2011 Volvo 5.0 GXiC-J wiring harness

[FrNat]

I have a brand new Volvo 5.0 GXiC-J, ser no A137003 that has developed a problem. Engine abruptly sputters and/or stalls unpredictably and without warning. When it stalls, I have to wait 5 minutes or so to get it to start again. Otherwise, it just cranks and won't start. It can occur hot or cold, at idle or under load. It runs great the rest of the time. All gauges read fine. Sometimes I get a check engine light, sometimes not. Replaced fuel filter. Put fuel dry in gas tank. No joy. It has 20 hrs on motor. The last time I took it out was the first time we actually pulled anyone behind boat. I took it to dealer 4 weeks ago. They told me the OBD was giving nonsense readings. They have performed the following, one at a time: replaced wire from crank position sensor, replaced crank position sensor, replaced crank position sensor ring on front end of crankshaft. They finally had the Volvo factory tech come out who told them it was the wiring harness. They called me yesterday to tell me boat was ready to be picked up and that the new wiring harness fixed the problem. They could not tell me why the harness failed. Dealer said Volvo tech said there had been "some problems with the wiring harnesses".
My question - "Why didn't it fail immediately instead of after 20 hours?" " How do I know it won't fail again?" Where is the issue, in case it fails again out on the lake? We boat on a 10,000 acre lake. Could be a long tow home.
My wife used to take our old boat out with lady friends. It will be a long time before she will feel comfortable out on the lake with our new gem.
Has anyone else run across this issue?
The whole thing makes me a little leery.
I told dealer I wanted a refund and would get a different boat. He only offered to "take care of" me on a trade.
Thanks.

 

[Don S]

Re: 2011 Volvo 5.0 GXiC-J wiring harness

My question - "Why didn't it fail immediately instead of after 20 hours?" " How do I know it won't fail again?" Where is the issue, in case it fails again out on the lake? We boat on a 10,000 acre lake. Could be a long tow home.

All of your questions are completely un-answerable by anyone on this forum.

"Why didn't it fail immediately instead of after 20 hours?"

Without knowing WHAT or HOW it failed, it's even harder to say WHY it would fail, or WHEN.

Where is the issue, in case it fails again out on the lake?

Sounds like something you should be asking your dealer.

Has anyone else run across this issue?

Probably not. It's a 2011 engine, with catalytic converters.

The whole thing makes me a little leery.

If the boat works now after the repair, then being leery is something you will get over after running the boat for a while.

In the future, on this boat or any other boat. When you change a fuel filter, don't just throw a new one on and go test run it. Take the old filter and empty it in a clear container so you can see if there was any water or debris in it. If it had been mostly water (and water had been your problem) just throwing a new filter on wouldn't have cured a thing if there was still a couple of gallons of water still in the tank.

 

[FrNat]

Re: 2011 Volvo 5.0 GXiC-J wiring harness

Don,
Thanks. I did pour out fuel filter into a clear jar - no water or visible debris, but changed it anyway at recommendation of dealer. I asked all of the above questions of dealer service manager. His only repsonse was. "I don't know." If, indeed, there have been some issues with wiring harness on Volvo 5.0 l as I was told, I was hoping, perhaps someone else out there had experienced a similar problem and had a better explanation.
It seems odd to me. I've never had a wiring harness fail on any machine, much less a brand new one.

 

[Don S]

Re: 2011 Volvo 5.0 GXiC-J wiring harness

If, indeed, there have been some issues with wiring harness on Volvo 5.0 l as I was told,

I don't have a clue what you have been hearing, but there aren't any problems that I am aware of. Besides you have a brand new engine, with a different wiring harness that earlier models, so that info is probably all BS from hand me down "I heards"

In the last 5 years, the wiring harness problems have been a wire that needs moved for chaffing issues. That may be what happened to your's. Chaffed wires can short things out, cause sensors to give wrong readings and all sorts of things.

Since Volvo sent out a troubleshooter, found the problem and fixed it. Why don't you go boating and stop worrying.
Problems like this happens to cars, and they don't give you a new car because of a wire failure.

 

[Gus E]

Re: 2011 Volvo 5.0 GXiC-J wiring harness

I have a new boat also with a new 5.0 GXiC-J (serial number A140097) and it runs flawlessly. I traded in a 1978 Carver in on it with a V/P AQ240 engine/outdrive. In it's hayday it was a wonderful unit. Towards the end it was unreliable for me. More issues than I knew how to handle. If the new V/P does as well as the old I will be very very happy.