Wrknrvr

So after treatment on the fuel in our Volvo. It still had a problem. The truck diagnostics said ecm problem. So I talked to a ecm rebuilder. Decided to send the ecm to them. They rebuilt it and sent it back. Installed it. So started the truck and it operated as it should. Drove it several times on hilly roads. Cruise, jake and all dash displays work as they should. So we left South Carolina headed to Atlanta Ga. Tried cruise up hills and everything was working good. No codes showing up. North west of Atlanta it missed once. Then a few more times. Stopped and changed fuel filters. It probably to 1 hour to get back on the road. We did have to change filters two more times. We are north of Nashville at this time. Parked with 15 amp power to keep rv operating. No AC . Talking to ecm rebuilder . Going to do some testing this am. Will start the truck as is. No filling the fuel filters. See what happens. What I am looking for is what the temperature of the ecm itself should read while operating. And what temperature the fuel should be coming out of the ecm cooling plate. The fuel tanks seam to be hotter than what I would expect. Will keep track of all info that I can. Trying to determine if the ecm is bad. The truck seams to operate for a few hours operating. Then things seem to have problems. Thanks greatly, Vern

Ray, Thanks for your thoughts on my inverter. With what I did was to leave the batteries disconnected for 12 hours. That is how you do a hard reset on those RS style inverters. Sometimes 20 minutes will work. Years ago Xantrex said it could take up to 24 hours of the batteries to be disconnected to do a hard reset. Also when connecting the battery terminals back on the post. There can be a spark. More that you would like. But that is sorta normal. If it is more thenthings are probably not hooked up correctly. Ours is now functioning as designed.

So cleaning the battery terminals and the hard reset has corrected my inverter problem.. I was scared I was going to be needing to go find one quick. Thanks for your input everyone

I cleaned the battery terminals. They could be the culprit. Anyone know of a good rv tech in my area. I hope that that hard reset worked. Or cleaning the terminals. Or both together will fix it. So I turned the charger on. It is bulk charging now. The microwave light came on when flipped that breaker on. That is on the pass through line, as we are on shore power at the moment. Fridge has been off for twenty minutes. I had it plugged it into the pedestal. Time to go see if the inverter will work. thanks

Yesterday we were going to leave South Carolina. Finally have the HDT running good again. All packed up and the inverter keeps going to a fault. It only needs to operate a residential fridge. Will have the ice maker off. So I did a load test on the batteries, and they test good. Doing a hard reset on the Xantrex RS3000 inverter Charger over night. Terminals look clean. And no corrosion on the terminals. But will clean everything concerning the connections. Then will see if it will reset. But if it does not function properly. I am looking to find a inverter to install just for the fridge, so as to leave ASAP. Our domestic fridge amp draw max is 7.2 when operating. But we do turn the ice maker off when inverter is on. I guess the amp draw should be 1/2 that. So looking for some help,if needed to find the correct size pure sine wave inverter. Thanks in advance, Vern

I was thinking that you could maybe use a good set of short car ramps to gain a 6” or more in elevation, at the beginning of the ramps. That way you could still store the ramps underneath the bed.

I load my Jeep two with 7’6” ramps. Where they hook together in the middle, I can raise they jack stands up say 2” . That helps with the clearance situation i will measure my total length of the ramps tomorrow. I think they are just over 14’ when put together. I am going to load my Jeep tomorrow. So I can measure and get pictures also. Also dumping the air gives some clearance with the hitch head..

Henry, This only a suggestion. Looking at the bed in the current production stage, I have a different thought. Looking at the space from behind the rear wheels to the rear bumper. That is a lot of cubic feet of storage, that is just sitting there. If that area was utilized, not only could it contain the ramps, but there could be more storage space, just for the taking. If the side panels were built to accommodate that space, from the rear wheel to the rear bumper.? The storage area from the frame rail to the outside of the bed could give considerably more storage space. With the proper doors for access. It would also control road debris from flying up there. With a short mud flap on the front of the storage bin. Just saying

This mite be old school thinking. Put a spark plug on one of the spark plug wires. Make sure it is grounded. Have someone turn it over and see if there is spark.

Does your Volvo leak water at the hood seal. I did a drip test three times. And got the same results. Notice it could drip on your ECM. I am going to put a foam seal on top of the original seal. To try and correct this situation. Think about it? When the truck is washed, does that seal stop the water from the roof and windshield from running over the seal. See how easy it could find your ECM or your starter wires. Maybe even both. Yes my drain holes have been funneled away for 10 plus years. But I still seen water where it should not have been.

If you have Cummins engine in your Volvo truck. The ECM wiring is above the starter wiring. And that hole is above the ECM wiring. Yep it is. Really great design. How do I know this. A rebuilt ECM is to be delivered to me tomorrow. And half of those zillion wires go to and from the ECM. Maybe more.

You are correct. But what is above the starter.

So this photo shows the drain tube from underneath. The end of the tube is pointed towards the outside of the frame. So you can see the rear of the engine. The blue plastic cover over the engine is for a different subject I am testing. As both have contributed to a pain in the ( you know what).

Study this picture? Do you see the hole to the right of center. It has a brass insert in it. Connected to a drain tube. But Volvo only put a hole there to drain water from the windshield and roof. So where does that water go. I installed the drain tube to keep the water away from things below. Take a look at your truck to see where the water goes.

Curious if anyone ever used Detoxit electrical cleaner. Or what should I use for cleaning the ECM plugs on a engine. Thanks in advance, Vern

I was thinking that earlier in the quest to figure this problem out, I decided there was a air leak in the fuel system. So I put new fuel lines on. Those 3/8” lines. Just from the ecm check valve to the first filter in front of the passenger side steer tire. Then back to the engine mounted fuel filter. That is all I changed. So I believe there is still a problem with the original fuel lines. Now with the vacuum gauge, I can see there is a problem immediately. So what I did to create this vacuum loss, was to put the old fuel lines back as it was built. Testing tomorrow am. Will respond with the answer

Well Darryl you can yell at me for my stupidity, again and again and again. My high vacuum was contributed to two things. One was plugged filters. Yes we know that. But I did put smaller fuel lines one than original. The local hydraulic shop said that’s what they sell to locals. So 3/8” fuel lines caused the fuel vacuum pressure to be around 8.5 “ of vacuum. I can hear you now. Be nice, please. So luckily I capped the old lines. So I connected the old lines back into the system. Now the vacuum at idle is 7””. Stays steady at idle Today I started the truck and let it idle a few minutes. Then with the wife operating the throttle I said give it some, my hand signals. Truck runs better. Less smoke. But the vacuum falls to 5” . It should climb as it needs more fuel. So there is apparently a small leak somewhere in the suction side. Thanks for posting the filter educational info.

I am curious if anyone on the forum has a vacuum gauge in there instrument panel. And what is it for. What is your normal reading at idle and at highway speed. Curious, Vern

Now a big lesson I have learned from this is to use a big enough pump to flow enough fuel to filter the fuel. That small pump system did not plug the filter once. I did not know that the algae would grow again so fast in the fuel tanks. I did buy a 12vdc fuel pump from Harbor Freight. 10 gallons per minute. I also installed a Goldenrod 10 micron filter with a transparent bowl before the pump. So far it has plugged two of the 10 micron filters. Will be pumping again today. I apparently have collections of dead stuff hiding in the fuel system. For the fuel system treatment after the tanks I disconnected the fuel line from the engine filter and hooked the small volume 12vdc pump to pull fuel with treatment in it through as much of the fuel system as I could. Did that for several times, as to leave the treatment sit an exterminate the stuff. If possible. Also start the engine and run it a few minutes to get the treatment into the rest of the fuel system. Did that several times yesterday.

Today there is 2 plus inches of vacuum on the fuel system. That I believe says that I have the air leaks in the system solved. I used a small 12vdc pump from a local automotive store, of say 5+ gallons a hour to polish my fuel the first time I had algae, or what ever it was. It has a R12Racor filter before the pump. During the first treatment cycle, it did not plug the filter? But the fuel looked clean. So I started the truck. It acted fine. It would take throttle a few times. It was not normal, but it was really close for say 400 feet of travel. Turned around and parked the truck. It was back to smoking when given throttle again. Lots of reading, talking and working. The main thing that pointed to understanding and hopefully correcting the situation, was being told to check the vacuum on the fuel system. Darryl told me to check the vacuum on the system. Immediately I knew there was a problem. I did not know what. But a Cummins n14 should have about 6” of vacuum when idling. There are many variables in there. But mine was pulling 12”+ vacuum. That is about the point of power loss, due to fuel separation. That is a big statement. I just found a very good article on fuel filtering and vacuum. I will try to post a link to it. I have never heard of checking vacuum on a diesel fuel system.

Back at the beginning of April I did polish the fuel. With a small, say 8 gallons a hour pump. Fuel looks nice. I can see the bottom of the tanks. But I had no idea where the stuff was hiding. Yep, it was just wanting to find a filter to plug. And it did? It’s been hiding there every since. I have 4 filters that I took off the truck so far. I am going to take them with us to Montana. Will see what is inside them. And report back on my findings. Sorta like a Elmer Fud and Bugs Bunny cartoon episode. In the bright side of this, I hope others can learn from my experience.

I told you I can be stupid, and more than once. About 8 years ago I installed a diesel fired Aquahot unit in our fifthwheel. So once a year I change the nozzle and filter on that unit. Then when I change filters on our truck and pour the fuel out of the filters into a small clear container. When the fuel has settled down in the container, I just pour the clear fuel into the Aquahot fuel tank. Yea I can be doubly stupid at the same time. Go ahead and laugh. So now I will polish the fuel tank for the Aquahot system.

I did not understand how fast the filters could plug with stuff. Yes I can do stupid stuff at times. Just saying The pictures really show how stupid I was. I will admit it out load. I will admit more stupidity tomorrow.