Volvo EC15B cutting out

[Nobody]

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 ?

Absolutely agree with you that Volvo is shafting their customers in this case.
On the matter of volvo buying smaller companies like pel job only proves the point of high competition in my mind tho. Having to buy off competitors like that..
What happened to pel job btw, did volvo shut down the entire line or was it just a new paint job?

[Muz]

On the matter of volvo buying smaller companies like pel job only proves the point of high competition in my mind tho. Having to buy off competitors like that..
What happened to pel job btw, did volvo shut down the entire line or was it just a new paint job?

It doesn't prove it really, because as I recall, they were looking for a way into the market for smaller excavators at the time, and wanted to expand their ever growing portfolio of products. They were not competitive with anyone in that sector up until that point. They kept the old Pel Job designs for a few years, and gradually Volvo'ised them , then redesigned them altogether.

I think they are a pretty decent company to work for, so I would imagine they took a fairly ethical position with such a merger, and as far as I know they are still using the old Pel Job factory in Belley in France for production. I visited it once many years back and it was quite dated, but none the less an impressive facility with some new production tecniques. Volvo also amalgamated a lot of the old Pel Job staff into its own UK operation

[Locofitter]

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

Yeah, as long as it's variable temperature. Use it at work to do this exact job, usually set it at around 250oC.

[Mattir]

It doesn't prove it really, because as I recall, they were looking for a way into the market for smaller excavators at the time, and wanted to expand their ever growing portfolio of products. They were not competitive with anyone in that sector up until that point. They kept the old Pel Job designs for a few years, and gradually Volvo'ised them , then redesigned them altogether.

I think they are a pretty decent company to work for, so I would imagine they took a fairly ethical position with such a merger, and as far as I know they are still using the old Pel Job factory in Belley in France for production. I visited it once many years back and it was quite dated, but none the less an impressive facility with some new production tecniques. Volvo also amalgamated a lot of the old Pel Job staff into its own UK operation

My friend has one of those b**wjobs... as he calls it

[Muz]

My friend has one of those b**wjobs... as he calls it

Well so do you ... under a different name

[Mattir]

Well so do you ... under a different name

Yes, the one I have has been built in France and is a relative to the Pel...

[blobo]

Thank you Muz for this excellent summary.

I had exactly the same issue. I'm a private owner and had used the machine to do all the landscaping around my house and now that I wanted to sell the machine, it started randomly cutting out... Murphy's law.
After some fiddling around I found out that cables would not do the trick reliably, but whenever I pushed on the ECU plastic case, the engine cut out immediately -> bad solder joint or something.

That's when I started looking on the Internet and stumbled across your video, then this thread. Great info, thanks.

For now I'm running the machine without this "ECU" - I find it funny how Volvo even call this an Engine Control Unit when it's merely a transistor and a couple of discrete components - maybe it's part of their strategy to justify the ridiculous price.
Even Mitubishi call this "Engine Stop-Timer Control" which is a closer match, and their price is a lot lower, but still ridiculously high for the components and intelligence in the box.

Still will have to see if I can sell the machine without "ECU" or if I will have to replace it. Personally I'm only worried about not shutting down on loss of oil pressure (but what's the risk of that?) and don't worry about water temp or clogged air filter.

Positive side effect now: Looks like my ECU had been worn out (aged capacitors?) because it used to shut down the engine upon a cold start, when the oil pressure needed a moment to build up. I'm talking about slightly over one second here, not a huge amount of time. That problem also is gone now, of course :-)

Thanks again for sharing the information and photos,
Thomas

[Muz]

Thank you Muz for this excellent summary.

I had exactly the same issue. I'm a private owner and had used the machine to do all the landscaping around my house and now that I wanted to sell the machine, it started randomly cutting out... Murphy's law.
After some fiddling around I found out that cables would not do the trick reliably, but whenever I pushed on the ECU plastic case, the engine cut out immediately -> bad solder joint or something.

That's when I started looking on the Internet and stumbled across your video, then this thread. Great info, thanks.

For now I'm running the machine without this "ECU" - I find it funny how Volvo even call this an Engine Control Unit when it's merely a transistor and a couple of discrete components - maybe it's part of their strategy to justify the ridiculous price.
Even Mitubishi call this "Engine Stop-Timer Control" which is a closer match, and their price is a lot lower, but still ridiculously high for the components and intelligence in the box.

Still will have to see if I can sell the machine without "ECU" or if I will have to replace it. Personally I'm only worried about not shutting down on loss of oil pressure (but what's the risk of that?) and don't worry about water temp or clogged air filter.

Positive side effect now: Looks like my ECU had been worn out (aged capacitors?) because it used to shut down the engine upon a cold start, when the oil pressure needed a moment to build up. I'm talking about slightly over one second here, not a huge amount of time. That problem also is gone now, of course :-)

Thanks again for sharing the information and photos,
Thomas

No Problem and welcome also .. Thats the only thing you need to worry about, if it slips a fan belt, (or something like that) it will boil over, and that ofcourse risks damaging the engine, so its a chance you take .. bear in mind this thread is open for all to see .. so if you know the person you sell it to, maybes best replace it

[blobo]

.. bear in mind this thread is open for all to see .. so if you know the person you sell it to, maybes best replace it

Unfortunately I'm too honest to not mention this "modification" when selling the machine.

After sleeping over this I figured that lacking this unit probably costs me more in selling price negotiations than the 149 EUR it costs online, so I just ordered a new unit.

[Muz]

Unfortunately I'm too honest to not mention this "modification" when selling the machine.

After sleeping over this I figured that lacking this unit probably costs me more in selling price negotiations than the 149 EUR it costs online, so I just ordered a new unit.

That sounds wise to me .. at least we saved you half the cash to do it ... I shall go to my bed tonight happier in the knowledge I have helped another lost soul in the plant world and as far as Volvo is concerned .. they can have it good style, and maybees be a bit more reasonable with their spare parts costs

[Astro1218]

That sounds wise to me .. at least we saved you half the cash to do it ... I shall go to my bed tonight happier in the knowledge I have helped another lost soul in the plant world and as far as Volvo is concerned .. they can have it good style, and maybees be a bit more reasonable with their spare parts costs

Hi Muz,

Also have the exact problem with my EC15B , been slowly getting worse and worse . replaced ignition barrel and shut off solenoid on fuel pump and did not fix the shutdown problem then i found your posts on this site, been very helpful!

I only have to touch the wires going into the unit for it to kill the engine. About to order a new one from USA for 140$. Volvo here in Australia wanted 660$ plus postage to bring it from Europe as they don't stock the part and the lady in parts assured me if i buy it from volvo it will be "original" and well worth the money.

I may try bypass as you did while i wait for the part to come. royal pain in the anus !

Thanks for your help and sharing your findings. big help

Tim.

[Muz]

Volvo here in Australia wanted 660$ plus postage to bring it from Europe as they don't stock the part and the lady in parts assured me if i buy it from volvo it will be "original" and well worth the money.

holy shit ..... thats expensive ! for all the basic electronics that it is too ? ... I like their sales patter 'well worth the money'

Thanks for your help and sharing your findings. big help

Tim.

No problem dude ..

[v8druid]

au$ 660 FFS what a ****ing rip off .... I can categorically say that I will NEVER own one of these sh1tboxes ... or any Ovlov m/c come to that ..... too risky

You must've saved a few folk some bucks over the years Muz ..... and probably changed a few peoples minds about what to buy too

[Muz]

au$ 660 FFS what a ****ing rip off .... I can categorically say that I will NEVER own one of these sh1tboxes ... or any Ovlov m/c come to that ..... too risky

You must've saved a few folk some bucks over the years Muz ..... and probably changed a few peoples minds about what to buy too

Well .. I quite like the EC15 machine.. although its quite old now its a well balanced digger for a 1 tonner ... quick and a decent amount of power, its still a match for any modern hardware ... just a shame Volvo rip off their customers soooo much

[tim_poole247]

I appreciate this is an old thread, but while trying to diagnose the same issue on a customers EC15b I stumbled across this thread.

My customer said that the engine kept cutting out when it got hot, so I started down the overheating route (blow out rad, check thermostat etc). Rad was full of leaves etc so after blowing out and running for over an hour, the machine didnt cut out. Customer came to collect it, next day, shut down again, back to workshop.

Again in the workshop it ran fine, until i lifted up and slammed shut the rear counterweight. The shock of shutting it was enough to kill the engine. It happened everytime.

Anyway, long story short, it was the 'ECU' at fault. Disconnecting it does indeed solve the issue. I also had an attempt at fixing the board to no avail, but I did come up with a cheap workaround/alternative option for others with this issue.

Leave all sensor wires connected as they should be. Completely remove the ECU (but make sure to reattach any other earth wires which shared the mounting bolt). On one of the two plugs that connect to the ECU is a terminal that earths when either the oil pressure or temp sensor fire (perhaps all sensors share this terminal but those were the only 2 i tested for), run a wire from this terminal to the negative side of a 12v buzzer. You have two options as to where to take a live feed for the buzzer from, 1) ignition fed live (buzzer will sound as soon as ignition is turned on as there is no oil pressure - buzzer stops when engine is running unless there is an issue) or, what I done, 2) tap into a alternator switched live (only live when engine is running)

Doing option #2 means the buzzer won't opperate when the ignition is switched on, but sounds when there is an issue. This allows you to switch off the engine manually before any harm can be done to the engine.

On the back of the plate where the ECU is mounted is another module, one of the wires coming out of this module is live only when the engine is running, I just scotchlocked into this wire to give my 12v buzzer its live feed. There are probably other wires you can tap into but that was the first one I found. I positioned the buzzer inside the left control pod, beside the throttle lever so it can easily be heard even at max rpm.

A buzzer can be brought for under £10 from most motor factors. This saves you a HUGE amount compared to the actual ECU and helps removes the risk of engine damage by just disconnecting the ECU.

Hope this helps someone somewhere with the same issues.