Strange Volvo Problem ????

[wasnotwas]

Hi my boat has a volvo penta 260hp yesterday while under steam it suddenly lost power and engine warning light came on the console ( triangle with exclamation mark ) went red i turned engine off for around 2 minutes and then on again i continued to use the boat for the remainder of the day without any further problems!, i was then out today when the same thing happened on 2 occasions this time as well as warning lights coming on i was unable to go any faster than 7-8 knots again when i turned engine off for a few minutes and then on again no further problems occurred

 

[Geoffs]

Hi my boat has a volvo penta 260hp yesterday while under steam it suddenly lost power and engine warning light came on the console ( triangle with exclamation mark ) went red i turned engine off for around 2 minutes and then on again i continued to use the boat for the remainder of the day without any further problems!, i was then out today when the same thing happened on 2 occasions this time as well as warning lights coming on i was unable to go any faster than 7-8 knots again when i turned engine off for a few minutes and then on again no further problems occurred

Interesting, you don't say what engine, but if a D4, I had a similar problem. I was able to read fault code which said gearbox actuator fault. New one list price £800 :-(

I had a very good engineer look at it, and eventually turned out that the control lever needed recalibrating. All sorted with an hour of labour. That don't happen very often!

 

[wasnotwas]

Interesting, you don't say what engine, but if a D4, I had a similar problem. I was able to read fault code which said gearbox actuator fault. New one list price £800 :-(

I had a very good engineer look at it, and eventually turned out that the control lever needed recalibrating. All sorted with an hour of labour. That don't happen very often!

Sorry should of said its a D4!!

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

As Geoffs suggests, you really need to know the error code to be able to figure this out. Without the error code it's just guesswork.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[wakeup]

Interesting, you don't say what engine, but if a D4, I had a similar problem. I was able to read fault code which said gearbox actuator fault. New one list price £800 :-(

I had a very good engineer look at it, and eventually turned out that the control lever needed recalibrating. All sorted with an hour of labour. That don't happen very often!

Ditto, I have a D4, I had exactly the same problem as Geoffs, took a while to diagnose as no error code because I have the early evc-a. Engineers thought it was dirty fuel or low battery. New actuator sorted the problem.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Ditto, I have a D4, I had exactly the same problem as Geoffs, took a while to diagnose as no error code because I have the early evc-a. Engineers thought it was dirty fuel or low battery. New actuator sorted the problem.

No error codes on evc-a? I didn't know that. I guess I stand corrected!

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[wakeup]

No some but with this problem you just get a generic code to say that engine was shutdown because of a problem!

 

[spannerman]

I'd be checking the fuel filters first, as the EVC system will give a red warning light if the high pressure pump fuel supply is restricted. It will then give you reduced power to get home.
A jammed shift actuator problem won't let the engine start if it thinks its in gear, if it fails in neutral then you can use the manual disconnect on the actuator and shift gear if you have someone down in the engine room.
A very quick way to check if the filters are blocked is to look at the priming plunger on the engine mounted fuel filter, if the button has gone down or sinks down as you increase load then its a sure sign the fuel flow is being restricted, this will give you a red warning light. You should always be able to pump it a few strokes with it returning to its up position afterwards.

 

[Chkm8]

I would agree with spannerman and check the fuel filters. As this is an intermittent problem it may not be just as strange a Volvo problem as you think and may in fact be something quite simple.