Truck Has Some Issues

[Deezl Smoke]

https://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/forums/trucks-eighteen-wheelers.130/

 I don't know anything about facebook, but they likely do have a page or some presence there.

 J1939, at least what I've read so far, doesn't always mean something expensive. It very well could just be telling you that a corroded pin is prohibiting communication.

[SuiteSuccess]

1 hour ago, Deezl Smoke said:

https://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/forums/trucks-eighteen-wheelers.130/

 I don't know anything about facebook, but they likely do have a page or some presence there.

 J1939, at least what I've read so far, doesn't always mean something expensive. It very well could just be telling you that a corroded pin is prohibiting communication.

🙏🙏

[runaway parents]

Must be a week for breakdowns. Hope it's something simple. The rest of my parts should be here shortly shouldn't take too long To Get it fixed and back on the road. I feel pretty lucky that we didn't have to be towed back to wenatchee. Maybe I can send some good luck to you so here it goes good luck.😃

Edited May 31, 2023 by runaway parents

[SuiteSuccess]

3 minutes ago, runaway parents said:

Must be a week for breakdowns. Hope it's something simple. The rest of my parts should be here shortly shouldn't take too long To Get it fixed and back on the road. I feel pretty lucky that we didn't have to be towed back to wenatchee. Maybe I can send some good luck to you so here it goes good luck.😃

Thanks.  I need some luck.

[rickeieio]

Carl,

When they take the truck to the shop, PLEASE ask for a mechanic, not some snot nose "technician".  Tell them how the truck stumbled before dying, and that the fuel filter level had dropped.  Make sure they correct the fuel pump issue (leaking fuel and sucking air) before firing the money cannon at electrical components like are likely fine.

All those codes can be, and likely were, caused when the ECM saw a drop in fuel pressure and subsequent miss-fires as the injectors received air.

[SuiteSuccess]

18 hours ago, rickeieio said:

Carl,

When they take the truck to the shop, PLEASE ask for a mechanic, not some snot nose "technician".  Tell them how the truck stumbled before dying, and that the fuel filter level had dropped.  Make sure they correct the fuel pump issue (leaking fuel and sucking air) before firing the money cannon at electrical components like are likely fine.

All those codes can be, and likely were, caused when the ECM saw a drop in fuel pressure and subsequent miss-fires as the injectors received air.

Rick,

I plan on following the tow truck over to the shop and hopefully can talk to the mechanic.  Being my usual OCD self I have a spread sheet with all the codes I could pull and a second sheet with all the “fixes” I’ve/we’ve tried with the results of those tries.  At $185/hr don’t need them repeating a lot.

[rickeieio]

My logic:

1) Truck stumbled before dying.  Classic sign of sucking air/lack of fuel.

2) Fuel filter low/empty.  Was fuller at previous service.  You found/repaired a bad check valve.  Supports #1.

3) Several pumps of hand primer will get it to run a few seconds,  Pump leaking fuel.  Likely source of air in system.

4) Early in this process, you found information where a fuel problem caused the same codes you've seen.

Thus my recommendation to correct a known problem, (fuel primer), before moving on to more costly electrical parts.

[SuiteSuccess]

1 hour ago, rickeieio said:

My logic:

1) Truck stumbled before dying.  Classic sign of sucking air/lack of fuel.

2) Fuel filter low/empty.  Was fuller at previous service.  You found/repaired a bad check valve.  Supports #1.

3) Several pumps of hand primer will get it to run a few seconds,  Pump leaking fuel.  Likely source of air in system.

4) Early in this process, you found information where a fuel problem caused the same codes you've seen.

Thus my recommendation to correct a known problem, (fuel primer), before moving on to more costly electrical parts.

Reasonable. Will see what happens. 

[SuiteSuccess]

Okay, progress report.  Two major problems with truck.  1.  Priming pump and secondary filter mount was cracked and sucking air.  That is why truck would start, run a couple of seconds, then die.  2.  ECM is dead.  That is the source of the multiple error codes.  Gonna be big $$ for this one.  I have been researching rebuilders for the ECM and I can get mine rebuilt for $1500 from a company called Circuit Board Medics in Greenville, SC.  There is also one in Texas and one in California.  Don’t know if anyone has experience with any of these but I do know dealer has to re-program to your particular truck after rebuild or replacement.  So I’m not sure how receptive they would be to not getting to replace it themselves?  Any thoughts?

[rickeieio]

Have you asked them?  And, how much would you save by having it re-built v. buying from dealer?  It might be easier and nearly same cost to just let shop di it all.

[SuiteSuccess]

15 hours ago, rickeieio said:

Have you asked them?  And, how much would you save by having it re-built v. buying from dealer?  It might be easier and nearly same cost to just let shop di it all.

Rick,

Rebuild through Circuitboardmedics.com is $1500 with a ONE business day turnover.  Dealer will have to reprogram once I get it back.  Shipped off yesterday.  I went up to dealer yesterday and they could only find one for my truck through their network and it was going to cost me just shy of $4000 with reprogramming.  I hope this turns out ok.  My research shows over 25k five star reviews for this shop and both Charlie Lord and I have talked on the phone with them and got pretty good vibes.  Now their techs do all kinds of boards not just ECMs but I’m thinking if you know what you’re doing that education should apply across multiple circuits.  We also found another site Goecm.com which sells remans or does repairs but really couldn’t find a whole lot about them.  Oh BTW just about everything for an older truck is on “backorder” and dealer said it could be 6 weeks to 6months to get a part that is not in stock.  Unfortunately we’re not first in line for those precious parts because we don’t make a living with them.  That’s why it’s important to advocate for yourself.

[SuiteSuccess]

Ok new update.  Got a call from circuitboardmedics.com and my ECM is toast.  Spoke directly with the tech and when he opened it up, he found some water and a thick waxy substance.  He wanted to know if the ECM had been repaired before.  Told him not my knowledge.  They were going to source another ECM for me but it would be another up charge of $1000 making total cost of just the unit $2500 not counting having to pay my dealer to reprogram.  I elected to have my unit returned since they couldn’t be sure where they would source the module from.  They will refund my $1500 repair charge.  I spoke with the dealer and they have located a replacement ECM at a competitor, so gave them the go ahead to replace.  Gonna cost more but hopefully less chance of future problems.  I also could get a rebuild from goecm.com for $1400 but the reviews of that company are very mixed on service, timeliness, and availability.

Deezl Smoke turned me on to thetruckersreport.com and I’ve been doing a lot of reading there.  Found one thread that may explain everything with the ECM.  Apparently earlier Volvos are known to have a harness that wicks oil from the sensor and would leak around and into the ECM.  One of the early temporary fixes was to silicone around the leaking area but the only true fix was to replace the harness.  I had that done several years after owning the truck when the leak got worse and was told mine had been siliconed prior to my purchase.  I now tend to believe I may have had oil penetration before harness replacement into the ECM which degraded the seal over time and eventually allowed water penetration which was the fatal shorting event inside the module.  The “waxy” substance could have been degraded oil, waterproofing sealant, or silicone that eventually migrated into the circuit board.  Just took years, and vibration to finally fail.  If the truck had been on the road daily, probably would have failed years ago.  Hope this helps someone and may want to keep a watch on your harness if it’s leaking.  BTW Volvo has a “pig tail” part that can help temporarily avoid replacing the harness but the only true fix is a new harness.  Even then cheaper than a new ECM.

Edited June 16, 2023 by SuiteSuccess

[lappir]

18 hours ago, SuiteSuccess said:

Ok new update.  Got a call from circuitboardmedics.com and my ECM is toast.  Spoke directly with the tech and when he opened it up, he found some water and a thick waxy substance.  He wanted to know if the ECM had been repaired before.  Told him not my knowledge.  They were going to source another ECM for me but it would be another up charge of $1000 making total cost of just the unit $2500 not counting having to pay my dealer to reprogram.  I elected to have my unit returned since they couldn’t be sure where they would source the module from.  They will refund my $1500 repair charge.  I spoke with the dealer and they have located a replacement ECM at a competitor, so gave them the go ahead to replace.  Gonna cost more but hopefully less chance of future problems.  I also could get a rebuild from goecm.com for $1400 but the reviews of that company are very mixed on service, timeliness, and availability.

Deezl Smoke turned me on to thetruckersreport.com and I’ve been doing a lot of reading there.  Found one thread that may explain everything with the ECM.  Apparently earlier Volvos are known to have a harness that wicks oil from the sensor and would leak around and into the ECM.  One of the early temporary fixes was to silicone around the leaking area but the only true fix was to replace the harness.  I had that done several years after owning the truck when the leak got worse and was told mine had been siliconed prior to my purchase.  I now tend to believe I may have had oil penetration before harness replacement into the ECM which degraded the seal over time and eventually allowed water penetration which was the fatal shorting event inside the module.  The “waxy” substance could have been degraded oil, waterproofing sealant, or silicone that eventually migrated into the circuit board.  Just took years, and vibration to finally fail.  If the truck had been on the road daily, probably would have failed years ago.  Hope this helps someone and may want to keep a watch on your harness if it’s leaking.  BTW Volvo has a “pig tail” part that can help temporarily avoid replacing the harness but the only true fix is a new harness.  Even then cheaper than a new ECM.

I watched my 2001 for several years. Had the harness and the ECM replaced a couple years ago. The harness still leak, but they say it will fail before it gets to the ECM after the replacement Harness. Not going to wait to see. 

The shop that did the work in Grand Forks was part of a "network" that had a roving ECM. They would request it, plug it in and if it fixed the truck then they would find a new one to sell. Took only a couple of days to find and about that much time to have the new harness put in and the new ECM "programed". Should make the D12 more valuable when it comes time to sell it. 

Rod

[SuiteSuccess]

Just another update.  Circuit Board Medics returned my ECM, promptly refunded my repair charge $1495 and spoke to me once again.  I did have some bad capacitors which they replaced and a couple of other components but after the repair they were unable to get it to communicate which was the original error message.  There was NO charge for the components.  My only cost was the shipping to them and back..approximately $50.  I would have to give their honesty, communication, promptness all a five star rating.

Just to note for reference when I picked up the ECM from the dealer I looked at the sealing material around the back side of the case and noticed several gaps which I suspect was the water intrusion issue.  It may be beneficial for owners of older Volvos like mine to remove the ECM periodically and inspect and reseal if necessary.  OTR Performance has a YouTube and it doesn’t look that difficult to remove.

 

[SuiteSuccess]

Last update 🤞🤞.  Truck out of the shop.  Turned out to have no other issues besides the cracked primer pump/secondary fuel filter housing and a dead ECM.  Actually the 20 mile drive home seemed like truck ran smoother and shifted smoother than before but probably just my imagination.

[bigredhdt]

Where did you find another ecm?

[SuiteSuccess]

15 hours ago, bigredhdt said:

Where did you find another ecm?

Please see my reply in the thread you started.