LCD Hours display - EDC engines

[Cymraeg]

Morning All,

I've found suggestions to support my theory on the internet, but hoping that a learned forumite can provide confirmation.....

Boat has the usual Volvo Penta rev. counters with the LCD hours display at the bottom, all four of which are totally blank. Engines are TAMD74L EDC's : am I right in thinking that a suitably equipped Volvo techy with laptop and appropriate software and lead could confirm the hours on each engine? Seeing as how the displays are dead I assume there's no other clever way of accessing the information (e.g. bridging terminals on the ECU) without a 'puter? I've confirmed on the Volvo Penta web site that the engine is electronically controlled (fuelling etc.) and on a separate (truck) web site it says that Volvo's EDC unit records, amongst other things, the number of hours running, but I can't find anything that says definitively that the EDC units on 74L's record this data. Engines are circa 2000 vintage if that makes any difference....

Thanks all.

 

[spannerman]

Yes we can read the engine hours with the Volvo Vodia unit which reads fault codes etc.

 

[jfm]

Yes, as SM says, a volvo tech can plug in a vodia unit (which is a modified Palm Pilot style gizmo) and read the hours off the engine. The hours data is stored in the engine ECU, not in the tachos

If you are buying a boat and just want to know the hours, then that's a good plan. If you own the boat and dont want to repair/replace the 4 tachos you could fit an EDC digital display, and that will tell you the hours plus lots of other engine info. About £1000. Also the LCDs are often reported as going blank when damp, so they might return to life if you dry them out

 

[mikesyam]

Hours are stored in the tachos as well, if you send them to me I will read the hours for you in return for a RNLI donation or I can program secondhand ones with the correct hours if you want.
Mike

 

[jfm]

Intriguing. What happens if the engine and tacho memories contain different hours data? What gets displayed?

 

[mikesyam]

Tacho

 

[Cymraeg]

Cheers, guys. Thought it should be available.

Mike - I'll let you know if I need your services!

Thanks again.

 

[jfm]

Thanks. That means if buying a used boat with volvo EDC it's worth considering that it could have been clocked. In which case it's advisable to get a Volvo chap with a Vodia to interrogate the engines, right?

Is it the same with EVC or are you just talking about EDC?

 

[Elza_Skip]

My 5 year old boat is already on it's second volvo tacho and this one is now starting to get difficult to read sometimes

Last w.e. it also went into a failure mode with the diplay show garbage and the needle right round on the stop. I had to stop the engine and turn off the master battery switch to reset it- now seems fine!