Performance Problems

busterjones · 07-11-2014 2:21pm #1

Hi All -

I've been having performance issues with my '05 Volvo XC90, symptoms being:

General lack of power/ sluggishness
Affects higher gears/ speeds more but still 'heavier' in city driving
Revs can drop slightly (by approx 100 - 200) when accelerating
Problem particularly on going up hills
coming back from Galway (to Dublin) last week regularly got "Engine Service Required" (amber) warning and car went in to limp mode
Some smoke when I accelerate hard (cannot say if white or black but its certainly not too dark)

What I've found out since then:

Had my indy mechanic look at it. Error reported faulty air flow meter which has been replaced (yesterday) and fuel cleaner added (just to be sure). No errors were reported once the new AFM was fitted, the car driven and reconnected to diagnostics.

I can feel some improvement but its still a not 100% and I can still see some smoke if I accelerate hard (might be less than before). Mechanic told me that it could be like that for a few days yet as excess fuel is worked out of the system but performance should improve over the next few days.

How long/ how much driving would you expect it to take to clear excess fuel and for normal performance to resume?

Anything I can do to work it out any quicker e.g. long drive?

Cheers,

BJ

Alanstrainor · 07-11-2014 5:41pm

Moved.

I presume this is a diesel?

busterjones · 07-11-2014 6:16pm

Yes - sorry, this is a diesel (2.4 D5)

georgefalls · 08-11-2014 12:51pm

Consider getting it Terracleaned. That'll clean out the whole of the fuel system.

Worked a treat on my car.

busterjones · 12-11-2014 11:37pm

Update...

Left car back to independent mechanic - he fitted another air flow meter and reset everything but still no improvement.

Left it in to main dealer today to get full diagnostics done, (terrifying) results are as follows:

Intercooler gone (650 fitted ex. vat)
Front engine pads gone (550 fitted ex. vat)
2 x front bearings gone (600 fitted ex. vat)
Rear Differential gone (1300 for recon, 2400 for new (both fitted ex. vat))

Still in shock to be honest.

On the intercooler and engine pads - how do prices look?

On the Rear Diff - he said that this was only starting to make noise and could last for a while but at same time may not - any advice please as love the car but cannot nearly afford these fixes!

Cheers.

Bpmull · 12-11-2014 11:39pm

All them prices look very high to me there all plus vat too so multiply by 1.23. Id say you need to go to a decent independant garage not main dealer.

3813 euro inc vat and that's with the recon diff :eek:

Edit maybe it's only 13.5 % vat in main dealers if there supplying and fitting parts
Still 2837.5 euro though. Get a second opinion either way .

Chimaera · 13-11-2014 12:10am

I'm struggling to figure out what engine 'pads' are. Brake pads maybe?

Intercooler is something you could get in a scrapyard: if there is an issue with it at all, it's likely to be holed, so you'll be losing some boost.

Has the rear diff ever been serviced? I'd try getting the oil in it changed before forking out on a new one.

Foxhole Norman · 13-11-2014 12:18am

Engine pads probably means mounts I'd say. 4k in repairs to an 05 XC90, write off? Id be getting independent quotes first though.

Special Circumstances · 13-11-2014 9:32am

Just my non expert opinion, but the intercooler is the only item there that would account for performance problems, (the rest would cause humming, clunking or screeching). If the thing still runs like crap after a second hand intercooler then there may be more mystery undiagnosed engine trouble..

As above, second opinion might be a good idea before you do more.

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime · 13-11-2014 9:43am

The rear diff would cause power issues too.... if theres no drive going to the rear and front at the same time then theres less power getting out at once.

Special Circumstances · 13-11-2014 9:53am

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

The rear diff would cause power issues too.... if theres no drive going to the rear and front at the same time then theres less power getting out at once.

Maybe. But in my bar stool opinion the diff would only account for noticeable performance problems if it was acting as a brake on the whole system, and I'd say it would be making horrendous noise at that stage! But I'm no expert.

Performance Problems

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