2013 VP 380 C fuel pump whine

[cnyboater]

New to us boat, had 228 hours when we picked it up a couple of weeks ago (262). Freshwater only. I started noticing a fuel pump whine not long after putting some hours on it. The engine runs great, no performance issues except for an extended crank when hot (happened twice).

Prior to launching the boat, I replaced the water pump impeller, fuel/water separator, oil and oil filter and drive oil, all with OEM VP parts/fluids. The engine does not run hot. I noticed judging by the witness marks on the bolts, someone at one time replaced the entire seawater pump and housing assembly. The impeller looked fine when I changed it.

Anyway, I have the manuals now, and using a stethoscope, the noise is coming from the low pressure pump. This is the pump on the starboard side of the fuel module asm with a Schrader valve near the bottom. Of course, I forgot to bring a fuel pressure gauge to the river house, which is where the boat is on a lift (100 miles from home). The whine is evident when cold starting the engine, and gets worse as the engine warms up.

I removed the 5/16” water hose on the starboard exhaust nipple in the rear on the exhaust, which is the outlet from the fuel module cooler. No water comes out of it when running the engine to 1500 rpm. I then removed the 5/16” hose at the bottom of the heat exchanger. This hose is the feed for the fuel cooler. Water falls out of the heat exchanger like it should, but blowing through the fuel cooler with my mouth does not result in any water coming out of the previously removed outlet hose in the back. I used a Dewalt cordless inflator to try to blow through the fuel cooler. Nothing comes out the other end. This is very strange only because it does not appear that the inflator is struggling or “dead heading” when attached to the 5/16” hose.

Does anyone know what year VP stopped having the paint chip issues? Where would you go next? I am not against replacing the entire fuel module with a new VP one, but it’s a tad on the spendy side. I am also not against fixing what I have, but I’m not sure I like the idea of Chinese replacement pumps nor do I understand the fuel cooler situation (the cause?). I just don’t want to miss the “cause” if I go “new Volvo”. The You Tube channel for ManCave is interesting, but I’m not sure he addresses low pressure fuel pump whine unless I missed it.

[AsLan7]

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Hey cb. So glad you found us.

My impressions were that Merc was the manufacturer with fuel cooler paint separation issues.

I'm curious if you did an ECU diagnostic while it was running?

Any pics of your 2013 262?

And welcome aboard mate.

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[cnyboater]

Thanks for the welcome. There weren’t any relevant codes using Rinda. The engine temp data looked good. There isn’t a fuel pressure pid like the 6.2’s have.

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[Big Block Power]

Man cave fixes them for that issue.
A volvo wine is never good.
If you don't have water going through to cool it out well kill it in a hurry. China you have a 50 50 shot at a good one it seams.

[cnyboater]

Fixed. As it turns out, parts of the rubber impeller from a previous (before me) failure lodged their way into the seawater cooling inlet fitting on the bottom of the fuel module. I removed the fuel module and found this while looking things over on the bench. I drilled out the pieces and using compressed air on the outlet side, the blockage was removed, I had good water flow, and no more whine or hot start issues. Hindsight being 20-20, had I known what I was looking for, this could have been done rather easily w/o removing the module. The module housing is not painted. It appears to be black oxide or something.

A new VP fuel module is $2k, so I'm pretty happy about how things turned out! So be sure to check your fuel cooler inlet if you have an impeller come apart.

[Big Block Power]

Very nice job!