Volvo EC15B cutting out

[Muz]

Well, another day, and another EC15 hiccup. Started looking at all the usual suspects, oil pressure switch, and water temperature thermistor as usual, customers hadn't been complaining as when the machine cuts out, they just restart it and its fine for the next good while. However it had cut out on me in the yard a couple of times so I thought I'd better investigate.

Suddenly I remembered about a little ECU mounted under the operators seat, I'd had trouble with these in the past.

IMG_0846.jpg

This wee bugger gets an internal fault, or broken wires once they are inside the case, and theres not a lot you can do about it because all the components are resin bonded into the black plastic case

Its mounted on the back side of a panel that contains all the relays and main 50 amp fuses

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The wires feeding it are none too clever and all twisted round each other ,... its a bit of a mess ... but if you mess with the wires while the engine is running, you are sure to get it to cut out, to be honest ... even before you strip anything out, just put your hand under the seat and give some wires a push, and if the machine shuts off, you know you are in the right place !

Img_0843.jpg Here she be .... so .... could we fix this one this time ?

I soaked all the back with some cellulose thinners, a bit of a risky move in case any components get damaged, and gradually I started picking at the rubber

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In reality its almost impossible to do without damaging something .. but before I got to this stage ... I made an interesting discovery

[Muz]

EC 15 gets lobotomised

Turns out ... that the fault on this occasion isnt a broken wire but most likely a dry joint or similar on the small PCB inside the unit. I secured it to the machines and connected it up and discovered this :........

So then I Just disconnected the two multiblocks to the unit, and guess what ? the machine ran perfectly !!

The reason is that, the two sensors it is fed from are the two ( water and oil) that I had already disconnected, so without their grounding, and whatever fault is in the unit its self, there is no signal that gets sent to the fuel cut off solenoid any more that shuts the machine down. The key still operates the start stop as normal ... bit of a sideways result, but saves spending another £250 for a new unit for now !!

[Nobody]

Hehehe! Any fix is a good fix gonna remember this trick!

[Muz]

RIGHT ! .. back on my high horse here is the unit stripped out with most of the rubber removed .. took a while

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Ive highlighted the important data for you guys ........... Made by Mitsubishi part no 16A11 - 02100, a quick google crosses this number to "16A11-14001" listing as Engine Stop Timer for Mitsubishi .. kinda stands to reason as the original engine in an EC 15B is a Mitsubishi L3e

476-Mitsubishi_L3E.jpg

The cheapest I found a cross reference was 149 Euros or £127 also found this one on Ebay for 160 Euros which is about £137

http://www.ebay.de/itm/NEUES-STEUERG...-/221544866835

Honestly ... I'm calling Volvo out on this one there cant be anymore than £3 worth yes 3 POUNDS worth of components on that tiny board, no special chips, no fancy electronics, just basic crap you could buy out of maplin for about 3 quid . And how much do VOLVO want for this piece of elektrickery ? £230 quid plus VAT and postage so all up that would be just shy of £300.00 ........ that my friends is a right royal RIP OFF ! Volvo you should be ashamed of yourselves !

To my memory, every EC15 I've ever had has had this part fail ... Any half decent manufacturer would at least accept an inherent defect in a component and sell it for a reasonable cost instead of ripping the poor customer off

[Mattir]

Great work!

[Nobody]

Great write up Muz! You should make a "known diseases" book for heavy machinery

I have to agree with you on the pricing of that part, horrific although with todays market strategy, as with cars, they dont make money selling machines, they make it on services and parts.. that there might as well be engineered to fail. kinda sad, but also kinda reasonable.

[Muz]

Great write up Muz! You should make a "known diseases" book for heavy machinery

Thanks fellas

kinda sad, but also kinda reasonable.

No it isnt .. by any means ..

Its part of the reason I started this forum, to expose the rip offs that go on in our industry . I could tell you many more stories about parts Ive paid thousands for that months later I've found for hundreds ? .. there are some companies that milk consumers ..KNOWING their products have failures .. I dont see why anyone who joins this forum should be one of those people taken advantage of

[Nobody]

No it isnt .. by any means ..

Its part of the reason I started this forum, to expose the rip offs that go on in our industry . I could tell you many more stories about parts Ive paid thousands for that months later I've found for hundreds ? .. there are some companies that milk consumers ..KNOWING their products have failures .. I dont see why anyone who joins this forum should be one of those people taken advantage of

I honor your cause, and companies taking advantage this bad should've been illegal
On this scale we see here with the ec15 is way out of line, no question! When part price gets tenfold, shaming on producers are called for.

By reasonable I ment that machines today are very cheap to buy because of great competition and it's fairly easy to aquire machines for new companies.. Without todays strategy (that is needed to make money) I think we would have the complete opposite. Fewer producers with higher marked share and a lot less competition, resulting in much more expensive machines and all the consequences of that
But of course we will exploit all that is to be exploited

Ps. Forgot to take pics of the saw.. promise i will tho x)

[Muz]

By reasonable I ment that machines today are very cheap to buy because of great competition and it's fairly easy to aquire machines for new companies.. Without todays strategy (that is needed to make money) I think we would have the complete opposite. Fewer producers with higher marked share and a lot less competition, resulting in much more expensive machines and all the consequences of that
But of course we will exploit all that is to be exploited

Well .. Volvo is not a small company, how did it get that way ?. You always hear stories about how competitive the market place is, but when you look at companies such as Volvo, you know for sure they've made a decent enough profit to pay their tax and have enough left over to swallow up companies such as Pel Job, which is actually the original manufacturer of the machine in question here. I take your point ... but I'm not buying it . Now .. dont get me wrong , I paid my money to buy an EC15 (one of very many) believing it to be a good product .. and guess what ? It 'is' a good product BUT .... Volvo must know through their supply chains that there is clearly a fault with this part, due to the volume they sell .. my experience is beyond repute, in that, of the manyEC15's Ive owned , every one has had this part break down ... and to add insult to injury .. Volvo marks up the part massively .

And dont forget .. this is only a tiny component in a bigger picture of one machine, when you consider the VAST product range such as theirs ? .. where else are they shafting their customers ?

[Mattir]

Well .. Volvo is not a small company, how did it get that way ?. You always hear stories about how competitive the market place is, but when you look at companies such as Volvo, you know for sure they've made a decent enough profit to pay their tax and have enough left over to swallow up companies such as Pel Job, which is actually the original manufacturer of the machine in question here. I take your point ... but I'm not buying it . Now .. dont get me wrong , I paid my money to buy an EC15 (one of very many) believing it to be a good product .. and guess what ? It 'is' a good product BUT .... Volvo must know through their supply chains that there is clearly a fault with this part, due to the volume they sell .. my experience is beyond repute, in that, of the manyEC15's Ive owned , every one has had this part break down ... and to add insult to injury .. Volvo marks up the part massively .

And dont forget .. this is only a tiny component in a bigger picture of one machine, when you consider the VAST product range such as theirs ? .. where else are they shafting their customers ?

Thanks Muz for valuable results through your Volvo investigations. Do you have any hint / prediction on after how many hours does the piece of rubberelectronics fail?

[Muz]

Do you have any hint / prediction on after how many hours does the piece of rubberelectronics fail?

Its quite variable .. never usually before 1500 hours but always before 3000 thats about as accurate as I can be Then you need to consider age .. I'll look and see what that machines age is and report back

[Mattir]

Its quite variable .. never before 1500 hours but always before 3000 thats about as accurate as I can be Then you need to consider age .. I'll look and see what that machines age is and report back

Well, mine is just over 3000hrs might well need these advice rather soon. The machine was born in 2003 on a sunny afternoon

[Muz]

Ok Mattir this one is a 2008 with 1450 hours on it .. so its not exactly been worked hard

[Locofitter]

To make it easier for next time, hot air gun melts the potting out quite well.
Good job.

[Muz]

To make it easier for next time, hot air gun melts the potting out quite well. Good job.

Does it ? .... its kinda rubbery this stuff .. not sure what its made of