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

petem

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If you are thinking of putting a car ecu on there and are worried about remapping to suit there are a lot of knowledgeable guys on ecuedit.com checksumm.com and chiptuners.org there are guys on there who have written reliable maps from scratch where engines and injection systems have been altered beyond all recognition, with enough time and effort I'm sure a solution could be found. Get it polished enough and you could market the solution and make a few quid from your hard work.
I agree. I wonder if the adaption / creation of a non proprietary ECU and reverse engineering the mappings might be a good Crowdfunding project?
 

Imperial One

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Outdrives obviously have two main benefits over outdrives, firstly then can be lifted when not in use and secondly they're a lot simpler to remove for servicing. The later ones seem to be very quite and refined and I assume they're cheaper to service? Only downsides are that they run on petrol and take up bathing platform space (limiting tender storage and deployment).

I'd certainly be looking at outboards for a future sub 40ft boat.
All absolutely correct Pete and the other benefit for a manufacturer of boats is the installation of an Outboard is so much simpler and puts all the hassle of the power train issues back onto the outboard manufacturer.

I will post again on Friday when I know the outcome of "the shall we/shan't we start production of ECU's again" meeting at VP.
Mike.
 

volvopaul

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All absolutely correct Pete and the other benefit for a manufacturer of boats is the installation of an Outboard is so much simpler and puts all the hassle of the power train issues back onto the outboard manufacturer.

I will post again on Friday when I know the outcome of "the shall we/shan't we start production of ECU's again" meeting at VP.
Mike.
More publicity on FB from Volvo advert of new engines
 

petem

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All absolutely correct Pete and the other benefit for a manufacturer of boats is the installation of an Outboard is so much simpler and puts all the hassle of the power train issues back onto the outboard manufacturer.

I will post again on Friday when I know the outcome of "the shall we/shan't we start production of ECU's again" meeting at VP.
Mike.
Any news Mike?
 

Imperial One

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Good morning one and all,

I took a telephone call late yesterday afternoon from Volvo Penta UK and have been adivised that VP intend to restart supply of the ECU's. This is really good news overall for anybody running TAMD 73/74 or 75 engines.
While the news is very welcome, I was also told that delivery will not be practical until at least Q2 of 2021. Being ever the optomist, I am hoping that we may see some at the front end of Q2 but equally realistic to understand it may well be the end of Q2 or even Q3 before they hit the shelves. But, at least they are now going to be available again soon.

Let 's look on the positive side and think, the little guys (AKA Consumers) sometimes can get a just result, given the right approach to the issue.

My thanks go to you all who have supported this effort , commented and forwarded information to other forums and Facebook pages.
Thanks are also due to Volvo, from their new President down for listening to us and acting accordingly.
Finally, a huge thank you to Volvo Paul of this parish for all his help and support throughout the last few months.

The bad news is that I will reappear as and when I have more news or any updates on supply dates.;)

All the best to you all,

Mike.
 

jrudge

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Well done.

One of the challenges facing electronic manufacturers is that units designed in this case circa 20 years ago ( maybe longer) use parts that are now discontinued. As such whilst they maybe able to make them now there may well become a point at which it is simply not possible short of a re-design.

What would be helpful is if at customers option and risk they could supply a non potted version which could then be repaired.

Creating a waterproof enclosure should not be difficult and most of these units ( not all I accept ) are mounted in relatively dry locations under helms or in engine rooms.
 

petem

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Well done.

One of the challenges facing electronic manufacturers is that units designed in this case circa 20 years ago ( maybe longer) use parts that are now discontinued. As such whilst they maybe able to make them now there may well become a point at which it is simply not possible short of a re-design.

What would be helpful is if at customers option and risk they could supply a non potted version which could then be repaired.

Creating a waterproof enclosure should not be difficult and most of these units ( not all I accept ) are mounted in relatively dry locations under helms or in engine rooms.
They just need to be potted in clear silicon instead of polyurethane or epoxy.
 

kashurst

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They just need to be potted in clear silicon instead of polyurethane or epoxy.
A couple of coats of conformal laquer will do the job. Transparent and you can get it off to make repairs. Probably a lot cheaper too.

I found these videos if anyone is interested what's inside their VE style injection pump. They are in Hindi, but you will get the idea. The guy rebuilding the pumps has clearly done it a zillion times.
 
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petem

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Good videos. I would hope that our pumps are a little cleaner inside having not been run on dirty Indian diesel.

I did once speak to a Bosch service place about a rebuild of our pump and he assured me they dealt with these VE pumps all the time. IIRC a rebuild was only £600 or so plus any parts that needed replacing. As said early, they are ubiquitous.
 

Imperial One

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I send a really big thank you to all of you who have emailed me and sent personal messages and 'Likes' over the weekend.
Your assistance and support really is, and was, greatly appreciated, I am only pleased that we seem to have got the right result from such a large International Marine Company that could so easily have simply ignored us.
The owner of the boat concerned is also a somewhat happier man now, even if we do have to wait 6+ months for them to appear.
Good job it is winter lay up time as I guess it will make the wait more palatable.

Happy boating everyone - well :unsure: assuming of course that your engines start.?;)

Mike.
 

vas

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cynical pessimist here,
also afraid that this is a nice wording to take it off their hands and push it under the carpet for 5-6m and then see who's going to take it forward next year...
I think OP should find a polite way to enquire about progress say in Jan. FE, if you know which subcontractor did the ECUs back then, maybe see for starters if the company is still trading, if not got a point to ask who's taking it over.

V.
 

Imperial One

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Hi Tico and Vas,
While I understand your perfectly reasonable and understandable cynicism, I am assured that I will be getting a weekly update from Graham Pretty of Volvo UK.
Thus far, he has been good to his word and last Friday actually mailed me twice and then called me at the end of the day as well.
Given the level of personnel within Volvo with who have been communicating , I seriously doubt that they will renege on their word.
If they do renege, I have a file of communications to send off to Motor Boat and Yachting, I am sure Hugo would be interested in the matter.
One has to stay positive and the more this post is kept active, the more Volvo will be aware of how just many people are, quite rightly, concerned about the issue.
Keep commenting and let's keep the post on the front page of the Forum.....you know it makes sense!
Mike.
 
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Imperial One

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cynical pessimist here,
also afraid that this is a nice wording to take it off their hands and push it under the carpet for 5-6m and then see who's going to take it forward next year...
I think OP should find a polite way to enquire about progress say in Jan. FE, if you know which subcontractor did the ECUs back then, maybe see for starters if the company is still trading, if not got a point to ask who's taking it over.

V.
We do know who made the original units and they are purely manufacturing automotive parts now and were unable to help at all.
A good thought nonetheless.
Mike
 

vas

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Mike, automotive parts as in ECUs again, or moved to something else without PCBs, chips et al?
Struggle to understand the "Moved to automotive" tbh! It means nothing.
I think you should start pressing sooner rather than later as the whole process (if they are indeed keen to pursue!) may imply an redesign of the thing as someone mentioned already in the thread.
Wont be easy and wont be fast getting through QA on something that most likely don't even have a bl00dy engine to test on!!!
Genuine Q, Can Volvo actually get someone to built something afresh, program it with their tools and give it to one of their engineers to test it on a boat and that's it? very much doubt it!

good luck!

V.
 
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