Horrible vibrations...

Morning all,

I've been given my dad's 99 v70 T5 for a few days to change over his headlights as the old ones were so dull Im amazed he saw anything at all in the dark! I couldn't help but notice a few faults with the car!

First and foremost - anything above 50mph and the car seems to want to shake itself into destruction! It's an odd shake/rumble/vibration that seems to oscillate from the front to the back of the car, over and over, really weird! My dad is sure he's had the wheels balanced, tyres are fairly new and the wheels still seem to be round and not egg shaped! :) What would be the next culprit to tick off the list? Drive shaft? Wheel bearing? Any particular bushes? When jacked up, nothing looks obviously worn or out of place.

Secondly - this could be me, but the car feels down on power. She's standard apart from a cat back stainless exhaust and pipercross panel filter. When driving, she revs fine and does pull - but not as strong as I'd think she should. You dont get that "pushed back into the seat feeling" when flooring it, no feel of the turbo kicking in. She behaves more like a N/A. Car is regularly serviced and nothing seems obviously wrong. Like i said, it could be just me being used to driving my mapped D5 where the power surges all in one go! :D

I understand this is a complete new thread starter and has been done a million times - but what bolt on bits could make it go faster? And crucially, in what order to do it? I.E - exhaust and intake, then injectors and bigger turbo (16T currently fitted as standard iirc?), then a remap to utilize the mods done?

She has done 172k miles, so I expect some horsies have escaped, but not that much I hope!

First of all, i'd get the wheels balanced again. Your dad may be sure he's had them done but, as it's a very cheap job, you may as well have them done again.
Then get the wheels aligned, preferably somewhere that uses a laser type system. Again this is another very cheap job and can usually be done at the same place.
Even if that doesn't fix it, they may find the problem while doing the work.

I doubt it would be a drive shaft. I've had mine done and, although they made a racket sometimes, you couldn't really feel anything.
If more than one wheel bearing is going, and they are in a bad way, they could possibly be the cause. After that you're looking at the suspension components.

On the power side, first of all you need to see if it's making standard power or if there is an issue.
Getting it on a dyno would be a help, not only would it give you the bhp and torque but they can tell you what the AFR is, have a graph showing flat spots etc, and some even show how much boost it's running.
Saying that, a cheap and simple way would be to time it 60-100mph. If it's running fine i'd imagine it to take around 9-10 seconds.

Many things can effect the power, weak actuator, boost leak, old worn out intercooler, dodgy spark plugs, etc.

I had a very odd rumble on my current TDi when I got it, didn't discover for months that the lower driver's side engine mount had no rubber left at all. Might be worth a look.

Sorry for the late reply guys!

To be honest I havent driven the car since I first posted about it last month. I'd like to get it sorted as hopefully i'll be taking the car off his hands when he finds a replacement!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dionbullock

Morning all,

I've been given my dad's 99 v70 T5 for a few days to change over his headlights as the old ones were so dull Im amazed he saw anything at all in the dark! I couldn't help but notice a few faults with the car!

First and foremost - anything above 50mph and the car seems to want to shake itself into destruction! It's an odd shake/rumble/vibration that seems to oscillate from the front to the back of the car, over and over, really weird! My dad is sure he's had the wheels balanced, tyres are fairly new and the wheels still seem to be round and not egg shaped! :) What would be the next culprit to tick off the list? Drive shaft? Wheel bearing? Any particular bushes? When jacked up, nothing looks obviously worn or out of place.

Secondly - this could be me, but the car feels down on power. She's standard apart from a cat back stainless exhaust and pipercross panel filter. When driving, she revs fine and does pull - but not as strong as I'd think she should. You dont get that "pushed back into the seat feeling" when flooring it, no feel of the turbo kicking in. She behaves more like a N/A. Car is regularly serviced and nothing seems obviously wrong. Like i said, it could be just me being used to driving my mapped D5 where the power surges all in one go! :D

I understand this is a complete new thread starter and has been done a million times - but what bolt on bits could make it go faster? And crucially, in what order to do it? I.E - exhaust and intake, then injectors and bigger turbo (16T currently fitted as standard iirc?), then a remap to utilize the mods done?

She has done 172k miles, so I expect some horses have escaped, but not that much I hope!

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P1 T5's eat driveshafts and CV's.....nuff said.

Check the wheels bearings too as both of these will cause vibration/noise.

Regards the power loss.....stock 17 year old T5 with 172k....don't expect much!
Every single non serviceable item on that car will be well past it's best.

The cheapest, easiest and most common problem that afflicts that model (as long as the EML is not on) is the TCV.
Replace it and you should notice an enormous difference. Only £60 from Volvo dealer too.

Other than that, your gonna be up to your eyeballs and wading in too deep and you most certainly will expose other problems if you waste money now, fitting an exhaust, filter etc.

You need to do a 'Stage 0' tune first and I'd doubly check that the timing belt interval is well within spec. If in doubt, change it!
PCV will also need attention.
If all is good at this stage then I'd check the end float on the Turbo and Actuator operation. The diaphragms perish and become weak especially on high milers.
Definitely, definitely inspect the Intercooler for signs of a leak. Have it smoke leak tested as there's bound to be a leak or two somewhere. You'll be surprised how much a tiny leak can affect boost! (God knows I should know).

If your Turbo is sound then you'll be ok to start modding, although, I'd always have in mind the age and mileage of the car.

Don't forget a 'stage 0' also includes replacing brake pads and discs if the run out is out of spec.

Before you do start modding, I'd consider replacing MOST of the suspension bushes, either with stock or poly. They make an enormous difference to handling and will have the added ability of enhancing any mods you do that increase power! So a win win!!

After all, it's no good increasing power if the car handles like a boat!