Volvo Engine Hours Display.

[TSB240]

Left the panel on with the 3rd party hour meter recording.. Came back three weeks later... Volvo did well with their design all those years ago.

Correct but to be pedantic 560 hours is a little over three weeks! Our third party electro mechanical hour (not lcd) meter was connected to the illumination circuit of the tacho. It's ticking sound was not quite as loud as the ships brass clock or the webasto pump. The illumination of the tacho was the only other indication that the panel was switched on and third party meter running and is very difficult to see in bright daylight.

 

[jwilson]

Hi Steve,

I noticed at haul-out a couple of weeks ago that my Yanmar panel hour meter is no longer displaying. The boat is now 6 years old. Engine hours is less than 300. The Volvo panel on my previous boat also failed at 6 years. Seems incredibly common for both.

I’ve lodged the point with the selling dealer that this is typical of their poor after sales owner support. This is a common failure and Beneteau should be giving all sorts of 5hit to both Yanmar and Volvo to improve durability of the hour meter. I suspect that it will be water of the ducks back to them.

With that off my chest, I now have to decide what to do. I really don’t fancy taking the tacho apart so was thinking of installing a separate 2 inch round instrument at the side of the panel.

Next time we meet I’d love to hear more about your experience and recommendation.

Agree: it's almost normal to find dead Volvo/Yanmar/VDO tacho LCDs at 10 years old and pretty common at 5 years old. Mine went intermittent after 4 and dead at 6 years. These join lifebuoy lights as the least reliable bits of kit around. The difference is replacement lifebuoy lights are cheapish, simple replacement tachos/engine panels not so. Yanmar engine panel £800, tacho from VDO £200 and no guarantee from Yanmar it will work. Shouldn't have to dismantle a very common item to put in a cheap third-party spare part in to try to fix.

 

[aslabend]

Was the replacement hour meter reading zero when it was put in the boat or like me did the previous owner just grab one from the spares bucket (one with 500+ hours on it) and just keep a record of the hours for service intervals/ running count for fuel use?

 

[Skylark]

Hi Dave .

On my Volvo panel it was just a case of gaining rear access, undoing two thumb screws that clamp the VDO tacho unit, pulling it out unplugging and unbolting cables then remove tacho complete. Then just follow the video in the link to replace lcd display. If you can't gain rear access you have to unscrew entire front panel, break the mastic or silicone seal and pull forward to gain access to thumb screws. You might find that by taking yours out and getting it really dry in the airing cupboard over winter that it will come back to life without any further action. The main problem is usually damp/corrosion in either the PCB ribbon cable connector or a similar failure of the ribbon connection to the LCD display.

I do happen to have a second spare new replacement lcd display should this not work:encouragement:!


Steve

Thanks, Steve,
I've looked at the video and to be honest it filled me with horror :disgust: I don't trust myself that I have the capability to do it and I shouldn't have to do it on a 6 year old, lightly used boat.

There is good access to the back of the panel. In the cockpit locker, there's a light plywood bulkhead held in place with half a dozen screws. Removing it gives access to half the steering (twin wheel), some of the nav instrument repeaters and the engine control panel. I'll take a look during my next visit. Putting the tacho in an airing cupboard for a few months makes sense and is well worth a try. I hope that, as you suggest, the tacho is easy to remove without having to remove the entire panel.

Agree: it's almost normal to find dead Volvo/Yanmar/VDO tacho LCDs at 10 years old and pretty common at 5 years old. Mine went intermittent after 4 and dead at 6 years. These join lifebuoy lights as the least reliable bits of kit around. The difference is replacement lifebuoy lights are cheapish, simple replacement tachos/engine panels not so. Yanmar engine panel £800, tacho from VDO £200 and no guarantee from Yanmar it will work. Shouldn't have to dismantle a very common item to put in a cheap third-party spare part in to try to fix.

All indicative of an industry/sector/business that it is not driven by having to satisfy its customers. Since buying new 6 years ago I've had more than my fair share of issues. I don't think any of them were solved without a battle. On more than one occasion, I've been forced into finding and contacting MDs and CEOs and even had to draft a Small Claims Court file before getting their attention. Leisure Marine seems light years behind the rest of the world.

 

[Mistroma]

Thanks, Steve,
I've looked at the video and to be honest it filled me with horror :disgust: I don't trust myself that I have the capability to do it and I shouldn't have to do it on a 6 year old, lightly used boat.

There is good access to the back of the panel. In the cockpit locker, there's a light plywood bulkhead held in place with half a dozen screws. Removing it gives access to half the steering (twin wheel), some of the nav instrument repeaters and the engine control panel. I'll take a look during my next visit. Putting the tacho in an airing cupboard for a few months makes sense and is well worth a try. I hope that, as you suggest, the tacho is easy to remove without having to remove the entire panel.




All indicative of an industry/sector/business that it is not driven by having to satisfy its customers. Since buying new 6 years ago I've had more than my fair share of issues. I don't think any of them were solved without a battle. On more than one occasion, I've been forced into finding and contacting MDs and CEOs and even had to draft a Small Claims Court file before getting their attention. Leisure Marine seems light years behind the rest of the world.

Drying it out might work but didn't help in my case. It isn't difficult to dismantle if it doesn't work and you want to try something else. I dismantled mine and teased the black sticky plastic disc clear of the LCD. This allowed me to spray on contact cleaner and place a thin plastic square on top of the dodgy connector to one side of the LCD. The thin plastic square provided a little extra force on the connector once it was rebuilt.

It was a very quick fix and has worked for a year or so. It became erratic again last year and I brought a small OLED and arduino to fix it this year. Of course that meant it decided to keep working and I haven't had to look at it again.

I seem to remember that the needle was very difficult to remove and I gave up pulling in case it broke. Hence, the bodge of lifting the dial backing and slipping in a thin spacer.

 

[gregcope]

Top result.....
Fitted a new display and knocked 560 hours off my total engine hours!

http://www.akspeedo.com/vdo-lcd-repair.php

One hour to fit and replace the add on hour meter that wasn't actually reading engine running hours but was reading when the engine switch was on.... Actual hours for nearly 20 year old boat is now 1580.. Fast delivery and a very happy customer.
Steve

+1. Did the same. Works well!

 

[Rickard]

This video shows how the work is noramlly done to Yanmar tachometers(some Penta as well)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eldRUU7qc2Y
The needle does not need to be removed. The risk is to break it
I have done this work on many Yanmars and Penta tachometers and I always say that most of the time it takes more time to get the tachometer out of the panel than replacing the display
I was the one who started selling this display/product when I owned Boatstuff.se(sold it by the end of the summer 2017)
I sold thousand all over the world and no one ever failed doing the work so just do it
I and many others here will be happy to support you if needed

 

[Birdseye]

Why or how did the 560 hours get knocked off? The whole point of those new displays is that the existing engine hours are preserved.

Richard

Would you look at the engine hours if buying a 20 year old boat? Surely you would look at condition. Or are you one of those people who would want to see a yearly dealer service and stamped service record etc?

 

[RichardS]

Would you look at the engine hours if buying a 20 year old boat? Surely you would look at condition. Or are you one of those people who would want to see a yearly dealer service and stamped service record etc?

I'm sorry .... but where does any of that come from?

Richard

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Agree: it's almost normal to find dead Volvo/Yanmar/VDO tacho LCDs at 10 years old and pretty common at 5 years old. Mine went intermittent after 4 and dead at 6 years. These join lifebuoy lights as the least reliable bits of kit around. The difference is replacement lifebuoy lights are cheapish, simple replacement tachos/engine panels not so. Yanmar engine panel £800, tacho from VDO £200 and no guarantee from Yanmar it will work. Shouldn't have to dismantle a very common item to put in a cheap third-party spare part in to try to fix.

Same problem with mine last year and very annoying after only 18 months, but I doubt anyone will give me anymore for the boat if I sell it whether the hours display is working or not. Certainly not worth £800 to fix. I'm told that after 5 years use even a new engine makes b** all difference to selling price.

Newish Yanmar engine v nice however, and old nasty Volvo Penta overheating thing had no engine hours display anyway

 

[Skylark]

This video shows how the work is noramlly done to Yanmar tachometers(some Penta as well)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eldRUU7qc2Y
The needle does not need to be removed. The risk is to break it
I have done this work on many Yanmars and Penta tachometers and I always say that most of the time it takes more time to get the tachometer out of the panel than replacing the display
I was the one who started selling this display/product when I owned Boatstuff.se(sold it by the end of the summer 2017)
I sold thousand all over the world and no one ever failed doing the work so just do it
I and many others here will be happy to support you if needed

Thanks for posting, Rickard, but I'm a bit confused by the apparent contradiction?

The video shows that replacing the display isn't necessary; that the problem is silicone gel causing a short. Scraping out the gel and cleaning with acetone solves the problem. In your post, you talk about selling replacement displays. :nonchalance: