Volvo Penta D6 EVC-C issue

[sfleron]

We did check Insurance - they will not cover the PCU as it is not a "sudden accident", we are now in contact with an lawyer to see what can be done!

 

[DavidJ]

Given this was a new to you boat I would be inclined to call the dealers in the area you bought the boat. It is quite likely that the last owner had this issue and tried to get it fixed. So you may find out more.

Next in the U.K. - your rules may vary - goods from even a private seller must be as described. So if your investigation above finds the local Volvo dealer has looked at the issue before and the seller described it as " in full working order " or other such terms like " no faults " and they knew it had a fault then even a private seller is not in the clear.

The fact that the seller has gone into hiding makes me suspicious so agree with @jrudge to investigate with the local Volvo dealer. This could run into 000’s
I really feel for you but it will be fixed

 

[oldgit]

Friend had a not unsimilar problem with the VP control system on his boat. After much expence and time trying to solve the problem he became very unsure of the boat to the extent he would not use it and resolved to get rid of it.
However he refused to just dump the problem onto a future owner and did his very best to sort it.
Selling and declaring fault in the broker details would have been financial suicide.
He did honestly believe that somebody had sorted the problem for him and sold the boat on via a well regarded broker.
It became apparent sometime after , the problem had reappeared.
At the the time the probable culprit , a faulty ECU ? was not available from VP, believe this situation has now been rectified. ?

 

[sfleron]

Hi Oldgit
Thanks for your reply - yes seems the same. I have VP technician on board and it is veryfied that the PCU is the issue. looking at 4100 usd repair, and hoping that seller will help out. Alarms should have been ringing as seller only had the boat for less than 6 months :-(

 

[DavidJ]

Just think of it as less than 3% of the value of the boat.
Once it’s fixed you will have tons of fun.

 

[harvey38]

Hi Oldgit
Thanks for your reply - yes seems the same. I have VP technician on board and it is veryfied that the PCU is the issue. looking at 4100 usd repair, and hoping that seller will help out. Alarms should have been ringing as seller only had the boat for less than 6 months :-(

Pretty sure one of the members on here is able to repair VP ECUs

 

[oldgit]

Hi Oldgit
Thanks for your reply - yes seems the same. I have VP technician on board and it is veryfied that the PCU is the issue. looking at 4100 usd repair, and hoping that seller will help out. Alarms should have been ringing as seller only had the boat for less than 6 months :

A cynic might say, any boat for sale that has only been owned for a short time ie. 12 months should ring warning bells.
It might be for entirely understandable reasons , the owner has bought the boat, frightened themselves silly on the first trip out and the wife has refused to ever go on it again.
The owner is eyewateringly well off and decided to double the size of his boat overnight .
Somebody has been stitched up with a pile of expensive floating grief (usually electronic) and has run out of the patience and/or money to fix it.
Time to let somebody else pick up the tab ?
Or is that being a bit cynical.

 

[Portofino]

A cynic might say, any boat for sale that has only been owned for a short time ie. 12 months should ring warning bells.
It might be for entirely understandable reasons , the owner has bought the boat, frightened themselves silly on the first trip out and the wife has refused to ever go on it again.
The owner is eyewateringly well off and decided to double the size of his boat overnight .
Somebody has been stitched up with a pile of expensive floating grief (usually electronic) and has run out of the patience and/or money to fix it.
Time to let somebody else pick up the tab ?
Or is that being a bit cynical.

Adding …
A bit of due diligence Googling “ Volvo Penta D6 ECU issues “ or similar words throws up this Gottcha .

It the buyers risk imho .

Are faults permanently stored ? In the sense a franchised VP tech would have spotted at a buyer s survey ?
Not necessarily AN other respected tech who hasn’t kept up with franchised licenses for the software.

 

[oldgit]

Are faults permanently stored ? In the sense a franchised VP tech would have spotted at a buyer s survey ?

My chum eventually found a work around, a way to get everything running again, simply nip downstairs from fly, shut everything down and then turn everything back on and away you went, fingers crossed in the sudden silence that engines would start and hoping of course like hell that the problem did not reappear 5 mins later.............. shutting down the system apparently erased the fault codes ?
Scary enough on trip between Majorca and Ibiza but when one engine went into limp mode in front of a BIG ferry in Palma Harbour.
Struggle out the way on one engine or shut eveything down and restart.

Hasten to add this was several years ago on much earlier combination of engine and electrotrickery and not a D6.

 

[sfleron]

A cynic might say, any boat for sale that has only been owned for a short time ie. 12 months should ring warning bells.
It might be for entirely understandable reasons , the owner has bought the boat, frightened themselves silly on the first trip out and the wife has refused to ever go on it again.
The owner is eyewateringly well off and decided to double the size of his boat overnight .
Somebody has been stitched up with a pile of expensive floating grief (usually electronic) and has run out of the patience and/or money to fix it.
Time to let somebody else pick up the tab ?
Or is that being a bit cynical.

Hi Oldgit
No you're right in every point...

 

[sfleron]

My chum eventually found a work around, a way to get everything running again, simply nip downstairs from fly, shut everything down and then turn everything back on and away you went, fingers crossed in the sudden silence that engines would start and hoping of course like hell that the problem did not reappear 5 mins later.............. shutting down the system apparently erased the fault codes ?
Scary enough on trip between Majorca and Ibiza but when one engine went into limp mode in front of a BIG ferry in Palma Harbour.
Struggle out the way on one engine or shut eveything down and restart.

Hasten to add this was several years ago on much earlier combination of engine and electrotrickery and not a D6.

That is exactly how we got the boat home... we sailed for 4 days and had to shut down every day to get engine started and get going. Funny enough everything ran fine once started, but we had to shut everything down a couple of times and autocalibrate to get the port engine going. Now it is dead... tried everything, now a new PCU is the only way out...
Sounds scary in Palma, glad you made it

 

[oldgit]

That is exactly how we got the boat home... we sailed for 4 days and had to shut down every day to get engine started and get going. Funny enough everything ran fine once started, but we had to shut everything down a couple of times and autocalibrate to get the port engine going. Now it is dead... tried everything, now a new PCU is the only way out...
Sounds scary in Palma, glad you made it

Not on board during any of his adventures, but by virtue of being on this forum was able to reassure him he was not alone.
Recall that a forumite or two on here were in a position to suggest to VP that their reputation was being given a good kicking and they might like to rethink their decision not to provide replacement ECU s

 

[sfleron]

Not on board during any of his adventures, but by virtue of being on this forum was able to reassure him he was not alone.
Recall that a forumite or two on here were in a position to suggest to VP that their reputation was being given a good kicking and they might like to rethink their decision not to provide replacement ECU s

How did the ECU problem show up - what kind of errors in panel, do you know? In our case the PCU is the issue... in the beginning I could get it startet, but now we can't trick it to start.
But you're right on VP reputation... a shame it does not last longer...
To be sure I understandt - you're saying that if ECU breaks it cannot be replaced???
BR Soren

 

[oldgit]

From very hazy recollection and still annoyed never did get the chance to use the boat and his fuel.

A boat with a pair 74P ??? one of the engines would go into limp mode.
The list of things that were tried by folks located in Cala O Dor was long.......... started with hoping it was a fuel problem, new filters, lift pump, cleaning fuel pipes, eventually cutting hole in top of fuel tanks and giving a good clean.
Pump and injectors checked.
Then on to swapping then changing various connections/ leads and finally cutting out connectors and hard wiring looms.
Eventually the ECU was assumed to be the culprit , however hens teeth secondhand units had long gone and so had any new units left on VP dealer shelves.
VP apparently did not consider it worth the time and trouble to re issue any new ECUs , original chips long gone and complete PCB design and fabrication would be on the cards.
Last ditch was this particular ECU was returned to UK for " reprogramming".
A year or so later another forumite indicated the boat was still having similar problems


Others may be able to provide more accurate accounts of what was going on at the time.

 

[sfleron]

Ok you just scared me there stating that "rethink their decision not to provide replacement ECU s", so ECU's are available...
In my case we are sure it's PCU - it is DEAD... needs to be replaced.
But really sounds like you had many iterations figuring out what the issue really was with the 74P... so sad to hear, glad you got it fixed BR Soren

 

[DavidJ]

I thought the ECU supply problem was now resolved with significant pushing by a couple of members of this forum. Although in short supply they are (I thought) being made again.
If you are concerned maybe post a specific question on this forum.

 

[m_sgaard]

Ok you just scared me there stating that "rethink their decision not to provide replacement ECU s", so ECU's are available...
In my case we are sure it's PCU - it is DEAD... needs to be replaced.
But really sounds like you had many iterations figuring out what the issue really was with the 74P... so sad to hear, glad you got it fixed BR Soren

Hej søren,

Did you manage solve solve this?

I’ve got same issue with helm angle sensor showing 56 deg,engine not able to start, and some of the same error codes.

KR
Morten, DK

 

[sfleron]

Hi Morten
I had VP Mechanic on board testing errors. It was in fact the PU that was dead. He tested with 2 different PCU's and both made everthing work, so that was a new PCU 28K DKK, it came pre-programmed so it was plug'n'play, just had to calibrate a couple of times for all gauges to work.
If you have the same error codec it is most likely the PCU, however if you have dual engines I would try to move the buscable from HCU to PCU from the working enginge. The error does indicate that there is no data flowing between the 2, so it could be as simple as the datacable... If that does not help then you might be facing the PCU is defect...
Let me know how it goes.
Also test by turning off ALL power to the engine and wait 5 minutes, power on and see if you can start. I also tried to calibrate a couple of times which made it possible to start...
BR Soren

 

[luckysl]

The reason I asked about your serial number was because there was a generation of control units that had a manufacturing issue, and one common problem they had was thinking the system was in gear. But your engine does not have that hardware, so it’s not as simple as that.

As you can resolve the issue by disconnecting the PCU plug it sounds like it could be that unit or the HCU at fault. When it happens, can you try leaving the ignition switch on and just turning the battery off and back on? I’ve had a few issues with HCU’s not working after you’ve switched the ignition off and back on.

Have you tried swapping control units from side to side, or just the cables?

Hi i have an d4 300 ips evc c doubke engine ,my port engine is suffering to tranfer from compressore to tubro when i give thortlle its alwage some rpms low but after 5 ,6 secs it tranfer to turbo and the engine runs perfect ,this problem comes only after some moms of running when u start the engine morning the engine rums good and afer like 10 mins i slow down the try to accelrate this happens ,any ideas will be appricatesd ,

 

[sfleron]

Just to update - the PCU on our starboard engine also died... the error was "check actuator" - so swopped actuator from working side to dead side... same issue, so after swopping things around we found that the PCU was also dead, so 2 dead PCU's within a year on engines that have run 540 hours... really sad...
It took 2 minutes to swop it with the new one, then autocalibrate and calibrate driveangles, then all was good .-)