D4 VEA 'check engine' light / EGR fault thread

[007]

Well after five years of fault free driving I thought all the EGR boggles were long gone. Seemingly not.

At 81,000 miles it failed the MOT on emissions Wednesday.

Opacity reading was 0.8 and should be 0.4 max.

Garage cleaned EGR cooler and inlet manifold and it re tested at 0.01

[Sotosound]

Originally Posted by Bican

I'm afraid the issue with the oil consumption is a result of the carbon build up in the engine on intake valves and gradually on piston oil control rings. Driving in the ECO mode is perfect way for creating it. Another factor is long oil change intervals.
You might want to try changing oil frequently with flushes like TEC 2000. What kind of oil do you use? Switching to Millers or some other would help too. Certainly using better grade diesel does not hurt either or adding additives.
Also taking valve cover off might tell you more. Even buying a cheap endoscope camera and looking around intake and under valve cover might give you some insights.
That is what I would do before dismantling the engine.

Many thanks.

In terms of oil, it's whatever my Volvo specialist uses (which I don't have to hand right now) and top-ups with Mobil SUPER 3000 0W-20 VC.

Personally, I don't use ECO+ as it's too boring and feels as though I have eight reverse gears.

Instead, I use a mixture of Normal Mode and Sport Mode, and do a fair amount of long-ish cross-country journeys of 40+ miles each way, which is probably why my own D4 seems to be OK. I did have a panic earlier this year when oil consumption started to go up, but it turned out to be a leaking rocker cover gasket instead. So I'm OK right now.

My wife's V60 is another story, however, so I need to find a proctologist and ask to borrow their endoscope to hopefully eliminate valve stem oil seals as an issue. After this, I'll have to get in touch with Clark Kent, who can look at the pistons and cylinder bores for me. (This is where petrol vehicles have an advantage, having holes for spark plugs that open up to the combustion chamber.)

[Bican]

You can pull glow plugs and see inside cylinders and measure pressures.
These endoscope cameras are cheap I believe I saw them around €20.
Good Luck !!!

[Sotosound]

Originally Posted by Bican

You can pull glow plugs and see inside cylinders and measure pressures.
These endoscope cameras are cheap I believe I saw them around €20.
Good Luck !!!

Now that's worth knowing!

[belgian]

I have replaced EGR Valve, cooler, Intake air pressure sensor and MAF sensor. Checked emaf pipe, no clogging. Still get the message 'reduced engine power' soon after reset. After a while 'motor management" signal goes on. but engine runs very fine.
anyone some more ideas ? This problem is driving me crazy, grrr

Does Vida allow more diagnostics ohter than P00BC for the MAF problem ?

thanks

[Bican]

I had the same error diagnosed at an authorized dealer. In my case they suggested to replace EGR. They have not found any obvious fault. That is for the VIDA diagnostics.
In your case I found on the Polish forum two things to check:
1. check the vacuum port.

2. cracked intake manifold

The thread is here but requires registration: https://volvoforum.pl/viewtopic.php?p=1624443

Originally Posted by belgian

I have replaced EGR Valve, cooler, Intake air pressure sensor and MAF sensor. Checked emaf pipe, no clogging. Still get the message 'reduced engine power' soon after reset. After a while 'motor management" signal goes on. but engine runs very fine.
anyone some more ideas ? This problem is driving me crazy, grrr

Does Vida allow more diagnostics ohter than P00BC for the MAF problem ?

thanks

[belgian]

thanks to Bican for pursuing the issue....the Brits don't seem wanting to get involved into problems on the other side of the pond just kidding.

I found the culprit : I measured the output voltage of the EMAP sensor with a multimeter (should be between 0 and 5V DC) and noticed that the voltage barely moved from 1,2V upwards with higher rpm.

So, I dismantled the Emap sensor and tube again, this time more thoroughly, and found the pipe completely blocked between first and second sharp turn of the pipe (starting from bolt side). The pressure sensor could not work this way.

The pipe was quoted at 119€, so I decided to go the cleaning method with solvents. Almost an impossible task if the tube is fully clogged since it is impossible to access this location inside the pipe. So I soaked the tube in aceton for an hour or so, then heated the targeted tube section with a gas burner untill red hot. The carbon soot starts to burn and if you inject compressed air, you will see the tube become red hot by autocombustion inside the tube ... so after a few blows, the burning carbon particles jumped out (so you need to be carefull). The pipe was cleaned in an instant. flushed it with some EGR cleaner and good to go. Problem solved.

Bican : I checked the stud of the inlet air tube as suggested in the pic above, and indeed it was cracked , but it caused no hole in the tube itself. It is indeed a week spot. So if you need to get access to the rear of the engine, it is highly recommended to dismantle this tube since it is easy to damage by leaning on it. Easy job anyway, takes 2 minutes.

Glad this car is running again. The entire EURO6 solution with EGR technology from Volvo on these VEA engines is a real nightmare though. Unacceptable really, and I don't understand volvo dealers putting the burden on the customer shoulders.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by belgian

thanks to Bican for pursuing the issue....the Brits don't seem wanting to get involved into problems on the other side of the pond just kidding...

I think it's that the problem(s) currently under discussion don't really relate to the blocked EGR cooler that this tread was originally focussed upon.

Along with others (in several other threads) I've also investigated the possibility of a blocked EMAP pipe, but using free diagnostics to prove that the sensor was fully functional... https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=320469 and there is another thread that I also contributed to where a blocked pipe was cleared using caustic soda (sodium hydroxide).

I also have the intake manifold replaced under 100% goodwill due to the 'swirl valve' mechanism being seized with soot.

[belgian]

Originally Posted by Zebster

I think it's that the problem(s) currently under discussion don't really relate to the blocked EGR cooler that this tread was originally focussed upon.

.

You are of course right. One may have to search through several treads to get the picture of the related problems. Found some good info anyway here.

now I have discovered another problem : the valve head gasket seems to be leaking on the distribution belt side....I suppose the exhaust smell at start in the cockpit is originating from this problem.

I have never had so many problems with a diesel engine than this volvo VEA over a career of almost 40 years.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by belgian

You are of course right. One may have to search through several treads to get the picture of the related problems. Found some good info anyway here.

now I have discovered another problem : the valve head gasket seems to be leaking on the distribution belt side....I suppose the exhaust smell at start in the cockpit is originating from this problem.

I have never had so many problems with a diesel engine than this volvo VEA over a career of almost 40 years.

The cam cover gasket weeping at the rear? Yes, that is another common problem. I agree these early VEA engine have a lot of problems!