Volvo Penta D6 EVC-C issue

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 .-)
How much.
 
Interesting read this. I've recently lost the flybridge S/B engine control , D12s. Have been working with a local-ish VP dealer that have been only excellent so far, and its looking like it boils down to a failed HCU up on the flybridge helm. Am just about to order a replacement for them to load software on and fit.

But interesting comment from AndyRoonot there about leaving ignition on and turning off batteries, I'll try that when I'm on the boat tomorrow prepping for the cruise round to Dartmouth for a Monday morning lift out. am happy to give anything a go if there's a chance it'll bring the existing unit back to life..
 
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Interesting read this. I've recently lost the flybridge S/B engine control , D12s. Have been working with a local-ish VP dealer that have been only excellent so far, and its looking like it boils down to a failed HCU up on the flybridge helm. Am just about to order a replacement for them to load software on and fit.

But interesting comment from AndyRoonot there about leaving ignition on and turning off batteries, I'll try that when I'm on the boat tomorrow prepping for the cruise round to Dartmouth for a Monday morning lift out. am happy to give anything a go if there's a chance it'll bring the existing unit back to life..
I have just fitted a new HCU to a D12 , order it programmed you will need the engine serial number and state if it’s port or starboard , swapped the units over to pin point the fault .
 
Interesting read this. I've recently lost the flybridge S/B engine control , D12s. Have been working with a local-ish VP dealer that have been only excellent so far, and its looking like it boils down to a failed HCU up on the flybridge helm. Am just about to order a replacement for them to load software on and fit.

But interesting comment from AndyRoonot there about leaving ignition on and turning off batteries, I'll try that when I'm on the boat tomorrow prepping for the cruise round to Dartmouth for a Monday morning lift out. am happy to give anything a go if there's a chance it'll bring the existing unit back to life..
If you want to prove this as an HCU fault then you have the luxury of a second helm station, and so you could simply swap the fly HCU for the lower helm & vice-versa. As long as you switch the stbd side unit at both helms then you won’t get any ID conflicts
Once configured (which is just a case of pressing buttons) if the fault moves downstairs then you’ve got it nailed. If it stays upstairs then you haven’t spent thousands on a new HCU…
 
If you want to prove this as an HCU fault then you have the luxury of a second helm station, and so you could simply swap the fly HCU for the lower helm & vice-versa. As long as you switch the stbd side unit at both helms then you won’t get any ID conflicts
Once configured (which is just a case of pressing buttons) if the fault moves downstairs then you’ve got it nailed. If it stays upstairs then you haven’t spent thousands on a new HCU…
Also, if it does look like a faulty HCU, whilst it would be significantly more than just replacing that alone, Volvo now offer an EVC Upgrade kit which would bring your existing EVC generation up to EVC-E4, and with it, access to much more modern displays inc. Glass Cockpit 👍
 
I have just fitted a new HCU to a D12 , order it programmed you will need the engine serial number and state if it’s port or starboard , swapped the units over to pin point the fault .
Great, Thanks Paul, no hint of any issue until 1 day it just came up as a light and msg on start up , and then obvs nothing on that throttle lever up on fly helm. I guess they do have a bit of a rough life up there !! Was it just plug and play once you get the unit with the software on it ?? Thx.
 
If you want to prove this as an HCU fault then you have the luxury of a second helm station, and so you could simply swap the fly HCU for the lower helm & vice-versa. As long as you switch the stbd side unit at both helms then you won’t get any ID conflicts
Once configured (which is just a case of pressing buttons) if the fault moves downstairs then you’ve got it nailed. If it stays upstairs then you haven’t spent thousands on a new HCU…
Good pointers, great, thanks ....
 
Also, if it does look like a faulty HCU, whilst it would be significantly more than just replacing that alone, Volvo now offer an EVC Upgrade kit which would bring your existing EVC generation up to EVC-E4, and with it, access to much more modern displays inc. Glass Cockpit 👍
Oooooooo... that sounds nice, prob a shed load of money though, we've got 4 plotters etc as is......might just have a look at SBS next week though....
 
It’s worth stopping by the VP stand if you are going to the show as there is a display at the back of the stand for the upgrade kit, albeit in single engine form.

As attached, old kit on the left, equivalent upgrade kit on the right.

You don’t have to have Glass Cockpit, it’s just if you were looking for it then EVC-E is the minimum level you’d need to support it. There are other smaller display options, and yes, it’s more cost than just a single control unit but for what you get in the kit, the pricing really isn’t too bad if you compared it to buying the component parts of the kit separately.
 

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Hi Søren, what has your experience been since you replaced the PCUs? Is everything working as expected, with no further issues? Did you investigate more closely what caused them to fail – for example, a change in the electrical system’s voltage, collapsed batteries, or something else?

Br. Stefan DK
 
It’s worth stopping by the VP stand if you are going to the show as there is a display at the back of the stand for the upgrade kit, albeit in single engine form.

As attached, old kit on the left, equivalent upgrade kit on the right.

You don’t have to have Glass Cockpit, it’s just if you were looking for it then EVC-E is the minimum level you’d need to support it. There are other smaller display options, and yes, it’s more cost than just a single control unit but for what you get in the kit, the pricing really isn’t too bad if you compared it to buying the component parts of the kit separately.
@Andyroonot what's the price of the evc upgrade kit from evc-d with with twin engine and single HCU roughly in terms of parts without labour ?

I seem to have a failing PCU similar to what this thread has discussed in length. I will now measure the x2 pins and analog key and report back.
 
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 .-)

I seem to have the same problem but on a D4-260 with a EVC-D system. From one day to another I wasn't able to start the starboard engine with the exact same symptoms:
  • Main engine battery switch turned on but without expected 'PSU wakeup' which is a humming noise of the sterndrive gear selector actuator. (note: after around 2 minutes the wakeup would eventually happen)
  • Ignition on results in EVC errors
    • MID 164 SID 253 FMI 9 --> Calibration memory EEPROM – Abnormal update rate
    • MID 164 PSID 218 FMI 9 --> Data link 2 (= PSU - HCU) – Abnormal update rate
  • Ignition to crank - engine unable to start with 2.5" display stating "Can not start - Gear engaged". At this stage the display won't show any correct readings such as 0 engine hours, 0 volt , no trim etc - essentially it seems no data from PSU to HCU get's transmitted.
  • After around 2-3 minutes, the PSU wakup happens (humming actuator in engine bay) and all sensor readings get updated on the 2.5" display. From now on, the engine can be started.
  • After turning off the key the engine the error may or may not come back. After turning of the main battery breaker the error may also come back - it's essentially intermittent
I have the entire scenario recorded in a 4 minutes video with 3 ignition on/off cycles which resulted twice in being able to start the engine after some time: Youtube video of the EVC CAN problems

I have switched the EVC bus cable (datalink x2) from starboard to port engine at the HCU which resulted as expected in the failure to move to the other side of the helm controller but still being present - I believe additional error messages came up related to the wrong chassis IDs.

It seems that the earlier problem discussed in this thread all was fixed by swapping the PCU. I have 2 spare PCUs which are programed to my engine serials (previous owner provided them without details if they work) which I will try next.

Any additional tips to troubleshoot would be greatly appreciated. Attached the engine serials ...1749465520653.png
@Andyroonot do you think it's worth to consider an EVC upgrade from EVC-D to the latest version? Any additional ideas on how to troubleshoot this further, thanks
 
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Hi Søren, what has your experience been since you replaced the PCUs? Is everything working as expected, with no further issues? Did you investigate more closely what caused them to fail – for example, a change in the electrical system’s voltage, collapsed batteries, or something else?

Br. Stefan DK
Hi Stefan
Really not sure what made them fail. error was different on both. They are glued together so no chance to check the inside, however the connector smelled from burned electronics. All electronict will eventually die so I gues it had reached its age even though the boat has less than 600 hours on the engines...
I did find sparks on the gas tank when touching with a ground wire and went through everything and cleaned up. So I agree and expect bad wiring.
Batteries and charger is all good.
I notice that the EVC-C PCU is no longer around - they got replaced with EVC-D PPCU's so maybe Volvo found something that needed changing
BR Soren DK :-)
 
I seem to have the same problem but on a D4-260 with a EVC-D system. From one day to another I wasn't able to start the starboard engine with the exact same symptoms:
  • Main engine battery switch turned on but without expected 'PSU wakeup' which is a humming noise of the sterndrive gear selector actuator. (note: after around 2 minutes the wakeup would eventually happen)
  • Ignition on results in EVC errors
    • MID 164 SID 253 FMI 9 --> Calibration memory EEPROM – Abnormal update rate
    • MID 164 PSID 218 FMI 9 --> Data link 2 (= PSU - HCU) – Abnormal update rate
  • Ignition to crank - engine unable to start with 2.5" display stating "Can not start - Gear engaged". At this stage the display won't show any correct readings such as 0 engine hours, 0 volt , no trim etc - essentially it seems no data from PSU to HCU get's transmitted.
  • After around 2-3 minutes, the PSU wakup happens (humming actuator in engine bay) and all sensor readings get updated on the 2.5" display. From now on, the engine can be started.
  • After turning off the key the engine the error may or may not come back. After turning of the main battery breaker the error may also come back - it's essentially intermittent
I have the entire scenario recorded in a 4 minutes video with 3 ignition on/off cycles which resulted twice in being able to start the engine after some time: Youtube video of the EVC CAN problems

I have switched the EVC bus cable (datalink x2) from starboard to port engine at the HCU which resulted as expected in the failure to move to the other side of the helm controller but still being present - I believe additional error messages came up related to the wrong chassis IDs.

It seems that the earlier problem discussed in this thread all was fixed by swapping the PCU. I have 2 spare PCUs which are programed to my engine serials (previous owner provided them without details if they work) which I will try next.

Any additional tips to troubleshoot would be greatly appreciated. Attached the engine serials ...View attachment 194549
@Andyroonot do you think it's worth to consider an EVC upgrade from EVC-D to the latest version? Any additional ideas on how to troubleshoot this further, thanks
Hi Sascha
I checked your video and see MID 128 PID 97 FMI 9 which points to the water sensor sitting at the buttom of your fuel filter... can you validate that there is no water in there and that the cable is connected?
BR Soren
 
Hi @sfleron , good catch - the MID 128 Pid 97 is indeed the fuel sensor which gives me problems ever since I installed cheap aftermarket ones. I have kind of ignored this as it's random. I believe the video illustrated your earlier experience with the main CAN communication issues and the twist is that after 2-3 minutes the PCU wakes up (typical humming from actuator can be heard) and the failure is set to 'inactive' allowing the engine to be started. This is obviously not reliable and a major concern for me so I need to address it quickly.
 
Hi papparazzi
When I had the issue it was dead... no sound from actuator... powered off the main switch, reseated the cableconnectors, repowered, and suddenlig it would start. I did not see it working after some time like you do. In my case the PCU was dead. First time it happened I had a mechanic on board to check with Vodia tool. He concluded the cable from HCU to PCU was defect, so we swopped them (as I have 2 engines and 2 of all) - that did not help, so it must be PCU. Ordered new, it came preprogrammed from Volvo, so it was plug'n'play.
By the way, one thing I thought of is to try to recalibrate both gas and trims... that was the only thing I had to do after changing the PCU...
But bummer... in DK is around 4000 USD :-(
 
@Andyroonot what's the price of the evc upgrade kit from evc-d with with twin engine and single HCU roughly in terms of parts without labour ?

I seem to have a failing PCU similar to what this thread has discussed in length. I will now measure the x2 pins and analog key and report back.
UK price for the kit is £7,882 inc VAT. But when there is a £3,360 buy-back of the old components and so eventually a price of just over £4,500 inc VAT

A new PCU inc pre-programming is probably getting on for around £2,500-£2,600 so certainly worth considering the upgrade

Your current displays would all be compatible as it’s EVC-D so unless you wanted to change to a Glass Cockpit screen, the price above should be all you need.

Where are you based?
 
Hey all.
When our PCU's dies they were swopped to EVC-D - the EVC-C we had is no longer produced, so we got EVC-D instead...
 
Hey all.
When our PCU's dies they were swopped to EVC-D - the EVC-C we had is no longer produced, so we got EVC-D instead...
This is correct, but probably worth pointing out that you don’t have EVC-D software, it’s literally just the sticker on the box that suggests it is.
All functions and available software will be for the EVC-C generation you had originally
 
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