gave a lot of problems. Those little 4 cylides will run forever, they get decent milage, and they turn up pretty high(5500 I think). We had a pair of them in the 23 Formula I used to fish. The biggest probelm is parts, find a local Volvo car guy and he can probably help you a lot with the engine parts, the marine parts don't break that often, but they are expensinve when they do. Check the timing belt pulleys and idlers, if they are rusted, they will need replacing(change the belt while you are at it). The two 1bbl carbs are a pain, you will need a tool to adjust the idle set up per the book, I finnaly got tired of pulling out the coffee can( part of teh tool) to set them up and got pretty good at feeling them out. We had so many problems with the carbs(Had water set up in them for a while), I was expploring the idea of replacing them with a Mercarb of of a 3.0 L Mercruiser, just never got around to doing it.

[Stillrunning]

We had an AQ125 in my dads boat and the motor was great. We had an issue with it over heating and after checking everthing we figured that maybe the head was warped. If I remember correctly you have to be very very careful resurfacing the head as there is already very little clearence for the valves from the factory. When they checked mine it was good to go so we did not have to resurface. If you buy the boat if it has the same cooling system I know it inside and out.