Volvo Penta V6-240-CE-J(AQ) Check Engine Code

[nynj3006]

Recently acquired a 2018 Monterey 298ss with twin Volva Penta V6-240-CE-J(AQ) engines. I’m getting a check engine light on the starboard engine and RPMs seem to be limited to ~2,800 (suggesting to me engine protection mode has come on). Oil pressure is good across both engines. Temps are good across both engines. No other symptoms, just this alert. I don’t have a scanner to hook to it, but the EVC is displaying MID 128, SID 6, FMI 6. I have googled to the ends of the earth and can’t find out what this code means. If anyone here knows, I would be most appreciative. It ran perfectly until now. Unfortunately, not many Volvo mechanics by me so I can’t get someone to look at it for a few weeks.

 

[Scott Danforth]

if you want to do your own work, you will need to buy Rinda software for the laptop.

 

[nynj3006]

I have a scanner en route, but hoping somone knows what that code means in the interim.

 

[muc]

Scanner won't do much without the diagnostic manual # 47706663
and the knowledge of how this system works.

MID 128 means the problem is originating from the engine ECM.
SID 6 means there is a problem with #6 injector driver.
FMI 6 means that injector is shorted internally or has a short to battery voltage on the injector ground, this could be in the harness or inside the ECM.

DTC 0277 Injector Driver 6 Short-to-
Power (SPN-656 FMI-6)

So there is a problem with the ECM, wiring harness or the injector in #2 cylinder.

Might want to check the OHMs of the cylinder #2 injector and compare it to the other injectors.

Keep in mind that the scanner and manual will talk about injector DRIVER #. This is the driver number, then you take your firing order (1-6-5-4-3-2) and find the drivers place in your engines order. In this case driver #6 controls cylinder #2 injector.

If you use the manual to troubleshoot this, it will walk you through many OHMs tests. I don't really trust resistance testing because temperature can have such a large impact on the numbers. So if the manual leads you to the ECM being bad --- give me a shout and I'll try to walk you through a better way then the manual to troubleshoot this.

Note: if this does turn out to be a bad ECM (and this code has always been a bad ECM for me, although I keep hoping for a harness or injector failure --- maybe you will be the one!). It is VERY rare for an ECM to fail on it's own (probably >5%) it is almost always customer abuse. With these new EFI engines unless it's a "life or death" situation, never jump start, use a fast charger with the battery still connected or operate the boat with low/bad batteries. I also feel that the battery parallel button that some twin engine boats come with falls into the same category. Battery condition and connections are soo very important!

 

[nynj3006]

Scanner won't do much without the diagnostic manual # 47706663
and the knowledge of how this system works.

MID 128 means the problem is originating from the engine ECM.
SID 6 means there is a problem with #6 injector driver.
FMI 6 means that injector is shorted internally or has a short to battery voltage on the injector ground, this could be in the harness or inside the ECM.

DTC 0277 Injector Driver 6 Short-to-
Power (SPN-656 FMI-6)

So there is a problem with the ECM, wiring harness or the injector in #2 cylinder.

Might want to check the OHMs of the cylinder #2 injector and compare it to the other injectors.

Keep in mind that the scanner and manual will talk about injector DRIVER #. This is the driver number, then you take your firing order (1-6-5-4-3-2) and find the drivers place in your engines order. In this case driver #6 controls cylinder #2 injector.

If you use the manual to troubleshoot this, it will walk you through many OHMs tests. I don't really trust resistance testing because temperature can have such a large impact on the numbers. So if the manual leads you to the ECM being bad --- give me a shout and I'll try to walk you through a better way then the manual to troubleshoot this.

Note: if this does turn out to be a bad ECM (and this code has always been a bad ECM for me, although I keep hoping for a harness or injector failure --- maybe you will be the one!). It is VERY rare for an ECM to fail on it's own (probably >5%) it is almost always customer abuse. With these new EFI engines unless it's a "life or death" situation, never jump start, use a fast charger with the battery still connected or operate the boat with low/bad batteries. I also feel that the battery parallel button that some twin engine boats come with falls into the same category. Battery condition and connections are soo very important!

I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to type all of this up. I ordered the manual as well, but it won’t be here for a bit. I’ll check resistance on the cylinders and see if I have any variability on cylinder #2 when I’m down there this weekend.

In your view is it safe to run the boat at lower RPMs (its basically limiting itself to ~2,500-2800 on the starboard side anyways) or using only the port engine (also at lower RPMs / lower speeds)? I just got it and have limited opportunities to use it before the end of the season. Hate to lose what little boating time I have left. That said, I don’t want to do more damage.

Everything I read suggested it was primarily temp and/or oil pressure issues that would trigger engine protection mode, but that’s a bit of an ancillary point at the moment I suppose.

 

[muc]

Your welcome.

I know you don't want to hear what I have to say, but you asked.

In my view it's a bad idea to run this boat at all. The EVC system was designed as a control system, so it doesn't display all fault codes. It is just showing you enough to convince you to stop using it and get it serviced. Until a scantool is connected to confirm I think there are most likely more issues due to a no fuel in one cylinder.

2nd. There are 3 stages of engine protection. Derate 1, Derate 2 and forced idle. The code that you posted should cause a Derate 1 but the amount of RPMs you have lost is closer to a Derate 2 and that usually only happens in a no oil pressure, stage 2 exhaust overheat or cat damaging misfire situation. Catalyst's are very expensive.

3rd. Running a newer twin engine boat on one engine isn't a good idea unless you reprop that engine so it can reach it's rated WOT on one engine, and I'm guessing they don't make a prop small enough to do that. If you run on one engine, you will be lugging that engine at any throttle setting. Yes trying to run @ 4000 RPMs will be worse than @1200 Rpms. But it's still hard on the engine. Also do you know for sure that the previous owner wasn't doing something like this? This type of abuse is cumulative and maybe one weekend will push it over the edge? Getting this much power/efficiency out of a small engine comes with a price. Both in $$ paid to buy it and in how much abuse it can handle.

 

[nynj3006]

Good stuff. I’m going to check ohms on that injector and hook the scan tool up this weekend. Will report back. Thanks again.

 

[nynj3006]

Did a couple of things today, not sure it provides the clarity I was hoping for.

Took a reading with an ohm meter on Cylinder 1 (for control purposes) and Cylinder 2 (i.e,. #6 in the firing order). 10-12 ohms on each.

Hooked up a Rinda Techmate Pro. The active fault is what I mentioned previously. SPN 656, FMI 6 — Injector 6, current above normal or grounded circuit.

In one of the info screens it is also showing a misfire on Cylinder 5 (which also appears in previous faults, but not active faults).

Other prior faults (which sadly are not time stamped) in the log are as follows:

SPN 110, FMI 15
Engine Coolant Temp
Data above normal range

SPN 4238, FMI 0
Exhaust 2, ST Fuel Trim
Data Valid but above normal range

SPN 4239, FMI 0
Exhaust 2, LT Fuel Trim
Data valid, but above normal range

SPN 441, FMI 15
Aux temp 1 / exhaust manifold water temp 1
Data above normal range

SPN 441, FMI 0
Aux temp 1 / exhaust manifold water temp 1
Data valid, but above normal range

SPN 1386, FMI 3
Aux temp 2 / exhaust rise term- 2
Voltage above normal or shorted high

SPN 1327, FMI 11
Misfire cylinder 5
Cause not known

SPN 1328, FMI 11
Misfire cylinder 6
Cause not known

SPN 1327, FMI 31
Misfire cylinder 5
Failure mode undefined, see service manual

SPN 1328, FMI 31
Misfire cylinder 6
Failuse mode undefined, see service manual

For kicks, I hooked the scanner up to the port engine. 3 prior faults (did not jot them down as storm blew in), but nothing like what is coming out of the starboard ECM.

I still don’t have the manual (it’s on its way), so sort of at a loss. I should have checked resistance on Cylinder 3 while I was at it (Injector 5), but rain was kicking up.

Someone else suggested I run the Injector Kill test on the Rinda. And someone else suggested Spark Fire test as well as Compression Test. I have not done either of these things.

 

[muc]

"not sure it provides the clarity I was hoping for"
Well it did help, you now know that your engine has had.
1. cat damaging misfire
2. stage 2 exhaust overheat
3. engine coolant over temp stage 2
But the trouble is, these problems might have occurred long in the past and been corrected or they might have happened last time you used the boat.

I haven't ever used a TechMate Pro, so I can't offer any advice on where to find out when these faults were set. But I'm pretty sure this information is in the scan tool somewhere ---- it just wouldn't make sense to build a scan tool that wouldn't provide this critical information. You will have to find someone who can teach you or spend time pushing buttons and looking at all the different screens until you find it, because find this info you must.
A note on the TechMate Pro --- it is no longer a listed scan tool in the newer manuals, Diacom and Vodia are the only tools listed in the manuals since Emissions controls started. This doesn't mean it won't do the job for you, but you should consider returning it and getting Diacom. This will allow you to make recordings and post them for people like me to see. Feeding a tech corrupt data results in misdiagnosis.

The Ohms readings you posted are bad as listed in the manual. Should be 0Ω to 4Ω . This is one of the reasons I don't trust resistance measurements. Volvo wants this testing done @68° F. This is why I asked you to measure ALL injectors. If they all measure 10-12Ω, then the manuals wrong, temp is wrong during testing, cheap meter or you got a bad battery in the meter. Have you tested the meter with a reference?

Don't confuse Driver#, Injector# and Cylinder#. I noticed you posted "SPN 656, FMI 6 — Injector 6" Not Injector 6 --- it's Driver 6. Why the manufacturers do this stuff, I don't know? Maybe to keep us techs on our toes? They even get this wrong in some of the manuals. When I asked one of the instructors at Volvo school about this, he said ---- "manuals will always have something wrong in them, this is why you come to school and learn how the system operates. So you can pick up on these errors and learn how to spot them and confirm they are wrong". This is why most manufacturers have moved away from printed and now recommend downloading the latest and greatest P.D.F. every time you need one. This allows them to do real-time corrections, once the paper is printed it can't be changed and I don't think they are going to throw away all those manuals. I don't think they even do a service bulletin anymore with manual corrections like they used to.

The misfire codes you posted are for Cylinder/injector numbers 5+6 so this doesn't jive with the SPN 656 FMI 6 you currently have active.

My next step recommendations,
Other then switch to Diacom
Ohm ALL injectors
Learn to use the TechMate, I'm guessing all the data you will need is in there, just need to dig to find it.

You asked about running some tests others recommended. There are many tests that can be run and maybe in the future some of them might be indicated to run. But at this point, you have an active code. This must be addressed first. And to do that you will need to know what the history of this engine is (current engine hrs and what hrs all these other codes happened and what the operating parameters were when those codes set.
The injector kill test might be one I would run and if you know what you're looking for in the results, go right ahead.
Just don't run a spark kill test on a cat engine, really a bad idea!

 

[muc]

OH and one other thing. What is your serial number? The "J" model was a transition year. Some parts different from previous years and some parts different from the next year. There was a mid year break denoted only by serial number. Would probably be good to know what side you fall on.