Down on power?

[KPB]

Hi all

I'm looking for some advice on a problem I have with my car - S60 T5 2001, RICA 310.

Basically last week I set off on a journey and soon after had to give 3/4 throttle fairly before the car properly warmed up, but everything seemed fine in terms of acceleration.

Shortly afterwards when pulling away from a junction the car felt really down on power. Since then (1 week) its not improved.

I suspect the turbo is still spinning as there is a bit of power there and i've had no smoke issues. The car is perfectly driveable in all conditions but throttle response, boost and overall performance is really down. Pick up below 3k revs is very low.

So far I have:

1. traced all the hoses and found no obvious problems or splits
2. disconnected the MAF briefly but no improvement

Any other ideas? I'd like to avoid booking it into a dealer/independent but i'm running out of ideas.

Thanks

Kev.

[wegal]

If there is no miss fire then I would suspect blocked or obstructed turbo hose, they can collapse internally without much evidence on the outside.

Is the car in engine protection mode at all ?

If you have no smoke or oil leaking then its a strange one for sure. I would defo suspect a turbo hose.

[KPB]

Cheers Wegal.

Nope - no missfire, no smoke, no warning lights..although I did have the service indicator on for a while. I've made a mental note to do an oil change and reset it for the time being.

Anyone know anything about wastegates and actuators? they're all new to me!

[screwloose]

it does sound like Maf, will it stay in boost >?

mine used to drop out of boost when changing from say 2nd to 3rd,,,,like it had to build up again,,,and mine was the Maf,,

closely followed by the ETM, which made idle erratic especially at start, and lumpy accleration until 3k ,

Had the Etm done, car was then perfect low down and idle,
then did the Maf,,and she was transformed, totally different car,
i really can't believe what i had been missing, i must have had a fault on the maf on purchase, coz acceleration was a totally different ballgame

HTH
Nev

[screwloose]

you could do with someone closer to you to borrow a maf off to try

i managed to pick one up off ebay for a round £25



Just to add i also had tried previous running with maf disconnected, and didn't see a difference

Cheers
Nev

[KPB]

Cheers Nev. Interesting to hear that disconnecting the MAF made no little difference to your car. I'd discounted that component after trying it myself. As you say, it would be good if I could get hold of one nearby but Ive no options on that front. I've booked it into Dave Pengellys in Notts next Thurs as i'm really scratching my head with this one. i'd like to fix it myself before than coz I REALLY miss my boost ;-(

[screwloose]

no probs,,

it does sound very similar to what i had

[KPB]

Right then, i've ordered a MAF off eBay to use as a test. If it does fix the problem, then i'll invest in a Bosche one in a few weeks.

Still a bit unsure though, i'd expect lurching etc with the MAF rather than just virtually zero boost. I still think its a blocked hose I've not noticed! I'll keep you informed.

[screwloose]

not one of the new ones ? £65-ish as they are quite poor,

i got a genuine one off there from a breakers they tend to range from 25-50
mine was off a C70 T5

[KPB]

not one of the new ones ? £65-ish as they are quite poor,

i got a genuine one off there from a breakers they tend to range from 25-50
mine was off a C70 T5

Yep its one of the cheapy ones. I bought it on a bit of a whim to test whether its the maf that's faulty. I dont expect it to be a long term solution.

Things are getting worse with the car though. On Saturday I played with all the hoses to check for internal collapse and STUPIDLY managed to drop all the coolant on the fiancee's drive (whoops...but easily fixed). Took the old MAF off completely and went for a quick drive, now i've got the 'ENGINE SYSTEM SERVICE REQUIRED' and 'ABS SERVICE REQUIRED' error messages - presumably because its just built up so many error codes its now recommending I use someone who knows what they're doing!

Last night I decided to revert the car back to the standard map using my RICA PPC unit for the first time. It said the unit and the ECU didnt match, promptly locked the unit completely and told me to re-synchronise it with RICA to unlock it. Of course, that requires a username/password - which I was never given by the installing RICA agent.

Anyway. Tonight i'll be going over to the RICA agent to get the username/password sorted, then home to fit the new MAF. If it doesnt sort the low boost, then on Thurs its going into Dave Pengellys. I have noticed that the ETM still has a white sticker on it, so my latest pet theory might be expensive to resolve.

Bearing in mind in 4 months i've had the car, i've already a) been keyed, b) been scraped/dented 3 times, c) replaced front discs and pads (twice), d) replaced rear pads, discs and handbrake shoes, e) re-fitted 'd' to replace failed retaining springs, f) changed thermostat, g) blown about 7 bulbs h) broke down through the random self-activating immobilisor i) have clutch slip coming on j) have a locked £520 RICA unit, k) now a possible major bill to fix the turbo problem (plus need two tyres but hey ho)...i'm now wondering whether Volvo ownership is for me. This has been without doubt the least reliable motoring experience in my 20 years of driving...and i've owned 3 peugeots!

[cornclose]

That's bad luck mate - but bad luck I suspect is all that it is. It's pot luck with any car, maybe you just got unlucky.

It really sucks that you didn't get the username/password for your PPC - that's the whole point of the PPC in my opinion, to avoid trips back and forth to the installer when things like this arise.

My V70 (touch wood) has been absolutely fine in the year I've owned it, bar one or two niggles, but no mechanical or electrical failures in over 15,000 miles. So as I say, just luck of the draw. What mileage are you up to now ?

[Baj]

I concur that you have just grabbed an unlucky one.
I have had 3 volvos with very little issue with any of them other than some standard wear.
My dad, on the other hand, had a V70 2.5 D which gave him no end of issues including the aircon clutch exploding and a constant lack of power.
In the end he traded it in for a V50 2.0D which he says is so much faster than the V70.

[KPB]

Well, to be fair, i've probably been due a 'pup'. For someone who changes his car every year i've had very few unexpected problems with the last 10-15 i've owned - due to a combination of selective buying, good research and a dose of good luck (and shifting them on when they start to deteriotate).

Annoyingly the S60 has a massive service history with no alarm bells, so should be relatively reliable.

Perhaps the RICA thing can be sorted very quickly, and the boost problem something that can be resolved cheaply - and i'll be a happy bunny again for a while (clutch problem nonewithstanding). I'll just have to sort the suspension bushes and get the key marks repaired.

In the meantime I think i'll see what else is around just as a contingency plan in case the quote for the boost problem is expensive to fix.

[KPB]

What mileage are you up to now ?

101k, I bought the car at 96k so thats a lot of problems in not many miles!

[cornclose]

Have you cleaned the MAF ?

http://www.louv.tv/cars/m5/MAF/

[KPB]

Have you cleaned the MAF ?

http://www.louv.tv/cars/m5/MAF/

Thanks for the link. I've got a new MAF arriving today (hopefully) so i'll be able to identify whether the current one is the problem.

[cornclose]

Cleaned my MAF this evening - noticable improvement in pickup and throttle response.

[KPB]

Fitted the new MAF this evening - the car is much better. Throttle response at low revs in particular. Its still not back to normal tho, so its into DPA tomorrow for some expert help.

[cornclose]

Let us know what happens...

[KPB]

Well the car is back to rude health - worn suspension bush and ropey clutch excepted - and boy does she feel fast after two weeks driving through treacle!

Dave did a great job although admittedly the root cause is still unknown.

Basically he pulled the fault codes from the ECU and there were 6 outstanding - 2 software related and basically just logs of the RICA upgrade, 1 for the aircon, one I can't remember and two more pertinant ones - MAF and Boost controller.

Clearing the codes out basically restored the car to full health and he only charged me half an hours labour - £33.91. Result!

Since the fault codes aren't timestamped I dont really know whether the MAF was dodgy and failed a few weeks ago, or whether the code was due to fitting the new one yesterday (I should have disconnected the battery apparently).

The turbo one was either caused by the car going over permitted boost levels, or simply a register of the related-MAF code, or indeed another minor fault that cannot be traced for the time being. All hoses etc were perfectly fine.

Dave was gobsmacked that these codes has built up without the car going into full limp mode or giving me the 'emissions service required' message.

Subjectively, the car feels a bit quicker than before the recent issue so i'd bet all of 50p that is was a maf problem that snowballed, but given the patchy experience i've had with the car i'll withhold full judgement.

Needless to say the old girl has had a stay of execution for a while. Saying that, my house sale is going through and i'll have a dirty stack of cash to feed my car buying addiction...

Two big thank you's - one to Dave, who - as per reputation - is a thoroughly nice bloke. Secondly - to everyone who provided advice and expertise. cheers guys.