C70 T5, little question, big problem (maybe)

[red_hot_volvo]

Hello everyone, ahead of schedule I've bought a C70 2.3 T5, 2000 W reg in Signal Red, it is truly a beautiful car and jeez-oh is it fast! Delighted with it in every respect except one, yip, I've got my first problem! The car drives lovely, it's responsive, smooth and fast, it drove all the way from Wales where I bought it to Glasgow where I live without a single problem and was absolutely awestruck with my new car, then I did a mini service on it, which I've done 100's of times on other cars, firstly I changed the plugs, the old ones were shot, the centre electrodes were just humps on metal and you could've driven a Dennis Bus through the gap, the plugs came out and went in no problem, I discovered at the same time that the plastic conduit that protects the coil wiring had turned to dust and replaced that too, and I changed the V-belt as well because it was all cracked and wouldn't have lasted much longer. The two are probably not connected but this is where my problem started, after the plug change, I ran the car into Glasgow city centre which from my house is 7 miles of traffic light stop start driving. I stopped at a set of lights in the centre and pulled away to see in my nearside mirror a small cloud of blue smoke from the exhaust which cleared instantly, I stopped at the next set of lights and pulled away, no smoke. I was there to pick someone up, so I waited for them for about 5 mins with the engine idling, pulled away again, and another small cloud of blue smoke! OK so now I'm thinking what the bloody hell's going on because it didn't do that before or when I bought it, and the oil had been changed just 4000 miles previously by the previous owner, not to mention that the car has only done 75000 miles totally documented with full Volvo service history, oil changes appear to have happened on the button, so I don't understand why it should be doing this, it's not high mileage! So I've started to try to diagnose what's going on and I've done the following, changed the oil to 10W40 semi synthetic and changed the oil filter, checked the plugs again, nothing wrong, plugs are still like new, changed the fresh air pipe with PTC valve with a brand new one. Theres no smoke from either the dipstick pipe or filler cap and while the intake pipe was off I looked at the charge/intake side of the turbo which looks to be oil free and I gave it a feel and theres no play in the turbine shaft, the charge pipes both before and after the intercooler are clean and not splattered with oil. The smoke only happens when the engine is hot and when in traffic, there's no smoke at startup, acceleration or decelaration (I had someone follow me), so that leads me to my question, do you think that this could still be a PCV issue, vis a vis the Oil Separator tank? I don't think it's the turbo, it's definately not worn rings, the car wouldn't pull as well as it does if it was that because I'd be losing compression, don't think it's stem seals, I've had cars in the past with knackered stem seals and they tend to put out big clouds of blue smoke at startup when cold and mine definately does not do this. I'm both worried and puzzled, I've never came across anything like this before, so any input would be helpful.

Just another detail I forgot about, it's an ME7 car, and when stationary and if you rev it, it won't rev up beyond 4000 RPM, it seems to hit a limiter, not sure if that's normal?

[PaulZX]

the smoke issue sound similar to my zeds issue, which is pcvs...

as for the revs... is it a manual? if so that's a bit strange, but I've had an auto that did that before, funnily enough a Volvo, but this was a 480 turbo.....

[red_hot_volvo]

That would be a massive relief if it was just a PCV issue, yes the car is a manual which is why I find it a bit odd as well, I just thought it was a Volvo quirk, so that you cant dump the clutch at max revs or to protect the turbo or something.

[red_hot_volvo]

So if I change the oil trap bottle, I realise that the inlet manifold has to come off, or it's preferable that it does, but I read that with the ME7 cars with the fly by wire throttle that theres extra complications with that?

[bornagain]

My bros 20v turbo fiat done exactly what your car does and it was the turbo, even though performance wasn't affected. Bought a turbo and the problem went away.

[BruceT]

My old C70 T5 (ME7)

It would only rev to 4000rpm while idle and when it hit 4000rpm it sounded rough - Not a problem mate.

As for the smoke, could PCV or turbo seals. But low milage.

Maybe it just needs a good run?

[mexybhouy]

Maybe try an oil & genuine filter change and give it a good run! i've had this before although it was'nt a volvo. sounds like maybe turbo problem as you would expect smoke from start up or taking away if the stem seals were gone! first is cheaper option and if turbo realated at least it has fresh oil/filter before you try turbo route! think i have a spare turbo off a 1995 t5 if it's the same? if you want to try that? i'm not far from you.

[Wombatbomb]

The ME7 is limited to 4,000 rpm on both manual and auto when in neutral.

[Wobbly Dave]

Not on mine it ain't!

[lance]

Neither is mine but my S80T6 had that feature but it wasnt chipped maybe remaps remove this feature not that I feel the need to sit above 4k rpm in neutral

[ncarnall]

Mine revs to redline?

[Wobbly Dave]

That's a lovely looking motor!

[ncarnall]

Well thankyou Wobbly Dave

[Wobbly Dave]

though I fear having it as a signature that big will become slightly tiresome.

[st1t5]

My C70 T5 (me7) after coasting down a long hill will sometimes put out a very noticable puff of blue smoke once i start accelarating again at the bottom of the hill, the puff is only quick but noticable, also if i drive the car hard it will use oil, but not use a drop if drivin normal, and if flooring it hard to the high revs it will leave a thin but noticable trail of blue smoke from behind, the car has done this since i bought it with 62k on the clock (FVSH) and it still does it now with 107k on the clock, she uses 10/40 oil and gets changed every 3K and only wears genuine filters / parts etc.
The PCV system was checked last week on its annual service by Volvomax (who did a shocking service i have to say !!, Volvo next time) .... and the system was clean so its not the PCV system thats causing it.
I can only assume the turbo seals are not 100% ... the car does not have to be high milage to have a goosed turbo, it all depends on how the previous owner looked after it, did they let the turbo warm up before driving hard ??? ...... did they let it cool down before switching off after a hard run ??? .... did they let it run low on oil for prolong periods of time ??? .... did they use good quality of oil ??? .... all that things will vastly reduce a turbo's lifespan !!
I personally aint complaing with mine, it has done 107K and is still in great condition so if the turbo goes then it goes, i think 107K is pretty good for a turbo anyways.

Red hot volvo, ..... if you floor the car really hard on a run, especially 1st gear are you getting a trail of smoke ? ..

[red_hot_volvo]

Im not getting smoke at anything other than idle, I've tried booting it in first when the engine is hot, it's clean! It only does it at idle. If the weather is with me this week (ha!) I'm going to change the Separator bottle under the inlet manifold, I bought the bits from PFV and they're waiting to be fitted, if this doesn't work then I guess I need to start looking at the turbo again. What's still puzzling me is why it should suddenly start doing this after changing the spark plugs? With my car being an ME7, I believe the removal of the inlet manifold is a little more complicated than cars that have the cable throttle body (mines fly by wire), I've never worked on one of these cars before, so I'm not sure what small variables may crop up?

[Wobbly Dave]

the only other thing I could think of would be worn valve stem seals.

[c70mel]

The 4k limit will be down to the software update to 'so call' protect the ETM. Mine would rev past 4k in neutral and then after the update from Volo it wont go past 4k :D

[maceastern]

hi look at my last post i hada problem with smoke i disconected the battery then waited 10 minutes connected it again and my problem vanished give it a try you never no