Volvo TAMD 73/74 and 75 ECU - Cause for concern?

[Imperial One]

I have a situation where we are trying to get hold of a Volvo replacement ECU for a TAMD 73P engine.
Apparently it is the same part number for all 3 of the above engines but is programmed to suit each engines specific bore/stroke criteria.
The part number is 3826995.
Volvo, of course, own the schematics and the programming rights for the ECU and the company that used to make them for Volvo now only produce Automotive ECU's.

The really bad news is that these units are NO LONGER available. We have had one on order for weeks and have had the order status raised to VOR and the ARGOS level and the official Volvo answer from their parts HQ in Ghent is 'expected to be available in Q3 2021'!
When questioned further, they then came back and have admitted that they are unlikely to make any more.
In short we now have a boat that the owner is going to find very difficult, if not impossible, to sell.

I have explored every avenue from Ebay to pre-owned parts and they are simply not available anywhere in the world.

Thus the question is, how many of you have a boat fitted with a pair of Volvo TAMD 73/74 or 75 engines?
If you loose an ECU (They cannot be repaired as they are packed with Gel that rips them apart when opened) you are basically expected to re engine the boat with new engines!

There are many boats fitted with any of these particular engines and we are now in the position of having to explain to owners that their boats are not very saleable as the availability of spare parts is, at best questionable and at worst, impossible.
This situation is going to hit second hand values really hard.

I find the position of Volvo utterly indefensible and cannot believe that they can simply refuse to continue to manufacture a basic spare part just because the engines are of a certain age.
Most of these units will only have 5-600 hours on them so are far from useless.

I dread to think how many units there are worldwide....How can such a well known engine manufacturer really be this blind to their customer base and the need to support their products?
It seems they can.

I wonder which engine range is next to be considered too old to be bothered with?
Perhaps a Volvo engineer can let us all know of any other upcoming areas of concern with other models?

Just in case anybody reading this post has a box of 3826995 ECU's please do get in touch with me as they have at least one SOLD straight away!

 

[Portofino]

Whats tends to happen is an entrepreneur pics up the baton
It can not be difficult to re manufacture this .
I know it’s not the answer for for your immediate fix , buts it’s just a board with a few components on someone in China could easily copy or indeed improve it .

Here’s an example of a parallel example .Somebody needs to set up a VP equivalent.Ps do not play the numbers card as theses are equally small .
About Us

 

[[2068]]

Whats tends to happen is an entrepreneur pics up the baton
It can not be difficult to re manufacture this .
I know it’s not the answer for for your immediate fix , buts it’s just a board with a few components on someone in China could easily copy or indeed improve it .

About Us

The board and the components, yes.
The software, no.
Volvo would have to let them have the software, and that's unlikely to happen.

 

[volvopaul]

I have a situation where we are trying to get hold of a Volvo replacement ECU for a TAMD 73P engine.
Apparently it is the same part number for all 3 of the above engines but is programmed to suit each engines specific bore/stroke criteria.
The part number is 3826995.
Volvo, of course, own the schematics and the programming rights for the ECU and the company that used to make them for Volvo now only produce Automotive ECU's.

The really bad news is that these units are NO LONGER available. We have had one on order for weeks and have had the order status raised to VOR and the ARGOS level and the official Volvo answer from their parts HQ in Ghent is 'expected to be available in Q3 2021'!
When questioned further, they then came back and have admitted that they are unlikely to make any more.
In short we now have a boat that the owner is going to find very difficult, if not impossible, to sell.

I have explored every avenue from Ebay to pre-owned parts and they are simply not available anywhere in the world.

Thus the question is, how many of you have a boat fitted with a pair of Volvo TAMD 73/74 or 75 engines?
If you loose an ECU (They cannot be repaired as they are packed with Gel that rips them apart when opened) you are basically expected to re engine the boat with new engines!

There are many boats fitted with any of these particular engines and we are now in the position of having to explain to owners that their boats are not very saleable as the availability of spare parts is, at best questionable and at worst, impossible.
This situation is going to hit second hand values really hard.

I find the position of Volvo utterly indefensible and cannot believe that they can simply refuse to continue to manufacture a basic spare part just because the engines are of a certain age.
Most of these units will only have 5-600 hours on them so are far from useless.

I dread to think how many units there are worldwide....How can such a well known engine manufacturer really be this blind to their customer base and the need to support their products?
It seems they can.

I wonder which engine range is next to be considered too old to be bothered with?
Perhaps a Volvo engineer can let us all know of any other upcoming areas of concern with other models?

Just in case anybody reading this post has a box of 3826995 ECU's please do get in touch with me as they have at least one SOLD straight away!

I am said engineer involved in the trouble shooting and diagnosis of this sham , a mop up job from a well known south coast Volvopenta dealer to add to the insult .

I will also add that this year Covid or not has been one of the worst years for supply of genuine parts , a few examples .
Early part of the year , no stock of drive bellows For DP E drive .
Summer , I waited 3 weeks for a KAD 300 fresh water pump , same part fits 42/43/44/300 no stock at all .
Summer , no stock of DPH lower drive unit since the summer of 2019!!!! clients insurer very sympathetic and paid for a full drive £12k when 6k would have done the job .
The list will go on .

 

[Portofino]

The board and the components, yes.
The software, no.
Volvo would have to let them have the software, and that's unlikely to happen.

You never know ? Has anyone asked ?
Using the Hills example they started with tensioner bearings for the cam belts and grew from there .
There is no conflict with the mother company as it free‘s them up from the hassle and costly inventory stocking and phaffing with theses spares for stuff decades old .

Maybe the software could be cloned , I am no computer geek ?Bit like car chipping ?

 

[volvopaul]

Whats tends to happen is an entrepreneur pics up the baton
It can not be difficult to re manufacture this .
I know it’s not the answer for for your immediate fix , buts it’s just a board with a few components on someone in China could easily copy or indeed improve it .

Here’s an example of a parallel example .Somebody needs to set up a VP equivalent.Ps do not play the numbers card as theses are equally small .
About Us

Units made by Nira automotive in Sweden , blank units programmed at Volvo for each individual order , an item to my knowledge never been available on an overnight order , dealer creates ARGOS case at point of order I was always told .

So two areas I can see to cause no stock .
No blanks available in stock, supplier no longer manufacturing due to no orders .
Volvo closed down programme facility as it costs money to run , no longer interested in keeping mid year 2000 engines going .

 

[[2068]]

Just pop in a couple of D9’s in there instead.
How much are they these days ... £30k each engine?

 

[petem]

IIRC, early in the summer we had the same scare story and then ECU's started to become available again.

I believe that the ECU's in question are all EDC Mk1 and are also fitted on KAD44 and KAD300 engines. Our KAD44's are numbered 9500 so there's perhaps 20,000 KAD44/300 units out there and their ECU's are now starting to fail. On top of that you've got TAMD73/4/5 numbers.

So there's perhaps a market for 5,000 ECU's a year at £3000 a pop. That's £15,000,000 a year.

If VP stop supplying these then I'm sure that some clever soul will be able to take an off the shelf programmable ECU and figure out a map to get these engines running again.

I also wonder if there's some EU regs that would compel VP to find a solution.

 

[Imperial One]

All very good ideas - if only it were that simple to resolve this issue.
We have already explored most of them already and, big surprise, have got absolutely nowhere.
It is already a big problem in the States as I understand it but still Volvo do not give a damn.
To simply expect an owner put 2 new engines in a boat is a huge expectation.
I suspect that to supply and fit 2 engines of say 480 hp together with new gearboxes ( most unlikely the current ones will fit a new engine) would be well over £60,000.

One thing is for certain, if it were my boat, they would not be Volvo units going back in!
Better to fit an American lump as there is no way the Americans would ever dare to stop supporting a product - way too much fear of being sued.
Why do we put up with this rubbish support from arguably th eworlds largest supplier of marine engines?

 

[vas]

no idea how this ecu is setup, but chipping, reverse engineering, even AUS/NZ mappable ECUs is happening in the road world for decades...
Hell, 20yrs ago with a friend managed to reverse engineer half the maps on Fiat/Lancia 2lt 4cyl twin cam turbo integrale/coupe engine. Wasn't easy but I'm not even a programmer (neither is he) and all that starting with a basic chip reader and bog standard s/w
I can understand that it's easier re-mapping a car on a rolling road than taking a half a ton engine to suitable rig and start playing with it, but at a guess as Porto says, if a company sees the potential, it would work.
Again, no idea what sensors they are using and how all these hook up together, worse comes to worse new kit ECU may need a couple of custom senders or whatnot to work.

Unfortunately it seems that most of ECU work happens down under and Volvo base and distribution network is at the other end of the globe.

good luck

V.

 

[petem]

Incidentally, this was predictable...

Engine ECU's end of life

I still think that VP will come to the rescue. They make too much money from parts for these engines to write them all off.

 

[Imperial One]

Incidentally, this was predictable...

Engine ECU's end of life

I still think that VP will come to the rescue. They make too much money from parts for these engines to write them all off.

You might have thought so but so far all of the evidence is stacked against them actually caring at all.
I have written to the new President about this whole debacle so maybe she will kick someone into action but only time will tell.
Fingers crossed!

 

[Imperial One]

Just had a reply from the new President of Volvo.
She has passed it to the head of VP Parts and Services....watch this space.
Maybe he has a secret supply!

 

[Solent Sailor]

I have TAMD73Ps in my SeaRanger. Not a favourite engine for numerous reasons, but they do work and so far I'm managing to do most things on it myself (and my engineering expertise is based on growing up on a farm and taking tractors apart - perhaps not so different).

I actually have a spare ECU in my spares drawer, although I fear it is a unit that failed and has since been replaced.

If and when the time comes to replace my engines, it certainly wouldn't be VP going back in, I quite agree. Nice pair of Cummins in there would be perfect.

 

[n.herring]

Has anyone gone the route of an ECU repair company?
When you Google it there are people all over the country offering this service, I know they are working on the car or lorry versions but I can not believe there is a lot of difference in the actual hardware.
If the unit is repaired and the software needs to be reloaded I would think a Volvo dealer would be happy to oblige for a small fee!

 

[petem]

Has anyone gone the route of an ECU repair company?
When you Google it there are people all over the country offering this service, I know they are working on the car or lorry versions but I can not believe there is a lot of difference in the actual hardware.
If the unit is repaired and the software needs to be reloaded I would think a Volvo dealer would be happy to oblige for a small fee!

The inside is filled with a semi-hard potting compound (capsulation) which helps with water proofing but makes then tamper proof. Believe me, I and many others have tried!

 

[Solent Sailor]

the software needs to be reloaded I would think a Volvo dealer would be happy to oblige for a small fee!

I doubt VODIA is sufficiently sophisticated to do that, even if you could remedy the physical fault.

 

[Imperial One]

Been there and tried to get a repair done but as I, and others, have said before, they are filled with a gel and are designed to tear apart the inner workings when opened.
We have tried everything we can think of and hence raising this out in the public domain in the (probably vain) hope that Volvo actually see what a mess this is and do the decent thing.

So far though, no further updates yet today

 

[Imperial One]

I have TAMD73Ps in my SeaRanger. Not a favourite engine for numerous reasons, but they do work and so far I'm managing to do most things on it myself (and my engineering expertise is based on growing up on a farm and taking tractors apart - perhaps not so different).

I actually have a spare ECU in my spares drawer, although I fear it is a unit that failed and has since been replaced.

If and when the time comes to replace my engines, it certainly wouldn't be VP going back in, I quite agree. Nice pair of Cummins in there would be perfect.

I suspect that it is a duff one sadly kept just in case it comes in handy one day....like most chaps, I have a draw of stuff like that too.
If you have a spare new and working one it is GOLD!

 

[n.herring]

The inside is filled with a semi-hard potting compound (capsulation) which helps with water proofing but makes then tamper proof. Believe me, I and many others have tried!

I have one that was repaired many years ago and still going strong, it was the turbo boost control sensor I believe so it is possible in the right hands