Volvo penta electronically controlled engines over 15 years old ECU’s not supported making boats worthless

[Ron the boater]

Can this be an acceptable stance from one of the major marine engine suppliers ?

 

[Rappey]

Can you explain more ?

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Rehash of this
Volvo TAMD 73/74 and 75 ECU - Cause for concern?

 

[Ron the boater]

Exactly Scala but with a dedicated thread maybe Volvo might take notice

If Volvo penta treat any engine over 15 years old as electronically obsolete that follows for every engine they currently make making the boats without vast investment worthless

And seeing as every engine is computer controlled in 15 years or so that is the expected life span

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Exactly Scala but with a dedicated thread maybe Volvo might take notice
...

Maybe right. But it seems unlikely that you'll somehow get more traction with a random forum thread than Mike of Imperial will get with his thread, to say nothing of his extensive industry experience and network of contacts.

 

[volvopaul]

Oh dear another ECU post , what have we started mr Imperial 1 .

 

[Portofino]

As I said in the linked thread it’s up to someone to see the future business opportunity and break down the barriers ( which may be weak anyhow ) with VP to manufacture after market parts .
Not necessarily “ approved “ more like not contested , kinda blind eye turned because it means the parent co can maintain focus on the day job , which evolves .

I would do it myself but unlike mr Remington I do not like the product so no interest in “ buying the company “ so to speak .
Needs a can do and put up or shut up attitude.Not whinging .

 

[petem]

I doubt that the thousands of boat owners who have engines that rely on a supply of these ECU's would be prepared to just bin their engines. In fact, VP discontinuing these ECU's is likely to give some enterprising person the incentive to take a cheap off the shelf programmable ECU and reverse engineer the software onto it (the ECU wiring diagrams and specs are in the workshop manuals). Despite that, Volvo appear to have confirmed that they will manufacture a fresh block (and when they retail for £3-4k, they'd be pretty stupid not to).

 

[scottie]

I argued man years ago with senior Volvo management that the number of owners scrapping engines due to the exorbitant prices of basic spares for not very old engines was building a resentment against replacing with Volvo allowing Beta etc to build a strong customer base to the extent that they are now major competitors

 

[Bouba]

I argued man years ago with senior Volvo management that the number of owners scrapping engines due to the exorbitant prices of basic spares for not very old engines was building a resentment against replacing with Volvo allowing Beta etc to build a strong customer base to the extent that they are now major competitors

What was the Volvo’s guy’s attitude to your suggestion? I’m planning to write to Volvo to complain about their local car dealer ripping me off. I want to know if it’s worth it

 

[penberth3]

What was the Volvo’s guy’s attitude to your suggestion? I’m planning to write to Volvo to complain about their local car dealer ripping me off. I want to know if it’s worth it

Cars and VP are different companies, aren't they?

 

[penberth3]

As I said in the linked thread it’s up to someone to see the future business opportunity.....

Already happening with specialist repairers for car ECU's.

 

[oldgit]

Suspect this (and the other thread)are the tip of an old ongoing iceberg.
Chum of mine with a Phantom 46 sold his boat after a period of an engine cutting out and going into limp mode..
It was not just when the faulty ECU was finally diagnosed but the long and desperate attempts at all the other possible causes of for the engine cutting out half way across the "Med".
This included hard wiring various connections/couplings, cleaning out fuel tanks and assorted other vain attempts to sort the problem
A cure was possibly found when the ECU was bought back to the UK.
Not sure wether it was a secondhand ECU or some sort of reprogramme that returned back down to Majorca but it seemed to solve the problem.
However, by now my mate had totally lost faith in the boat and sold it on as soon as he could.
Doubt he recouped much of the money spend over the previous couple of years trying to identify the problem.
The wasted time and stress was the final straw.

 

[scottie]

Yes

What was the Volvo’s guy’s attitude to your suggestion? I’m planning to write to Volvo to complain about their local car dealer ripping me off. I want to know if it’s worth it

they knew what they were doing and thank you but no change I suppose that at that time inflation was a major component in costing and was automatically applied to prices which with older parts just made them unreasonable

 

[Momac]

Doubt he recouped much of the money spend over the previous couple of years trying to identify the problem.
The wasted time and stress was the final straw.

Was that Volvo Pentas fault that the source of the problem was not identified earlier ?

 

[petem]

I argued man years ago with senior Volvo management that the number of owners scrapping engines due to the exorbitant prices of basic spares for not very old engines was building a resentment against replacing with Volvo allowing Beta etc to build a strong customer base to the extent that they are now major competitors

If you look at the engines affected by this ECU issue (that actually seems to be an non-issue) , despite the thousands that have been sold there are very few, if any, actually being scrapped. In fact, I believe that my engines and drives would be worth more now on the second hand market than Farline paid for them in 2002.

Also, there's a element of safety in numbers. There are thousands of engines of this vintage out there and there are now lots of pattern parts appearing that offer great value for money (raw water pumps, heat exchangers, turbos, gasket sets, exhaust elbows, etc).

And I've never heard of a KAD42/3/4/300/TAMD73/4/5 actually wearing out.

 

[petem]

I argued man years ago with senior Volvo management that the number of owners scrapping engines due to the exorbitant prices of basic spares for not very old engines was building a resentment against replacing with Volvo allowing Beta etc to build a strong customer base to the extent that they are now major competitors

I've never heard of Beta!

 

[vas]

I've never heard of Beta!

on sailing boats Pete, ppl dump their 30yo MD20** or whatever (not good at volvo models) and replace them with Beta engines (2-3cyl stuff for circa 30 ft boats)

 

[oldgit]

Was that Volvo Pentas fault that the source of the problem was not identified earlier ?

He engaged a number of local engineers and companies to investigate the problem, most recommended by the local Fairline dealer on the island at the time . (Peters ) ?
Assume that who ever plugged the VODIA was an genuine VP dealer.
The only way the boat could get back home was to turn everything off and on again to restart engines.
This apparently erases all the fault codes ? so nothing useful displayed when the code reader was plugged in.
Do know the first action was to change all filters etc and check nothing blocking fuel pick ups, checks for air leaks etc, lift pump was then changed.
Tanks were inspected and cleaned out , not sure if inspection hatches already there or if holes had to be cut.
Electronic contacts of all sorts cleaned and wring checked for faults/abrasion.
Various attempts were made to change relays and hardwire connectors and plugs to see if that solved the problem with no luck.
Eventually it was decided the a ECU was at fault but new one was not an option.
The problem was possibly sorted after he contacted Coastal Rides and they suggested he bring it back to UK for them to look at.
After their attentions it was refitted.
All seemed to be be OK but he had lost all faith in the boat and had no intention of it failing on him again.
It worked OK on the sea trial with the broker and new owner.


Might have helped if fault codes were retained in a log ?

 

[Momac]

Assume that who ever plugged the VODIA was an genuine VP dealer.

Not necessarily.

Fault finding is prone to human error and subject to people making assumptions that later prove to be incorrect.