Volvo D4 260 HP

oceandrive

oceandrive

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 Dec 2006
Messages
369
Location
Menorca
www.oceandrivecharter.com
Help please......

Been having problems with one of my engines. at 2000 rpm I get alternating red and amber flashing warning lights and the engine wont accelerate over 2000 rpm.

I had the local Volvo chap take a look at it and he tried everything. after trying all this the only thing left was to change the High Pressure pump. which I promptly ordered from Voltec in the UK and had delivered. £1400 but 200 quid in part exchange for the old pump. Good service by the way. tested the boat after fitting and although the sea was rough it seemed to be fixed, although due to sea conditions I could not run the boat flat out.

Today I have taken the boat out and to start with seemed OK then alarms and the same warning lights as before. You can imagine how peed off I felt returning to port with alarm lights on at a max of 15 knots 2000 rpm. Tried switching down re starting a few times but every time I try and go over 2000 rpm alarms go off and no further power.

I dropped anchor outside the port and spent a couple of hours cleaning the stern drives props intakes and went out to test again but still as soon as I get up to 2000 rpm the alarms start the code the diagnostics put out are 177 Book says "Serious fault in fuel system. Fault in Supplye.g Leaking in pipes and conections" The Volvo Guy has checked pipes, filters, fuel cut offs etc etc and we can find nothing.

Help Help any sugestions please.

P.S
Other engine seems OK but is obviously brought down by the other but did rev up to 2300 rpm so seems OK.
 
Are you not able to interchange parts between the two engines to see if you can make the problem switch from one engine to the other?

Surely better than having to fork out on new parts which may or may not fix the problem.
 
Yes we tried this with sensors etc but became convinced it was the HP pump and Im sure as I can be that when first fit a week or so ago the engine reved way over 2000 rpm so thought problem was fixed. Even though the sea was rough whilst testing. When I first went out today it seemed to rev and then all of a sudden fault returns. Just cant think of anything that could be intermitant. Also I noted that sometimes on starting the warning light comes straight on even on tick over shut down and start again and nothing until 2000 rpm.
 
Yes they both feed from same tank. and the machanich has checked the flow. He said that there was stacks of fuel flow with no blockages. but the common rail seemed to be returning the fuel to tank rather than using it this is why we thought it was the pump.
 
Volvo common rail fault

I have mentioned before that I suffer from green engine blindness, however I have lived with the Bosch CP3 common rail pump fitted to the Volvo D4/6 engines since it was under development in 1996.

The CP3 pump is extremely simple but has incredibly fine tolerances. Whilst we were somewhat sceptical regarding a fuel lubricated high pressure pump it has now stood the test of time, proving that it can run for many hundreds of thousands of miles with utter reliability. Its failure mode is limited to early PCV (Pressure Control Valve) faults and later gear pump shaft failures.

In properly designed installations CP3 works like a dream. Boats, all seems to go heck. Take for example the comment; "Serious fault in fuel system. Fault in Supply e.g. Leaking pipes and connections" The Volvo Guy has checked pipes, filters, fuel cut offs etc etc and we can find nothing.

I hope that not too many professionals will not be offended here, but a so called technician trying to trouble shoot a Bosch common rail fuel system without putting on gauges is as much use as a one legged man at an ass kicking party! Has he inserted a clear line anywhere in your fuel supply lines and looked for bubbles? The “technician has cost you over a grand so far” now people are talking about swapping components and putting even more money in the inept sods pocket, this is NOT disciplined trouble shooting!

If I remember correctly the CP3 fitted to the Volvo D Series has the optional gear pump on the back of the housing not an electric primer pump, so far so good. You fitted a Volvo re-con pump which would automatically have been fitted with a new PCV when being re-built, good again. Just for your information, most large Bosch shops can repair both the gear pump and PCV without resorting to a whole re-con pump. Volvo themselves simply send your old unit to a Bosch main dealer in the North West of England, stripped failed component repaired on the basis of "cost of repair" put in a new Volvo box and shipped back to Volvo PDC. However I can say in Volvos defence that £1,400 exchange at retail is about the industry norm for this pump.

This is a cry for help, engine is trying to TELL you it is sensing incorrect Delta P in its fuel system, it just requires a tech with eyes ears, the correct tools, as well as the correct attitude to diagnose the problem. Not an electronic engine problem just an indicator of the competence of the people allegedly certified to support them.
 
This may be way, way off the mark, but we recently had a problem with one of our TAMD74P's, in that it would run perfectly until asked to rev. Then it would stick at 1600rpm, and flatly refuse to rev any higher.

That turned out to be a turbo boost pressure sensor that was giving high figures, and the brain simply said it was not going to give any more boost in order to protect the engine.

Once changed, everything was back to normal.

We had warning lights flashing, and similar symptoms, but like I say, I may well be very wrong.
 
It may be down to air leaks in the system as the main pump has to suck fuel all the way to it, if the filters are slightly blocked then air will be in the system causing the mprop valve to bounce on and off its seat causing the fault on the dash panel, simply not maintaining constant fuel pressure in the common rail, look for air leaks right back to the tank.

Maybe its the fule filter priming head thats causing the problem, a slight split anywhere will cause an air leak, air is lighter than fuel so it will suck air not fuel.

Check the fuel filter and both the seals on the filter head.
 
Has your 'Volvo' mechanic connected up the Vodia tool, this will give much more detail on where the fault lies and if I remember rightly you can read rail pressure through the ECU so you can see what happens to the fuel pressure as you hit 2000 rpm, you can also specify which other parameters you want to monitor during a test drive. I would suggest you get someone onboard who is famliar with a Vodia tool and do a full diagnostic check, rather than just throwing parts at it.
 
Volvo D4

Oceandrive,

Out of curiosity did the engine start playing up a little after motor had been serviced?

Volvopaul and Spannerman are bang on track. I always preferred a common rail system with gear pump on the back of the CP pump sucking, not pressurising system to .75 Bar with electric primer pump. However the gear pump will suck for England and WILL FIND the smallest air leak and be very sensitive any restriction.

However well meaning the poster with the Volvo 74EDC, this system as different as apples and pears. You cannot compare a full authority common rail motor with old EDC (dumb Bosch P pump with a 'smart' electronic governor stuffed on the back) You just have intelligently interpret what the motor is telling you, and fix the fault. No need to go looking at a boost sensor being out of limits unless that is what engine is telling you.
 
Last edited:
Latestarter.

I have come across the fuel filter problem this week after servicing a pair of d3s, the fault started after the service, it was down to an air leak on the filter head, which I must say was diagnosed with the vodia tool, not by me.

As I had serviced it and used the correct up to date fuel filter supplied by a vp dealer, another dealer for some reason then fitted 2 new filters, which are the old style kad 300 filter which was the early d3 fuel filter, im at a loss as to why the old style smaller in size and larger micron filtration rating was fitted, I just hope it will filter a common rail engine to the correct standard, as this fitting contradicts volvos uprated version.

Im looking into this tomorrow Dan so watch this space!

Spannerman , have you come across this d3 filter problem before as none of my contacts over here have, they stated they would not fit the early filter now to any of the d3 range.
 
Nico the boost sensor you had to have fitted tells the ecu/ brain that turbo boost is there so now the pump can give more fuel.

They tend to fail due to moisture from the inlet manifold, as the switch is at a lower point, water settles in the switch and corrodes it until it stops working, however this fault does not show up with the diagnostic key as its parameters are not set in the ecu as to wether its works or not.

Moral is, whenever the engines are serviced, undo the cap on the t piece and drain off the water, which is part of the service.
 
Thanks guys for all the advice. I only hope you are not right and I have bought a replacement pump which was ot neccessary.

The problem is that on a little island there is not a great deal of Volvo dealers with reputation. The guy I am using has history and a fairly good reputation. However I dont remember him using a vodia unit, so you guys are probably bang on. Its Monday tomorrow so I will be in his office pronto to try and sort this out.

But again thanks for your help. anybody with a Vodia unit fancy a few days holls in Menorca!!!
 
Hi Paul, no I haven't had any D3 filter problems as we only get about 2 a year for service, all ours are D4/6 and upwards, but have had lots of D4/6 engines going into reduced power mode because of partially clogged filters, it doesn't take much to reduce the flow sufficiently enough to trigger an alarm.
And its worrying when a well known Norwegian manufacturer of fast boats that begin with 'Hy- and end with -lift' don't fit a prefilter on any of their D4/6 installations even though Volvo demand it in their installation guide.
 
I have two D4, 260 hp engines.

I had a similar problem 2 years ago, on both engines at different times,
which was remedied when volvo changed all injectors on both engines.

Laterly I had similar warning lights, which was dirty ( diesel bug ) Racor pre filters.
 
Common rail filteration

The use of only on engine filter is a terrifing prospect. On engine filter is the "last chance" filter and with common rail there are NO second chances.

Good low restriction pre-filteration is absolute requirement, and in my experience Racor does does not really meet that requirement.

Knowing what happens in the real world I worked on the design of three stage filteration.
#1 last chance on engine, then focussed on what was required to protect the last chance filter and NOT become subject to early restriction.

Racor, forget it, the last thing you want is a Racor with a low micron filter being hit with tank crud. Racor is a nausia to clean, messy, too many parts, another potential souce of air leaks anyway. Answer was to start with a clean sheet of paper.

My filter system design has a primary "rock stopper" 20 micron filter/water separator with 100 Gallon/Hr capacity clean, with less than .5 inch Hg pressure drop, Second off engine filter is also a 7/8 micron bulk filter. All this leaves the normal on engine filter normally 5 micron or less to do its job. Will pass well 5,000 gallons without without going above 3 inches of restriction.

Other BIG difference between here add US is the fitment of restriction gauges. My installations always have oil filled restriction gauges. Need for filter replacement is seen at a glance.

No takers in Europe home of common rail, so I sold design to company in the U.S.
 
Last edited:
Hi i got a 1.7.9 fault on my volvo D4 260 evc it says incorect fuel presure, reilef valve in the fuel system has released, I was trying to get on the plane 3000 revs.
 
Hi I've had the same on mine twice there's a pressure regulator on the back of the engine attached to the fuel pump part number is
21945363 you can get them from China for about £30 I tried one and it works ok but if it's full throttle forward sometimes it does display a fault but turn key off and restart and go gentle with the throttle and it works fine I am going to buy a proper Volvo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top