Volvo penta d4 dead, stone cold dead.

You did you said you pressed the cross over switch. That s what it does effectively.
You reported the domestic stuff was working .

So now folks are saying the cross over is bust ? Really as well ?
Yeah the crossover made no difference, domestic stuff is working fine.


Does that point to a faulty ignition switch(key switch) then?
 
Yeah the crossover made no difference, domestic stuff is working fine.


Does that point to a faulty ignition switch(key switch) then?
What about other dash none VP engine stuff like the plotter , depth S , VHF , bilge alarms etc etc ?
If it’s the ignition only this other VP stuff should light up irrespective of key position .
If everything is dead as dodo then it’s the batt isolator switch or indeed the batt ( unlikely) .

As you say start from the bat then the isolator switch(s) .

Is there a pop off fuse on the ECU black box that needs pressing back in ?
 
What about other dash none VP engine stuff like the plotter , depth S , VHF , bilge alarms etc etc ?
If it’s the ignition only this other VP stuff should light up irrespective of key position .
If everything is dead as dodo then it’s the batt isolator switch or indeed the batt ( unlikely) .

As you say start from the bat then the isolator switch(s) .

Is there a pop off fuse on the ECU black box that needs pressing back in ?
Depth gauge, fridge, vhf radio, stereo radio, macerator pump, bilge pump etc all work fine - they are all run off the service battery.

Its only the volvo penta stuff that is dead, ie the stuff that runs off the engine start battery.

No fuses are blown (that I can see anyway), it feels like the ignition key switch isn't working.
 
Scouring the net finds this thread which has identical symptoms to my problem

Volvo D4 260 Ignition Issue

Same engine too!

A couple of other threads also found with similar symptoms and the same root cause, a dead hcu.

Will start going over it with voltmeter today.
 
Last edited:
Nice, don't know why I didn't think of that
I would still begin with swapping the battery first just to eliminate the obvious. A bit like dipping a fuel tank just to be sure that lack of fuel is not the issue when an engine won't fire.
That said, it does sound like something more technical.
 
I was about to say faulty float switch on the bilge pump. They are in my experience normally the only other thing connected to the start battery. I see yours is connected to domestics. The only other thing then I can think of is a fused relay to a windlass / bow thruster
 
Oops. you posted as I was typing.

Well good luck in sorting an intermittent fault out. That's a downer on going out.
 
I think your boat reads the forum ? what's the weather like over that way? It's miserable in Palma!.
Overcast, but with a few blue bits showing through.

There was a bit of moisture in the 8 pin connector that the evc system plugs into on the engine (abive the air filter)to get its power, I'm hoping (in vain I suspect) that it was that.

I'm now sat in the marine with the engine on a fast idle, trying to get some temperature into in in the hope of drying it out.

Will also get some electrical contact cleaner and give it all a spray down.
 
The bloody power trim circuit breaker has failed again (failed as in broken, not passing a current, it hasn't been tripped) , wonder if that's related to this issue. I know they do just fail every few years, this one was last replaced about 3 years ago.

Oh well off to multimarine when they open tomorrow and get a new one.
 
Last edited:
Are you selling the Windy? Good time to do so.

Yeah it's for sale.

It'll be all sorted before I sell it, I can't bear having a non working boat, and I wouldn't sell it with a known issue.

I only went to give it a run out to just warm/move all the mechanicals, get the oil up to temp etc and it does this to me!

I think it might be annoyed at being replaced.
 
Well good luck, hopefully you will pin down the fault. Always going to be the buggeration element.
Have you seen the flow chart that did the rounds a while back? Along the lines of:

Does it Move?

Yes No

Is it supposed to? Is it supposed to?

No Yes

Gaffer Tape WD40
 
Damn, it shifted the spacing, that was all supposed to be in two columns. It was when I hit post. Anyhow, you get the drift, just picture it in the two columns, can't be arsed to fight with it.
 
Failing HCU/EVC sounds about right. Had the same issue on my D4 last year. Exact same symptoms. I spent hours replacing the key switch and crawling around with a multimeter to no avail. When I swapped the EVC with my good starboard unit, it fired right up.
 
Failing HCU/EVC sounds about right. Had the same issue on my D4 last year. Exact same symptoms. I spent hours replacing the key switch and crawling around with a multimeter to no avail. When I swapped the EVC with my good starboard unit, it fired right up.
Is there any way of diagnosing whether it's a failing hcu while it's in the intermittent stage without waiting for it to fail permanently?

There was some moisture in the connector block that provides power to the EVC system.
 
Last edited:
Top