"Peter Bennett" wrote in message
news.com...
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:22:42 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

Please help me advise a friend whose boat I was looking at today trying to
get the engine running.

10 HP 2 cylinder Volvo diesel in an Albin Vega

Last time he started the engine, there was a buzzer like noise from behind
the switch panel but the engine started and ran. Not sure if buzzer noise
went away or not, I wasn't there.

Next time, there was the same buzzer noise but nothing else, not even a
hint
of starter trying to go.

I went to look at it today and found that there had been a small fire
inside
the elderly mechanical voltage regulator, not enough to keep it from
making
a nice warning buzzer sound as one of the toasted relays chattered but
clearly enough to render it useless for anything except a doorbell.

Question: Would it be foolish to just swap in another regulator and see
what
happens? Judging from the terminals, it's been fairly moist in it's
location. Could it have just gone bad on its own or is there likely an
underlying problem.

A previous boat had a 2 cylinder Volvo (MD6A?) with a "dynastarter" -
combination starter and generator. If that is the arrangement on this
boat, I suspect that your "voltage regulator" also contains the
starting relay - If so, you will have to replace it with the correct
part from Volvo.

For an engine of that vintage, it would almost be cheaper to repower it.
When I had the MD-11, parts for the older Volvo models are made out of gold
and platinum plated.

Leanne