2015 R5 loss of power. Engine light and triangular light on

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Stbeaty15
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2015 R5 loss of power. Engine light and triangular light on

Post by Stbeaty15 »

First time Cobalt owner here. Purchase a used 2015 R5 it's the Volvo Penta 430 from a dealership. Everything ran fine on the test drive. Brought it home and had it serviced (change fluids, standard look over ) Boat has been sitting for a couple months waiting on good weather. Left on our trip today and Put it in the water. Ran fine for about 5 minutes at around 25-40 MPH. Then got a warning buzzer and a loss of power. Engine light came on, and the triangular light with the exclamation point came on. Volvo engine gauge says to check the engine and consult the operators manual. I can run it in limp mode, but the moment I try to give power, it runs for 30 seconds and then repeats with loss of power. Coolant was running 156-160 degrees, oil pressure was 1/2 to 3/4 on the gauge. Checked the oil and it is within range. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Supposed to use this all week!!
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Re: 2015 R5 loss of power. Engine light and triangular light on

Post by FirstStar »

Check fuel filter for water?
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Re: 2015 R5 loss of power. Engine light and triangular light on

Post by AsLan7 »

.
Hey St15. So glad you found us.

Similar to a vehicle, todays marine engines use a code reader to help troubleshoot. Do you have a VP tech near you?
Could be several different issues from fuel to sensors to low voltage etc. Code will help narrow the search.
Any pics?

And welcome aboard mate.

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Re: 2015 R5 loss of power. Engine light and triangular light on

Post by stifflkd »

Guessing you have an EVC model with the 2.5" display? When you get the fault double click the OK button and the fault info should appear like this.
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Re: 2015 R5 loss of power. Engine light and triangular light on

Post by Stbeaty15 »

Thanks for the info!! I was able to find someone to hook up their laptop and run the code scanner. Cylinder 2 was misfiring causing the two warnings. Pulled the spark plug wire and it was getting spark so we loaded the boat on the trailer and took it to his shop. I had him go ahead and replace all the spark plugs since we were replacing cylinder number two plug anyway. That seemed to be the issue; 1 bad spark plug!! But at least it was something simple!!
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Re: 2015 R5 loss of power. Engine light and triangular light on

Post by AsLan7 »

.
Nice Stbeaty15. Thanks for the follow up.
2002 Cobalt 262
&
2005 Cobalt 263
496 MagHO
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Erie, PA
Currently boatless (for now)
will fly for food

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Re: 2015 R5 loss of power. Engine light and triangular light on

Post by LakeLife77 »

I had that exact same thing happen on my new to me 2014 R5 with the VP 380. First time out, ran great and then heading back home got the check engine light and limp mode home. 199 hours on it. Changed out the plugs and it runs like a top again.
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Re: 2015 R5 loss of power. Engine light and triangular light on

Post by NautiWeasel »

Sometimes, issues are the simple things, and we can replace easily, and be on our way. Odd that the more technology we get on our boats, the more we forget that the bones of the original engines are still there. Back 2 decades ago, one would have checked fuel level / fuel filter first, then probably pulled the plugs and swapped them out (when they were $2-$5 a piece). Now we depend on the computers to tell us what's wrong.

I'm glad it was something easily fixed on your boat. I have to remind myself not to overlook the simple fix as well when I'm having issues with modern vehicles/engines.
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