Engine dead, any ideas?

It’s clearly a power supply problem with the feed to the engine and as there is no life in any of the gauges I would suspect either a faulty ignition switch or a blown fuse or relay in the ECU box. Presumably the engineer has taken the cover off the ECU and checked fuses etc inside.
 
Hi
I’m presuming it’s the 6.2 MPI model. If so you will likely start seeing the usual mpi demons. There are a few well known issues that need either dealt with once or continually replaced to keep in reliable order
The main point being that these things are so electrically reliant, one little thing can throw you and start a chain reaction.
You really need to get it plugged in to the fault reader or get a smart craft vessel view to read the fault. In between time it’s worth making sure a few suspect sensors are not loose or damaged visually. Most likely are
Throttle position sensor
The whole throttle assembly on engine and including the shift interrupt switch on top.
Distributor sensor on side of diz.
Mine did this very thing once or twice this year. Either a new battery, new throttle position sensor or shift interupt sensors solved it. Somewhere amongst the three were to blame. Other candidate might be the crank sensor.
Loads of other issues with these like sw pres switch, iac and most famously on the mpi the diz cap nightmare...but none of these would cause this.
Can’t emphasise how important a strong battery is. They totally crap it if they think the power required isn’t there. Chain reaction of errors.
 
Thanks, batteries are 6 months old and showing full charge.

The Engineer tried a lot of things yesterday to see if he could get us quickly out on the water but I think it needs a more methodical approach. He didn’t have the plug in diagnostics kit so was trying the obvious - fuses, multimeter etc. Everything at the engine end seemed fine so i think it points towards supply at the helm/ignition/throttle end. My own thinking is pointing towards the throttle control. I noticed yesterday it was very stiff and not easily engaging neutral, especially from reverse. The local Engineers have their electrics guy on site Wednesday - when we have returned home! - so he will look at it then.

To answer earlier questions, the boat is still under warranty and the dealer has been very responsive even though they are in the UK and the boat is in Mallorca.

So I’m trying to be pragmatic about it, these things are sent to try us but that’s boating! Given the weather forecast here we have probably only lost a couple of days boating

On a positive note, I learnt a lot about the onboard electrics yesterday ?.

Thanks again everyone

Martyn
 
Just returning to the bats ,
Certain high end cars require a tip top bat .Smilair symptoms .
New bat or different bat solves it .
Most others as the bat weakens show signs like ABS light or CEL or airbag light ,but critically still start and run .
Lights go out once a new bat is fitted .
Others with a certain large amount of electrotwackery just appear dead ,nowt no dash lights no nowt , even an apparent charge does nowt .Simlpe fresh bat solves it .
The volts ( as testing ) on the bat is arbitrary 12.7 or something ? That’s a number people use .If it over then they say “ I’ve checked the bat it’s ok “ and go hunting else where before starting again after going round the houses .

If possible can you swop bats ? What I,am saying is the bat needs eliminating not by the arbitrary volts thingy .
You see the ECU,s if don’t see precisely a certain V or amps they “faint “ like a soldier on parade if the brains not working the body collapses .
 
Thanks to jrudge and Nick Barke from boats.co.uk we are now happily at anchor in Mondrago. This forum is great.

Jeremy sent me a message to say Nick was happy to pop down and have a look this morning so I gave him a ring and met up and he had it running in about 1 minute flat. As suggested hereabouts the the throttle wasn’t engaging neutral.

So a big thank you again Jeremy and Nick it was very kind of both of you to get involved.

Cheers

Martyn
 
Think you may be a bit harsh there, the Engineer was pretty thorough and did try moving the throttle - as did I several times but it didn’t make any difference. It clearly needed Nicks experience and knowledgable touch.
 
Think you may be a bit harsh there, the Engineer was pretty thorough and did try moving the throttle - as did I several times but it didn’t make any difference. It clearly needed Nicks experience and knowledgable touch.

So, is something out of alignment on the throttle lever ,or the neutral detection side of things? IE will it happen again, or do you now know the knack of getting the engine to realise it's in neutral.
 
Not sure yet Julian, Nick thinks it will be OK but if it happens again I will want it sorting under warranty.
 
Not sure yet Julian, Nick thinks it will be OK but if it happens again I will want it sorting under warranty.

Yep,if it does happen again (and I'm betting it will) ,it probably just require a minor adjustment of the throttle/gear linkage at the engine end.
 
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I am surprised that lack of neutral results in a dead panel ( including depth).

I can understand - and expect - it not starting, but you would expect the panel to come alive I would have thought.

I you do this on a Volvo it all works - you just cant start it. You then look at the sticks and find them out of line and start.

Glad it is all fixed and hope you had a nice day. It has poured with rain all day in London!
 
Yes I was surprised by that too which I think caused some of the confusion.

Great day down in Mondrago, think the weather may spoil that rest of our stay though. Looks showery through till Tuesday when we go home

Cheers and thanks again Jeremy

Martyn
 
Engineers with no diagnostic kit, cannot find a simple inhibitor switch issue, you only need a test meter with continuity to find this.

Speaks volumes.
 
Engineers with no diagnostic kit, cannot find a simple inhibitor switch issue, you only need a test meter with continuity to find this.

Speaks volumes.

No it doesn’t, the Engineer was doing a favour between other jobs with the equipment he had handy to try and find the cause quickly to get us out on the water, I was very appreciative of the help he tried to give. No complaints.
 
No it doesn’t, the Engineer was doing a favour between other jobs with the equipment he had handy to try and find the cause quickly to get us out on the water, I was very appreciative of the help he tried to give. No complaints.

so if you had to pay the engineer and nick will you send the bill to your dealer
 
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