D4 VEA 'check engine' light / EGR fault thread

[craigv60]

Originally Posted by trevor newlove

Hi craig

I bought my car new last July and it has been back to dealership five times for repair re this same fault. The first time was three months after I bought it .In Dec 2014 had a once and all fix as per Volvo instructions, however last week back in again. The garage have replaced the unit again. I have been told that there is an issue between the software and the unit which can cause sudden loss of power as happened to me on A1M. Thankfully late at night and little traffic about. I am currently waiting to hear from Volvo as I have made formal complaint. The car has now done 12,100 miles.

Thanks -- will be interesting to see what Volvo say. From various posts on here, it seems that Volvo's original advice was to remove the EGR and cooler, and clean it. Your dealer probably did this when the fault first happened to you.

Then in Nov / Dec 2014 they realised the components were faulty and started replacing them. Then in January, Volvo issued a revised EGR valve ... from your timeline, it looks like you've been unlucky enough to have had your EGR problems just before Volvo sorted out the latest fix each time ...

[andymcp]

Someone earlier asked the question about whether the check engine light & tortoise were having an impact on mpg?

Well having collected mine from the dealer I've been on some long trips to find out. So far the returns have been 52.0mpg, 58.4mpg, 50.1mpg, 58.6mpg, 55.1mpg, 54.1mpg, 60.1mpg, 55.0mpg and 61.1mpg. And the first 4 of those were through yesterday's torrential rain and driving gales, so after a month or two of low 40s, things do appear to have improved somewhat.

[craigv60]

Originally Posted by andymcp

Someone earlier asked the question about whether the check engine light & tortoise were having an impact on mpg?

Well having collected mine from the dealer I've been on some long trips to find out. So far the returns have been 52.0mpg, 58.4mpg, 50.1mpg, 58.6mpg, 55.1mpg, 54.1mpg, 60.1mpg, 55.0mpg and 61.1mpg. And the first 4 of those were through yesterday's torrential rain and driving gales, so after a month or two of low 40s, things do appear to have improved somewhat.

Good lord, it takes me at least three weeks to burn a tank of diesel but you've already done 36 fill-ups! What's your annual mileage, Andy?

[andymcp]

Last year was approximately 22,000, this year likely to be slightly higher. I'll burn out the 90k of servicing cover I got with the new car long before the 5 years elapses!

[Turnwood]

Originally Posted by andymcp

Last year was approximately 22,000, this year likely to be slightly higher. I'll burn out the 90k of servicing cover I got with the new car long before the 5 years elapses!

I've not even had my car two weeks yet and already 1500 miles on the clock!

[Arianne]

So my XC60 was delivered back onto our drive by Clelands Volvo this afternoon after two days at the dealership. None of the family were home at the time. But, when I returned home and asked Mrs A what she thought she said that she had undertaken a short journey and noticed a difference in performance - believe me, Mrs A rarely notices anything about a car's performance so my ears pricked up at that point She suggested I take the car out for a spin after dinner and see for myself.

It's been a while since I have taken any car out for a spin, after a long day's work and a 70 mile round-trip commute. But hey-ho.

Transformed engine performance. Very, very different. And the engine temperature moved from cold to normal very quickly too. She was a joy to drive and it reminded me again that the D4 VEA engine puts down so much torque that one needs to be careful in both first and second gear to avoid torque steer. Fantastic!

Ok, here's the technical stuff insofar as I understand it. The dealer has replaced the EGR valve, cooler and cooling pump. They also told me that they have received an even newer ECM update from Volvo but that all of this still meant that they were being greeted by my pet tortoise while road testing the car. So they did an even deeper dive and found a swirl lever valve integral to the inlet manifold choked with soot. It seems that the technicians let out a collective cheer and, having already got the part on the shelf, replaced it. Having followed all technical journals and after even more investigation the dealership is confident they have cured it.

The car's performance certainly bears this out but I guess we all accept only time will tell.

The dealer has been great. I have needed to be patient with them as they've had it back three times for a total of six days. They are apologetic but have explained everything all the way through - including various emails with updates across the overnight stays at the dealer for our car. There was a little wobble with the dealer earlier but a few folks from this forum were very helpful and provided me with some detailed information which I shared with the dealer - you know who you are and thank you. After that, the dealership worked seamlessly with me at every stage and I can't thank them enough. They say that fuel economy should improve and I certainly hope so as we were down to 31mpg average at one point!

If only they had AWD on the VEA D4 so that all that power can be applied through four wheels - but at no extra chassis weight! And a 4C chassis on the R-design would be nice! Maybe next time

This boy is a happy XC60 owner tonight......until the next big event then!

I hope this may help others experiencing the same symptoms as me. Cheerio.

Arianne

[007]

Volvo V40 D4, engine light came on @ 5,700 miles, parts ordered and fitted 5 weeks ago @ 6,000 miles. So I've prob got the latest version & not a happy bunny.

I saw the cooler which came out and it was 90% blocked with tar like soot.

It has new EGR valve and new cooler fitted; whilst there was nothing wrong with the old one, Volvo will not let the dealers simply clean and refit them. There was a slight mod to a cover on the EGR also but that has since been dropped.

When I got the car back there was a MASSIVE drop in torque, basically big turbo lag now and no bottom end pick up, so to combat the problem Volvo have (in my opinion) simply halved the effectivity of the small turbo. The car now has nothing under 2k, whereas before it was like a rat up a drain pipe with little more than a sniff of throttle from 1k revs.

So I enquired if the had changed the Engine map and low and behold yes they had, apparently the revised map is Volvo's current and latest fix (with no replacement parts), I currently have an open case with Volvo as I am not at all happy with the drop in performance.

The car went back 2 weeks later and has been fully checked and tested and is free from errors, also every other post Jan 15 D4 already has this new EMU software on so all the new ones are pants already. They let me drive a march 15 car and was exactly the same as mine with no bottom end pick up, then a massive turbo surge @ 2k; whereas before there was no evidence of turbo lad whatsoever with a pure and linear torque delivery

I have video evidence too of same throttle openings on same road, what was 10 seconds 23mph to 70mph in 4th is now 14 seconds.

[craigv60]

@007, let us know how you get on with your case. It's possible the dealer hasn't reassembled things perfectly, as replacing the EGR and cooler means pulling off a lot of tubes and pipes. If one of these hasn't been put back right, that could cause your problem.

When I had my V60 done (with the 2nd revision of the EGR valve, late January 2015), I was concerned that the ECU updates might affect performance, but there was no difference in throttle response or performance afterwards.

Unless Volvo has recently made a big change to the engine mapping ...

[007]

Cheers Craig & will post as things unfold (but nothing is happening quickly).

Have edited post as looked back and it's actually 5 weeks since it was done and 3 weeks since it went back for a full check.

The fact that the other new one (with same software version as mine) was exactly the same as mine verifies there is no rebuild error with mine.

I think the whole matter is still an open book and very possible my s/ware is different to yours, esp since you say your bottom end power has not changed, even my 16 y/o daughter (as a passenger) was aghast at the 4 second lull I managed to induce the day after I got it back and unprompted she announced 'whats wrong with your car'

Eager to find another owner with a very recent mod, since as I say they are not even changing the parts now, they are now just re-flashing the software as a 'first fix' - this has clearly changed in the last 5 weeks since mine had new parts, so in all likelihood the software has changed too since January.

[Arianne]

TBH, the performance of our XC60 VEA D4 has been all over the place in the time we've owned her. I am now struggling to recollect with certainty what she has been capable of at points in the past. Except that I do know that, after one fix, she was outstanding and set the hairs of my neck on end (see earlier post 13 March). Now she pulls well, just not the girl I seem to remember from of old.

Arianne