I haven't actually seen any evidence of a leak myself, although I'm not the best at spotting this kind of thing so I might be missing something obvious. The dealers themselves told me there's a leak but didn't go into a lot of detail, while quoting £850 to repair it!

I think I'm just going to try the quick fix and see how it goes. Hopefully that will sort it. Thanks for the responses guys.

I have just obtained a quote to replace the broken linkage and in total it comes to around £120 for the :

throttle assembly, gasket, arm link.

So I may give it a go and replace the complete assembly, does anybody have any experience of how hard this would be?

thanks

The small t-rap is still holding!

What about C30 D5 engine? Mine looks snapped.

http://i.imgur.com/TpcvU97m.jpg

How to replace that arm? Can it be replaced without tearing engine apart?

http://i.imgur.com/0e09MlFm.jpg?1

My take on the swirl arm failure
 

Nice design using a stopper, I would guess if conducted and calibrated properly that would be a robust fix, however I am perhaps to lazy to do this job properly.

I have adopted a slightly different, perhaps easier and less complex approach. Rather than an electrical engineer I am a metallurgist/mechanical engineer, just for the record.

My approach is based on the assumption that the variable swirl system in question is not measurably sensitive to one or two degrees of butterfly valve rotational variance. I am guessing it mostly uses completely closed, completely open and maybe three or four different positions in-between.To support my assumption without going into fluid-mechanics, I would argue that the original Volvo design is not a true servo system, and therefore is susceptible to a considerable amount of rotational drift itself, particularly in between calibration periods, therefore Volvo obviously decided that this system did not need to be accurate to 1-2degrees.

So I thought why not use a really ductile and tough piece of wire, to act a bit like a spring between the actuator and valves, I used a keyring that I uncoiled and looped round the ball on the actuator arm and hooked on to the valve actuation arm on the block side. This system means when the actuator is fully open the valves are fully open, and when the actuator is fully closed the valves are fully closed. However in between open and closed positions I would estimate there could be 1-2deg of rotational drift.

The fact the linkage is so flexible means that it is practically impossible for any components of the linkage to be excessively stressed and fracture.

I think the problem allot of people, including Volvo it would appear have run into, is that they assumed they needed to make a bigger stronger linkage, which then breaks because the excessively powerful actuator loads it up when it drifts and when it re calibrates. The true culprit of the failure however is the inaccuracy of the actuator, and to solve this you need a flexible linkage. The forces needed to actuate the butterfly valves are minute, so a small piece of wire is more than capable of transferring the required load.

My Keyring fix is working fine for solving the performance issues (Was very down on power), just need to get the error message removed at some point, I will report back if the message returns. Although I am highly doubtful it will as I am sure that the 1-2deg of variation will have no significant effect on the flow through the system, as the turbulence are so unpredictable anyway. There is no chance that an AMFS with a +/- 15% tol will be able to pick up a tiny variation in the swirl valve position.

So I assume there is a 'stop' within the motor so that it doesn't rotate to an excessive amount?
And the 'spring link' must be sufficiently stiff enough to maintain rigidity when being pushed closed - could you post a picture please.
On my old V70 the link came off due to wear (2007 design) but it didn't sense it had come off as I believe it only senses it in its closed position / or open position (I cant remember which, sorry!). So yes your assumption is correct in that it isn't accurate in knowing how far the valve is open, which is why it calibrates it self every 7 or so starts I believe.

Mine never broke but I put a bump stop on and had to calibrate it as you say, but was easy enough.

Swirl Flap Assembly replacement?
 

Hello everyone :)

I'm a new Volvo owner (S60 2.4 D5 Manual, 2006 reg) - recent convert from SAAB - and have just taken the car I recently purchased to a Volvo Dealer for a service. During the service they informed me that the "Swirl rod linkage has broken and requires complete swirl flap assembly" but I'm getting the impression from these posts that it may be possible to fix this without needing to spend the quoted £897 (!) for the work.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I am unable to view any images on the threads so can't see what people have done.

Would someone let me know how I should approach getting this repaired rather than replaced in full as I get the impression that this is something that happens a lot and seems to be a fundamental weakness in these cars.

I see you're in Guildford. There a very good Volvo indy only 15 miles away from you which you may be interesred in?

Labour rates are less than half of what Squire Furneaux will charge you. In fact mine is in for service and a few bits and bobs with them today. I have no connection with them apart from I'm satisfied with their service.

www.civc.co.uk

Why not post a picture
 

Hi Godders,

Why not post a picture of what you have there, there are 2 styles of linkage for the era of S60 you have, the linkage is under the pull off plastic tray on top of the D5 engine, on the lh side, then maybe someone might offer some advice..

If your on about replacing the entire swirl arm and not just the link, which it appears you are then it is substantially more expensive.

To get to the swirl arm requires most of the head to be dismantalled and removing the injectors requires new seals at £40 per injector.