Volvo S40 - 1.6 Diesel - No Power

Savrino

Hey everyone, I bought two weeks ago Volvo s40, 2007 1.6 Diesel. It has only 64k miles, service done regularly, passed NCT, everything seems perfect. After two weeks, first problem appeared, the engine absolutely lost power, RPM goes max to 3k, no boost at all, driving like a tractor. The engine goes to into limp mode, but nothing pop-up on dashboard, even after plunging it in to computer (Volvo one) there is no sign of any errors.

I went to one mechanic, first thing he was checking was turbo, but he check it and was fine, he couldn't find anything else. I went to second mechanic, first thing he checked was turbo, but no it was fine again, he thought it might be DPF, he fixed it, the car was driving properly for 2 days, after that same problem appeared again. I went back to the mechanic, and then he replaced turbo boost regulator, but didn't help at all. Please I am going absolutely crazy with this car, spend a good bit on buying and fixing and still can't drive it at all. Any advice ?

biko

Not a DIY issue, moved to main forum.

barneygumble99

I had same problem with a 07 focus 1.6 hdi engine. Turned out to be the heater plugs. Same symptoms as yourself. No malfunction light on dash either.

Mycroft H

Was it definitely dealer level diagnostic kit? I know that engine (it's actaully a Puegeot/Citroen one) will only talk properly to a dealer lexia diagnostic box (and it's presumed volvo equiv.). Anything generic won't reveal all the issues.

bazz26

With such low mileage I would suspect at a guess that the DPF maybe blocked and the forced DPF regeneration hasn't cleared it. I had a similar issue on my old S40 and the DPF ended up having to be replaced. Could be a number of things though that puts the car into limp home mode. You would need to have it hooked up to a diagnostic computer to check for fault codes, while they are not displayed on the dash something must be registering with the car's ECU to put it into limp home mode.

Savrino

#bazz26 the problem is, it was plugged to volvo diagnostic computer and nothing showed up. The DPF's were taken out already, car was going fine for two days, and then same propblem showed up, stuck on limp mode

Savrino

I will change fuel filter tomorrow, i researched that, but not sure if gonna help, if no i might look into the heater plugs that that someone else posted before, dont know what else it could be

Mycroft H

Savrino wrote: »

I will change fuel filter tomorrow, i researched that, but not sure if gonna help, if no i might look into the heater plugs that that someone else posted before, dont know what else it could be

Was the ECU reprogrammed when the DPF was removed?

kirving

Was it a Volvo main dealer, or a mechanic with Volvo compatible software? I don't know much about it, but I do know that the ECU gives little information to generic code scanners

mullingar

Sounds link a limp mode alright.

A decent diagnostic reader will be able to pull the DPF differential pressure to see if its still blocked, a regeneration might help, but no guarantees

But my money is on the glow plugs. for some odd reason its only when all 4 glowplugs are dead that you will get a problem, if only 1 is working then its fine.

If you have a multimeter, its very handy to check if they are blown or not. These are all located at the back of the engine behind the high pressure fuel pipes and have a push on connector. They should all read approx 1ohm.

Poulgorm

That engine in the S40 is a nightmare. Had one myself - bought new in 07. Had to get rid of it in the end - after 4 years. God help the person who bought it.

mickdw

Head a nightmare with one too. Car had full history and about 100 k miles and it never went right.
Dpf was removed but that only made things worse. It went smokey as hell too.
Seems the volvo is not as easy to do the dpf delete on as the focus from the software side.
We got refund on the car in the end.

Savrino

This car is wrecking my head, got the DPF removed, EGR fixed, Boost regulator replaced, still nothing. I am running from mechanic to mechanic, my fecken fiat 2003 year was better. The DPF was removed physically and from the system, once it was removed, when you plug in computer to do a check, it doesn't show any error, even if i unplug something that should show up, it doesn't. Lovely

I still have to change that fuel filter and see what happens. I think if that won't help i will try the glow plugs, but mechanic was saying that it's not needed to replace them.

Anyone want to buy volvo s40 ? I have lovely one working perfectly (at least that's what the seller said to me)

Savrino

Poulgorm wrote: »

That engine in the S40 is a nightmare. Had one myself - bought new in 07. Had to get rid of it in the end - after 4 years. God help the person who bought it.

After 4 years ? I think i will have to get rid of my one after 3 weeks hahaha

Lord Trollington

EGR valve??

mullingar

Savrino wrote: »

Anyone want to buy volvo s40 ? I have lovely one working perfectly (at least that's what the seller said to me)

Offer €1k cash collected

Savrino

Lord Trollington wrote: »

EGR valve??

yes

Ciano35

Got a very similar problem in my 03 focus 1.8 tdci... Always going into limp mode and never gives me any codes.

Replaced the 4 glow plugs, maf sensor, map sensor, turbo actuator solenoid, intercooler hoses, blanked the egr, stripped the turbo to clean out the variable vanes, cleaned the intake manifold, engine doesn't have a dpf and I still haven't a fcuking clue.

Gonna do an injector leak off test soon to see if that shows anything.

MarkR

Poulgorm wrote: »

That engine in the S40 is a nightmare. Had one myself - bought new in 07. Had to get rid of it in the end - after 4 years. God help the person who bought it.

Sold it to OP?

Special Circumstances

Ciano35 wrote: »

Got a very similar problem in my 03 focus 1.8 tdci... Always going into limp mode and never gives me any codes.

Replaced the 4 glow plugs, maf sensor, map sensor, turbo actuator solenoid, intercooler hoses, blanked the egr, stripped the turbo to clean out the variable vanes, cleaned the intake manifold, engine doesn't have a dpf and I still haven't a fcuking clue.

Gonna do an injector leak off test soon to see if that shows anything.

As mentioned by others in this thread - "no codes" in one garage doesn't mean there are no codes.
I'm chasing an intermittent fault on a petrol NA car that could have many causes - 3 out of 4 "specialists" could not pull ANY code from it.
Best of luck, if you can do some stuff yourself then you have some hope, very frustrating.

Savrino

Fuel Filter changed, Air filter Changed. The Air fliter looks like it was never changed before. There is huge amount of dirt in the turbo pipes, and once i turn on the engine i quickly push the accelerator the car goes to full RPM's, but once i let it go it blocks it again. Look's like the electric is ****ed. I got good few error's on different computer machine, will see where that gonna lead me to. Seems like good few connector are not working properly. I have to clean everything inside out.

Ciano35

Special Circumstances wrote: »

As mentioned by others in this thread - "no codes" in one garage doesn't mean there are no codes.
I'm chasing an intermittent fault on a petrol NA car that could have many causes - 3 out of 4 "specialists" could not pull ANY code from it.
Best of luck, if you can do some stuff yourself then you have some hope, very frustrating.

Thanks, I read the codes myself on a snap-on solus ultra that cost something like a couple grand, but I'll take it to a ford garage though and see what their reader says

Poulgorm

MarkR wrote: »

Sold it to OP?

Haha. My conscience is clear. Traded it in to a main dealer. Bought a different brand. And made sure it was petrol.

My theory is that a lot of the mental health issues in this country are caused by second hand diesels.

George Dalton

Savrino wrote: »

once i turn on the engine i quickly push the accelerator the car goes to full RPM's, but once i let it go it blocks it again

This sounds very like a known issue with those S40s. The cause is a faulty ECU.

kirving

George, could the ECU issue you mentioned also cause what appears to me to be a very occasional sticky throttle?

Turn on the car, press the throttle 20% or so - nothing. 50% - nothing. 100% - full revs.

I also possibly have an issue with the idle control valve not reacting to dipping the clutch and keeping revs up. The car just dies sometimes. Related to ECU do you think? Mine is a 1.8 petrol. No other issues.

George Dalton

The petrol models don't have the same ECU issues as the 1.6D. We have seen a couple of faulty accelerator pedals though.

Ten Pin

Check the vacuum hoses for leaks / wear. Can cause poor / no boost on VW TDI's. May not be relevant on Volvo but might be worth a look.

Ten Pin

Check the vacuum hoses for leaks / wear. Can cause poor / no boost on VW TDI's. May not be relevant on Volvo but might be worth a look.

kirving

Thanks for that George!

bazz26

I had one of these cars for about 2 years and I spent a fair bit of money on fixing this and that on it including replacing a blocked DPF. Other than that they were a very nice car. Strangely never had similar issues with the Focus I had with the same engine.

Savrino

What it came to is, the owner before me, was too handicap and he put too much oil, not saying that "service" for him was changing only oil, but he still failed it. It caused the car to throw out the oil and make the whole inside of turbo extremely dirty, he was around 60-70yrs he was driving the diesel really slow, casual. When I went into the car i drove it for few days and i usually drive bit agressive, which caused to all dirt go inside of my turbo and feck the whole thing up. Most of the sensors are stuck with dirt, and everything has to be cleaned out "7M5112B579BB Mass Air Flow Sensor" need to be replaced that's the only error that's left. I already ordered it. The price for the part + fixes is bit crazy but that should fix it, as I said I got rid of all the other error's (there was 7 of them) and now there is only the mass air flow sensor to do, once i restar the error the RPM are fine, but it turn on back again in a second with same error. Fixing that should end my nightmare, I will tell you guys if that helped once i get the item and get it replaced.

Savrino

The DPF were not needed to be taken out, the car has only 64k miles, and usually you have to replace them around 150-200k + Now the best thing would be to put them back and they are reeeeaaaaallly expensive. The NCT might not pass because they are gone. Thanks god I have the NCT in 2018.

bazz26

That's not totally correct though. If the car was used for mostly short journeys then the DPF regeneration process hasn't enough time to complete it's cycle which can result in the DPF getting blocked eventually. Might not be the cause of your problem but it can happen with diesel cars not driven properly.

Savrino

bazz26 wrote: »

I had one of these cars for about 2 years and I spent a fair bit of money on fixing this and that on it including replacing a blocked DPF. Other than that they were a very nice car. Strangely never had similar issues with the Focus I had with the same engine.

I will have it only in plans to put in the DPF back, do you have any idea if they look at it on NCT? Still got a good bit for it, but just want to be sure

bazz26

No idea, I've never put a car through the NCT with a removed DPF.

Meeoow

I dont think NCT check DPF.
I have heard that MOT up north check it.

mullingar

No, the NCT does not check for dpf presence or operation.

Savrino

I think i might leave the car on some cliffs so the storm that are now in Ireland will take it. I have no more words for this car, the Mass Air Flow Sensor was replaced, whole turbo was cleaned about, all error were fixed and the car is still blocked on 3k RPM...
My mechanic was saying that now there is no errors at all, everything seems fine but it still doesnt work lol... He said something about fixing ICO but I have no clue what that is ? I give up

Tigger

Poulgorm wrote: »

That engine in the S40 is a nightmare. Had one myself - bought new in 07. Had to get rid of it in the end - after 4 years. God help the person who bought it.

Was it the op I wonder

Tigger

Poulgorm wrote: »

Haha. My conscience is clear. Traded it in to a main dealer. Bought a different brand. And made sure it was petrol.

My theory is that a lot of the mental health issues in this country are caused by second hand diesels.

I do a 150km a day commute south Sligo to Mayo
I get great value buying cheap clogged up diesels cleaning them out and then doing 100 each way 5 days a week
That's what they are for
Town drives are for petrol

Ciano35

Savrino wrote: »

I think i might leave the car on some cliffs so the storm that are now in Ireland will take it. I have no more words for this car, the Mass Air Flow Sensor was replaced, whole turbo was cleaned about, all error were fixed and the car is still blocked on 3k RPM...
My mechanic was saying that now there is no errors at all, everything seems fine but it still doesnt work lol... He said something about fixing ICO but I have no clue what that is ? I give up

Jesus that sounds really like my problem... If you ever find the fix please update this thread!

Savrino

- EGR Fixed
- DPF Removed from the car and from system
- Turbo Boost Regulator replaced
- Fuel Filter replaced
- Air Filter replaced
- Oil Filter replaced
- Turbo cleaned inside out
- Mass Air Sensor replaced
- All Errors fixed - No Error (checked in loads of different volvo's computers including dealer)

What else could it be, I was so happy I will get my car fixed today as I bought it month ago and drove it few days only lol, but nope.

mullingar

Check glow-plugs for continuity!

cerastes

Ten Pin wrote: »

Check the vacuum hoses for leaks / wear. Can cause poor / no boost on VW TDI's. May not be relevant on Volvo but might be worth a look.

This what I was going to suggest, not sure if its applicable, ie how is the turbo actuated in the volvo? if by vacuum like mine, then maybe thats the problem, do others have other actuation type? electrical? if so hardly sounds as simple as vacuum though.

I see the ECU was mentioned as being a likely fault? has that been looked into? whats a fix there? can it be reset? or is it a matter of replacing it?

Im not sure why the glow plugs keep coming up as being mentioned as an issue? do glow plugs operate continually? I thought it was just at starting up?

gibbon75

cerastes wrote: »

Im not sure why the glow plugs keep coming up as being mentioned as an issue? do glow plugs operate continually? I thought it was just at starting up?

In modern diesel engines the glow plugs would cycle every 3 - 5 mins after start up to reduce emissions, soot buildup etc.