Customer Reviews

Clymer Volvo Penta Stern Drive Shop Manual, 1994-2000

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have just bought this book a couple of weeks ago and I have almost finished reading it. The book aims the amateur boaters who have basic mechanical skills and who are willing to learn their Volvo Penta engines like myself. It is a handbook which should be kept in the boat for emergency situations together with all other necessary tools and spare parts required to fix the boat. The print quality is nice and easily readable however I would prefer if there were more pictures and photos in the book which I believe is the only drawback. For those of you who want to play with your engine at a basic level, I would suggest you to buy this book.

Being an ASE Cert. Master Auto Technician with over forty years experience, I was looking for a good shop manual for my boat. The engine is a Volvo 4.3 V6 with a Holley Marine carb...no big deal. The outdrive is other than what I've had experience (brand) with and I felt it would be a good thing to have specific repair information for it. The Internet (Marine Parts Express) gave more information (for free) on what I was looking for than this "Paper Paperweight" did. I found (in my opinion), the information it contained to be generic and useless. For the unskilled it might serve a purpose, for me, it's a paperweight.

If you are looking for a marine repair manual you probably have some mechanical skill but not so much you want to completely rebuild right down to the crankshaft. This book does the exact opposite. Wasted pages on the basics of four cylce combustion (who is there that would not already know but still care?), chapters on using micometers on everything from pistons to bearings (something usually only done in rebuild shops). But there is very little information the average boat owner can use. Little or incorrect information on replacing risers, pumps or stern drive removal.
The Seloc manual is a much better choice although it has many of the same sins, just less so. The Seloc also has much more complete tune up information. The factory manuals have better illustrations than either manual but are harder to find.

This is a great manual for most of the engine but I was suprised to find the raw water pump cooling system was glaringly omitted. I needed to trace the cooling pipes to clear blockages but there was no reference to the cooling. What would have been useful would be a blow apart diagram of this system showing the cooling path. Additionally the impeller portion was limited not mentioning that the rubber washer was needed to prevent cavitation around the impeller blades.
Otherwise this manual covers pretty much everything else.

I bought this book about 6 weeks ago so I could get help to winterize my boat the first year. But what I used it for first was to find out why my engine was getting hot. It gave me a few ideas then it told me it could be the impeller sure enough problem found. It told me step for step even down to having four bolts in the housing and even a direction to turn. WOW $80.00 an hour saved, the book has already paid for it's self Thank's AMAZON and CLYMER.

We actually borrowed this book from the library several times before we realized we couldn't live with out it! :) It is very informative with clear pictures and precise directions. Very well put together.

This book is very informative for a guy like me not knowing much about boat engines.

Very good detail. With this book and a little mechanical know how YOU can do it!!! First time I ever took an outdrive off. Changed the gimbal bearing and bellows, etc and all is well.