Using motive ELD in my Volvo vnr640 D13 engine. Worked fine for a few months, out of nowhere my truck starts tossing up codes. The codes go active momentarily then inactive (like there’s a short in my electrical somewhere.) Took the truck to Volvo, they diagnosed my problem and told me it was my ELD malfunctioning. I left it unplugged, ran paper logs instead. Truck worked fine. Purchased a new motive, plugged it in to my truck, and my electrical issues came right back. 2 different motive units, same problem. Anyone else experience this?
Anyone else have issues with motive ELD and the electronics?
Discussion in 'ELD Forum | Questions, Answers and Reviews' started by Ragbonetransport, Sep 16, 2025.
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I had problems in my volvos with motive. It never worked properly at all with the cord that it came with (that piggyback off the obd port) Where is your gateway tied in? Obd port or up top in the dash fuse box somewhere? Theres a data link wire in behind there that worked much better as a tie in spot... maybe a different cable would take care of this
Ragbonetransport Thanks this. -
Mine ties into the datalink (green and yellow wire) up top at the fuse box. Terminating resistor is good. One of the momentary messages that pops up on the dash is that the j1939 datalink is shorted. But when I shut the truck off and use an ohmmeter, everything checks out. No shorts and 60 ohms on pins 3 and 11 at the port. There’s only 2 terminating resistors, one is at the fuse box the other is inside the ECM.
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UPDATE! The ghost in the machine has been discovered! ( i.e the electrical short ).
It was never in the ELD. The ELD was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Turned out to be the VADA ECU ( the radar mounted in the front bumper, A.K.A the wingman!). Since the vada ECU is the component that controls your adaptive cruise control, it has control over all components of your truck (i.e throttle intake, turbo, transmission… etc.) As the vada begins to deteriorate on its way to completely malfunctioning, it begins to toss up momentary false codes about all the other components in the truck. This is why the codes will be active until you shut the truck off and then go inactive when you turn the truck back on. ( disappearing all together). The vada will have you thinking that it’s every other components fault for its own failure that it’s experiencing. Mine ultimately failed and derated me to 5mph in the middle of the road. I had to feather the throttle just to get it over to the side. So that was it! It was also a $4500.00 fix for the new unit, plus labor and diagnostic cost. $7100.00 total. And before you say it!, it is against the law to remove or tamper with these units in any way in model trucks 2019 or newer. ( Think of the recent accident in CA where the illegal plowed into stopped traffic killing 3 people). Good Day!
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