2004 250 Project Thread

[slideruleracer]

Tonight, I started cleaning off the transom pieces of all the corrosion. Some pieces are being a bit stubborn.

[slideruleracer]

I've got to finish cleaning up the transom pieces, then go through the outdrive. Then, as soon as the weather warms up, I'm going to cleanup the bilge, repaint it and start reinstalling everything. I've got a whole section of basement waiting to get installed in the boat!

[thunder550]

Fantastic pics SRR! Thanks for sharing. I love seeing rebuild pics like this. Sucks that you had to go through the effort but it looks like it's going to come back together bigger and stronger than before

[Big Block Power]

Very cool build. Thanks for posting. What temp tstat are you running. Volvo had a service bulletin on it. The 160 was replaced I think with the 170. I'll look later and post it tonight. They were saying the oil didn't get warm enough so they changed it. I have not changed mine yet but I need to.

[Ytmsn]

Fantastic job! As a fellow gear head a project like that gets my blood flowing! And awesome documentation.

Can you tell more about your reprogramming and the MEFIburn software? Is programming a big deal? I know John and a few others are wanting to flash their motor, but most of us were thinking the ECU was "locked" by Volvo?

[slideruleracer]

Can you tell more about your reprogramming and the MEFIburn software? Is programming a big deal? I know John and a few others are wanting to flash their motor, but most of us were thinking the ECU was "locked" by Volvo?

I will preface this to clarify that I only have experience with the MEFI 4B ECU. I believe that Volvo change to the MEFI 5 or 6 or a proprietary system that enabled EVC in 2006, I believe, so for those, obviously this does not apply.

The image on the ECU is 'locked' but the ECU itself isn't locked, per se. When you try to download the factory image to the computer using the tool it states something to the effect of "This tune is locked. Please enter the unlock code to download." and it awaits a 4 digit code.

However, you can erase the ECU entirely. Think of it as an encrypted flash drive... you can't get the data off or change it, but you can format it.

And then once it's formatted you can upload a new binary. Bob at MEFIBurn has most of the factory tunes unlocked. I asked him for the 8.1 Gi and Gxi tunes, which he sent me. So I erased my ECU and then uploaded the Gxi tune. I haven't started my engine yet to know if it is working, to be fair.

Once the software and drivers are setup, you plugin the cable to the scan port (on the 2004 it is on a plug located under the starboard fuse block mounted to the riser). Then you turn the ignition on and you can interact with the ECU. You can use MEFIScan to read the status of the ECU and its fields or go to MEFIBurn to flash the ECU. Once you have the tune on your PC, you can tweak it using the free software "TunerPro".

MEFIScan is $200 which lets you scan the ECU but not flash it. MEFIBurn is an additional $400. I had already bought MEFIScan when we got the boat, so I just upgraded to MEFIBurn.

Hope this helps.

[slideruleracer]

Very cool build. Thanks for posting. What temp tstat are you running. Volvo had a service bulletin on it. The 160 was replaced I think with the 170. I'll look later and post it tonight. They were saying the oil didn't get warm enough so they changed it. I have not changed mine yet but I need to.

My understanding was that it was 140° but they changed it to 160°. At least that was my takeaway from the note and bulletin on the parts fiche:
http://www.volvopentastore.com/Circulat ... _id.781365

So, I bought the 160° thermostat. If you have different information, please let me know. It's going to be much easier for me to change it now while it's on the pallet in my garage!

[Big Block Power]

Yes that is what it was. It's been awhile since I've driven my boat.lol

[jhnmdahl]

Great info on MEFI burn - looks like the same company I found a while ago, and they weren't yet able to re-flash a 2014 Volvo ecu. But, I expect it's something they are working on.

John

[Big Block Power]

Great info on MEFI burn - looks like the same company I found a while ago, and they weren't yet able to re-flash a 2014 Volvo ecu. But, I expect it's something they are working on.

John

That's huge. I wonder if they know any tricks to the gxi ecu ?
We need phone numbers please

[jhnmdahl]

Great info on MEFI burn - looks like the same company I found a while ago, and they weren't yet able to re-flash a 2014 Volvo ecu. But, I expect it's something they are working on.

John

That's huge. I wonder if they know any tricks to the gxi ecu ?
We need phone numbers please

Bigblock, here's the web page with a lot of info and their contact information:
http://www.mefiburn.com/mefiecms.asp

[Big Block Power]

Great info on MEFI burn - looks like the same company I found a while ago, and they weren't yet able to re-flash a 2014 Volvo ecu. But, I expect it's something they are working on.

John

That's huge. I wonder if they know any tricks to the gxi ecu ?
We need phone numbers please

Bigblock, here's the web page with a lot of info and their contact information:
http://www.mefiburn.com/mefiecms.asp

Thanks John.

[cmattj]

Can you tell more about your reprogramming and the MEFIburn software? Is programming a big deal? I know John and a few others are wanting to flash their motor, but most of us were thinking the ECU was "locked" by Volvo?

I will preface this to clarify that I only have experience with the MEFI 4B ECU. I believe that Volvo change to the MEFI 5 or 6 or a proprietary system that enabled EVC in 2006, I believe, so for those, obviously this does not apply.

The image on the ECU is 'locked' but the ECU itself isn't locked, per se. When you try to download the factory image to the computer using the tool it states something to the effect of "This tune is locked. Please enter the unlock code to download." and it awaits a 4 digit code.

However, you can erase the ECU entirely. Think of it as an encrypted flash drive... you can't get the data off or change it, but you can format it.

And then once it's formatted you can upload a new binary. Bob at MEFIBurn has most of the factory tunes unlocked. I asked him for the 8.1 Gi and Gxi tunes, which he sent me. So I erased my ECU and then uploaded the Gxi tune. I haven't started my engine yet to know if it is working, to be fair.

Once the software and drivers are setup, you plugin the cable to the scan port (on the 2004 it is on a plug located under the starboard fuse block mounted to the riser). Then you turn the ignition on and you can interact with the ECU. You can use MEFIScan to read the status of the ECU and its fields or go to MEFIBurn to flash the ECU. Once you have the tune on your PC, you can tweak it using the free software "TunerPro".

MEFIScan is $200 which lets you scan the ECU but not flash it. MEFIBurn is an additional $400. I had already bought MEFIScan when we got the boat, so I just upgraded to MEFIBurn.

Hope this helps.

Great info pal!

Curious on gxi tune.. was it just for rev limiter? ( yes I'm looking for a couple more)

I sent a merc ecu to whipple (496HO) years ago to help on idle richness as they would leave a ton of soot on the transom.

Have you done a map overlay in the two tunes? And or what was your goal..

Geeze now I'm gonna want new cams.. when does it end??

[Driller]

Geeze now I'm gonna want new cams.. when does it end??

I'm pretty sure it doesn't. At least not in the short term. Then you purchase another boat and it starts all over again.

[Big Block Power]

Can you get any shots of what you ported on the throttle body. I wonder how much it helps with the factory tune or does it let too much air in with the factory tune to control it?
That would be a easy thing to do for 20hp. Not sure it's That much though. Are the injectors the same between the gi and gxi? I haven't looked in awhile.