Hello all, I'm new to off road trucks in general. I come from a long history of generators, engine diagnostics, overhauls, and wiring troubleshooting. No transmission experience other than general mechanical knowledge. I have meet my match, 2003 Volvo A40D. Runs, drives, shifts, won't pull itself up a hill. Engine just falls on its face and to make matters worse for some reason I can not get my Texa laptop to connect to it. I've verified canbus voltage on one and two along with hots and grounds for 5 days plus read a 3,650 page service manual. I'm lost and wondering if anyone has any suggestions or helpful information. The display shows a code for low oil level and the new sensor has been ordered scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Thanks for any support.
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Volvo A40D no communication with ECM's not enough power to pull a hill
- Thread starter kmorris
- Start date
Nige
Senior Member
Never been near one of these but from your description of the symptoms and seeing as you have the service manual, take a look at the operation of the torque converter. Does it have a lockup clutch and a freewheel stator.?
funwithfuel
Senior Member
In answer to Nige, yes, it's a Sachs converter with lock up and also runs the retarded.
kmorris, when you travel flat land, please observe the instrument panel. It will display what gear you are in as well as the status of the converter. For example 2C-2L , 3C-3L . This would indicate 2nd converter, 2nd lock-up, 3rd converter, 3rd lock-up. Typically, most software is written to start rolling in 2nd. Some older units still start in 1st , but they're getting rare. If there's a problem with the door switch, you won't get outta 3rd. Same with a bed up pot. So when you're rolling, you need to mind the gears and status as well as drop box range. The instrument panel will tell you if there's an error. You'll have to scroll through to find the gear symbol and then down to reveal the error.
Odds are you have a mechanical failure, Volvo A40s didn't have the strongest transmission. The dropbox were known to crap the bed pretty often as well. If you can, get the model and serial number off the side of the trans as well as the dropbox. Post that info. One of us should be able to point you in the right direction.
kmorris, when you travel flat land, please observe the instrument panel. It will display what gear you are in as well as the status of the converter. For example 2C-2L , 3C-3L . This would indicate 2nd converter, 2nd lock-up, 3rd converter, 3rd lock-up. Typically, most software is written to start rolling in 2nd. Some older units still start in 1st , but they're getting rare. If there's a problem with the door switch, you won't get outta 3rd. Same with a bed up pot. So when you're rolling, you need to mind the gears and status as well as drop box range. The instrument panel will tell you if there's an error. You'll have to scroll through to find the gear symbol and then down to reveal the error.
Odds are you have a mechanical failure, Volvo A40s didn't have the strongest transmission. The dropbox were known to crap the bed pretty often as well. If you can, get the model and serial number off the side of the trans as well as the dropbox. Post that info. One of us should be able to point you in the right direction.
Thank y'all for the replies. I installed a new oil lever sensor and installed a new keypad so that I could change the screens and view the gear status. It does switch gears all the way to 6th as you said 2C-2L etc. I am able to switch from low to high no issue. High starts in 1st, low starts in 2nd. No codes are displayed. Loaded the truck this morning and went to pull out of the pit, it down shifts and tries to pull its self out but the engine just falls on its face immediately. Without being able to view parameters, other than checking air and fuel restrictions I'm shooting in the dark. I will be going back out there and will get the info off the drop box and transmission. I am still waiting for the Texa engineers to get back with me on a new bin file for my laptop.
funwithfuel
Senior Member
Ok, you said she downshifts and tries but the engine falls flat? That's a big difference. Check your fuel water separator at the bowl. If you used aftermarket, throw it away and get factory. That's the first thing. Then check your basics, air filter, fuel plumbing ie, all your hoses, particularly the connections at tank and the bulkhead connections on the engine. If you have a test nipple, get into the fuel at the head, should be 60-65. Full throttle no load, it shouldn't drop below 55. Make sure your turbo isn't hurt. Make sure the exhaust retarder or the trans retarder aren't coming in. Are you spinning wheels? Does the 6x6 come in when you hit the floor switch?
Following up with what I found yesterday. Still have no power and had to schedule Romco to come out later this week or next week, Texa can not seem to get there stuff together to allow me to communicate with this machine. Fuel pressure is great and holds around 65 psi going up hill loaded, we just serviced this machine all the way about three weeks ago. Turbo isn't spoiling up like it should but it has been replaced recently and spins freely. Pulled every plug and wire I could come across looking for anything that would cause a issue and found nothing. It will not break the tires loose at all. It down shifts and try's to pull but just falls on its face, got to be an intake sensor or something unless one of the computers has failed. I need to be able to monitor air and barometric pressure but unfortunately I'm going to have to hand this over to someone else hopefully that can communicate with it.
Any of you men know of a company or a person that can help get this truck moving? I’m about 15k in with the local Volvo service rep and have had zero improvement. I’m going to buy the service manager lunch later this week to discuss the bill. There’s not many company’s around east Texas that run equipment like this but housing and restate have blown up in the area and dirts got to be moved unfortunately. If I had access to the software to talk between the ecms I’d be miles ahead
398370
Well-Known Member
So 65 psi fuel pressure good. Turbo doesn’t seem to spool up. Have you checked for air to air leaks ? Make up adapter and pressurize to 30 psi check for leaks. Indicator of low boost is excessive engine heating does it get hot pulling up hill ?