Dual Volvo Penta D3-220A-G stuck in limp, no fault code?

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JasonG

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Hello, I have a 2014 Regal Sport Coupe 35 with dual Volvo Penta D3-220A-G engines. A couple of weeks back went to take the boat out after letting warm up in the slip and neither engine would go above 1500rpm. No fault codes. My EVC is EVC-E. Called the local Volvo shop and they told me "sounds like limp mode, you'll have to bring it in". They are over 50 miles away (San Rafael vs Redwood City) and nobody local to me will work on the engine. I've done a lot of basics like checked the pre-fuel filter, checked for water in the water separator, oil level, tried rebooting the EVC by cutting power and even disconnected all harness to the EVC. Just don't know what else to try before I have it towed in. I read in another post on this site about turbo vanes getting stuck can cause a similar issue and to try and wiggle the variable vane lever - but I'm not sure if I have that type of turbo or not since there is no lever I can see that is obvious. Any help appreciated!
 
JasonG said:
Hello, I have a 2014 Regal Sport Coupe 35 with dual Volvo Penta D3-220A-G engines. A couple of weeks back went to take the boat out after letting warm up in the slip and neither engine would go above 1500rpm. No fault codes. My EVC is EVC-E. Called the local Volvo shop and they told me "sounds like limp mode, you'll have to bring it in". They are over 50 miles away (San Rafael vs Redwood City) and nobody local to me will work on the engine. I've done a lot of basics like checked the pre-fuel filter, checked for water in the water separator, oil level, tried rebooting the EVC by cutting power and even disconnected all harness to the EVC. Just don't know what else to try before I have it towed in. I read in another post on this site about turbo vanes getting stuck can cause a similar issue and to try and wiggle the variable vane lever - but I'm not sure if I have that type of turbo or not since there is no lever I can see that is obvious. Any help appreciated!
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Is the neutral lamp lit when in gear ?
 
No it was not. Also, this issue persists even when in Throttle mode at my slip so it should not be related to the drives or shifting. As far as I can tell everything is normal. There are no leaks or smoke or vapor from the engines. just bizarre.
 
JasonG said:
No it was not. Also, this issue persists even when in Throttle mode at my slip so it should not be related to the drives or shifting. As far as I can tell everything is normal. There are no leaks or smoke or vapor from the engines. just bizarre.
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Not sure if you understand my theory, if the neutral light is on even when it’s in gear the throttle limit is set , evc is not clever enough to know if it’s in gear or not , I diagnosed Norman’s Sc38 only this week with limited in gear rpm .

You could have a seized turbo actuator or vacuum pump issue as the fueling , throttle etc is all sensed from boost achieved.
 
seastoke said:
Why would it be the same on both engines
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If it’s a twin and effects both simultaneously ,in the car world modern engines behave spuriously with low volts to ECUs .
Might be worth checking the batteries.
But stuck turbo vanes would be something else to investigate, seems odd with either ^^^ no codes for the “ low volts “ or “low boost “ or words to that effect because there will be sensors feeding the ECU s that info .

Does the code reader thing work ? Is there a sensor for something else say a temp sensor you could disconnect easily to prove out your code system indicator is working as it should ? To explain the “ bizarre “ bit .

Other than that if , it or they think they are in N so as VP says the rpm limiter kicks in .
Do the throttles get wet often ? I often see in marinas folks with no instrument covers on there open ( for the season ) sports boats and wonder about all that sensitive modern electrotwackery getting wet when it rains ,The sun uV and thermal expansion over a few years degradation of seals etc , water finding its way in leading to inevitable corrosion .

Resistance levels across contacts increase with ver d gris .So it’s perfectly possible the ECU is getting it’s still stuck in N signal and simultaneous the N light has gone out , I suspect .
To eliminates this open up a throttle body and check there has not been any water ingress. Plays strange tricks .Look carefully at any multi pin plugs around the throttle body (s) ?
 
JasonG said:
Hello, I have a 2014 Regal Sport Coupe 35 with dual Volvo Penta D3-220A-G engines. A couple of weeks back went to take the boat out after letting warm up in the slip and neither engine would go above 1500rpm. No fault codes. My EVC is EVC-E. Called the local Volvo shop and they told me "sounds like limp mode, you'll have to bring it in". They are over 50 miles away (San Rafael vs Redwood City) and nobody local to me will work on the engine. I've done a lot of basics like checked the pre-fuel filter, checked for water in the water separator, oil level, tried rebooting the EVC by cutting power and even disconnected all harness to the EVC. Just don't know what else to try before I have it towed in. I read in another post on this site about turbo vanes getting stuck can cause a similar issue and to try and wiggle the variable vane lever - but I'm not sure if I have that type of turbo or not since there is no lever I can see that is obvious. Any help appreciated!
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I had this problem wouldn’t rev above 1500 rpm but no fault codes was told by the local Volvo guy To change both fuel filters and away she went
 
Its a diesel so no throttle body, you say you checked the prefilters, what about the fuel filters on the engine, are they tightened sufficiently. I have had several D 3’s sucking air in at these filters unless really tight.
 
Thanks you everyone for your suggestions thus far. I've attached a photo of the pre-filter. Not dirty and no water viewable in the glass jar. The fuel filter there I checked for water per the directions in the D3 engine manual only diesel drips. Also, there are only ~30 hrs on these filters. I don't know about how tight the fuel filter is - it is simple enough to change out so I will try that. The battery voltage is not low and the gauges read that. My alarms do work as I tested that by removing sensor connections.
I'm very interested in the turbo vanes...do I need to remove the foil like coverings to see the actuator? It is not obvious to me what to look for.
 

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spannerman said:
Its a diesel so no throttle body, you say you checked the prefilters, what about the fuel filters on the engine, are they tightened sufficiently. I have had several D 3’s sucking air in at these filters unless really tight.
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Meant this as the “throttle body “ .But see the confusion with the butterfly thing on a petrol , but got the D3 Bit as a diesel .

If this or it’s equivalent has it had water ingress ?

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Is it a single or twin ?
 
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Mine is a twin. I've never noticed any water in the cabin. It has a sliding hard cover and canvas on the back. That being said, if the fuel filter change don't work I'll be taking a look at the helm control as suggested.
 

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Is there a reason why a boat dealer won't travel to site? They will bill travel time I am sure but I feel you are chasing your tail whereas the Volvo VODIA tool is likely to give a decent clue as to what is going on
 
Oh they will. Issue for me is the cost. They are 55miles away (closest Volvo dealer in SF Bay area). They charge $149 an hour including travel plus $1 a mile. That puts me at ~$550 in just travel alone. My drives are schedule for service with them in a few weeks so if I don't clear it out by then I will have it towed in for the service and diagnostic.
 
Hope you get it sorted soon. I clicked in to this thread as a boat we were considering was repowered in 2016 but has these engines. I despise modern tech for this exact reason, laptop for everything, sensors failing left right and centre, usually something stupid but fault finding and diagnostics can take up so much time and require a degree of specialist equipment/knowledge. VNT turbo's were a PITA on land vehicles when introduced so in a marine environment probably more so. Threads like this really scare me off the later engines, pity because they weigh so much less and have performance/consumption benefits.

Unfortunately the world has gone this way with everything. Good luck getting it sorted, I hope it ends up as a simple fix.
 
I replaced the Racor pre-filters and the main water separation fuel filters - no improvement. I did learn a couple of newbie things though...1 is that "throttle only" mode automatically rev limits (confirmed by Volvo technician). I also learned that boost pressure should start building ~1100rpm on this engine. I see this on Starboard but not Port so I'm hopeful that my starboard is actually OK but need to actually run it to confirm. The Port side I get no boost. I took the air cleaner off and had a peak inside the turbo intake and lots of salt deposit gunk. I had at one time had a small leak in the seawater basket filter that was splashing onto the air cleaner so I'm assuming that is how I got the gunk. Anyway, I turned on the engine and rev'd up to 1400 rpm with 0 boost pressure and took a peak with air cleaner removed and sure enough nothing was spinning. So not sure if it is seized or some other issue so will be doing some research on what to try next (including calling Volvo for tips).
 
seastoke said:
I know nothing but two turbos going at the same time , come on.
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But these are variable geometry turbos.
It's marketed as an advantage, but the "variable" bit can become fixed if not used regularly.

Also, if the installation is out of spec, salt water intrusion can cause turbos to seize.

.
 
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