TVM fault Axius

[Rob WIcha]

2009 330 DA 496 Axius. I got “TVM fault non critical” the other day, everything still worked fine. I shut everything down and restarted and it came back within a few minutes. When getting back to dock I have to go to end of canal and spin around, so lots of steering back and forth. When I would get steering all the way left or right I would get a constant alarm and fault on VV but as soon as I would move steering back towards center alarm and fault would go away. Then I noticed I actually had no steering (oh boy here we go!) shut everything down, switched batteries off, restarted, all good! Got back to dock no problem.

So I’ve also been chasing a steering fluid leak on starboard steering actuator. In the pic below the right hose seems to be the culprit, I’ve pulled it off and replaced a o ring where the hose attaches to a coupler the screws into the actuator. This is a o ring that’s on the horizontal surface of that coupler (didn’t help still leaks). The coupler is threaded on both sides, 1 side the hose screws onto which also had a o ring and other side screws into actuator which didn’t have a o ring, after pulling the coupler off a few times notice that in the actuator there is a screen and a old o ring was laying in there. So apparently the coupler needs a o ring on bottom side as well, put a new one on and thought maybe I solved the problem. Nope still leaks. So next step is maybe get a new coupler with all o rings and a new hose.

I believe the ccm tvm fault may have been from this steering fluid leak, fluid reservoir was low but still plenty of fluid. I had this leak ever since I had the boat out maybe 4 times never had a alarm or fault till last time out.

 

[Rob WIcha]

So I went out yesterday and let everything heat up nice and good turned skyhook on stuck my face down behind engine and actually saw the leak! it’s the hose! Every time the boat would try to keep position a small drip of steering fluid would drip down the hose itself. Ordered a new hose and I’m praying that’s fixes it.

 

[Rob WIcha]

Steering leak fixed! New hose did it. I did have a tech come out for my TVM fault for port engine. He said the steering fluid leak had nothing to do with it. I told him it seems to only get the fault when coming back to dock and spinning around, He scanned engine and talked with Mercruiser. They came up with maybe its the port shift actuator not communicating properly with TVM. When I got this boat had to do lots of work to it, new out drives, motor mounts, tons of stuff (while motors are out kinda stuff) and new shift cables. So possibly with the new shift cables something might be slightly off. We ended up swapping shift actuators form engine to engine to see if fault follows it. Last time out NO FAULT but I did have my auto heading give me a bunch of beeps and not engage.

 

[Rob WIcha]

Its been a bunch of months and TVM fault still happening! Had mechanic come back out to rescan. We found that the steering sensors were reading a high range. I was able to trigger fault while at dock by just moving steering all the way left then all the way right. So he's going to speaker with Mercruiser to see if they think this is the culprit. And now I have a steering fluid leak on port engine, I see a little fluid in bilge under port side and reservoir is low. I've tried with a mirror to follow steering lines but can not see a leak. I think there is a cooler inline somewhere but access to see down there is almost impossible. FML!

 

[JimT]

I have had a persistent Axius TVM Fault for the past year. At first it was periodic and would go away with a restart. It progressed to more frequent until it was constant and the restart would not cure. Three different Merc techs looked at it and couldn't correctly diagnose the problem. I recently had the local Marine Max Axius "expert" diagnose that the Axius joystick unit was the culprit. Should be replaced next week. Fingers crossed that this fixes the issue.

 

[Rob WIcha]

Axius TVM Fault fixed! We found that a steering sensor was at fault. The Axius uses hydraulic steering actuators for each outdrive. Each actuator has 2 steering sensors, 1 main and 1 secondary. we found the port main sensor was not reading correctly. Its a sensor with a long rod that goes into the end of the actuator. When we pulled it out the rod had a bit of corrosion on it. Put a new one in and calibrated steering. Been out 2 times so far and all is good.

 

[Falcon370]

Axius TVM Fault fixed! We found that a steering sensor was at fault. The Axius uses hydraulic steering actuators for each outdrive. Each actuator has 2 steering sensors, 1 main and 1 secondary. we found the port main sensor was not reading correctly. Its a sensor with a long rod that goes into the end of the actuator. When we pulled it out the rod had a bit of corrosion on it. Put a new one in and calibrated steering. Been out 2 times so far and all is good.

How were you able to test that the sensor is not reading correctly? I have a similar issue when I turn the steering wheel all the way to port, it will not stop and the CCM is throwing an error " Wheel End Stop Exceeded". steering to starboard is fine and the steering wheel stops.

I did have a leak on one of the hoses and we fixed it, do you need to bleed the system ?? how do you do that ?

 

[Rob WIcha]

Unfortunately you need a Mercury dealer with the software to decode any of these faults, and at that it’s not very clear. My tech had to Mercury involved and they decided a new steering sensor should fix the problem. My Axius system is Gen 1 and apparently it’s self bleeding.

 

[Falcon370]

Unfortunately you need a Mercury dealer with the software to decode any of these faults, and at that it’s not very clear. My tech had to Mercury involved and they decided a new steering sensor should fix the problem. My Axius system is Gen 1 and apparently it’s self bleeding. View attachment 103651

thank you, that helps.

What's in the last column on that faults page "related CCM", do you mind sharing the full page. I am starting to wonder if I need a new steering wheel motor. with that last column might have some relation to other codes that might help.

thanks

 

[Rob WIcha]

That last column say N/A

 

[Rob WIcha]

Here you go