Learn me V70 turbo..

My sister just bought a 99 V70, it's got the usual Volvo issues (02 sensor, random misfire, ABS module etc) but there's one issue that has me a little worried. She told me it's putting out black smoke when she's sitting at a stop sign or a red light. I'm hoping it's not a blown turbo, if it is, what's the cheapest way to source a replacement (i will probably be doing the work). Any thoughts?

the random misfire is a PITA to find. i ended up doing cam sensor, crank sensor, O2, plugs, coils and PCM. it ended up being a PCV valve issue. $940 in parts over a $10 hose and plastic ball valve. black smoke at idle could be valve stem seals, rings, or as you mentioned, turbo seal. id do a thorough internal cleaning and inspection with 3 cans of sea foam (pun intended on the thorough part). one in the fuel tank, one in the oil, and one down the brake vacuum hose while running. if it clears up ior gets worse, it isnt turbo. if it doesnt change, then its more likely.

take off the hose going to and from the cold side. if they are both oily, check PCV, if just the pressure side, check shaft play.

also please report miles and previous care if known.

-J0N

Mileage is just over 200K, looks to have had pretty regular maintenance until the last owner, the owner's manual logbook shows dealer services up to about 100K. It has had a recent timing belt service at about 175K and regular oil changes, reciepts for both are with the car.

thats good. i will tell you a headgasket is a pain, but you CAN do it at home. and no sealant will help. so DONT OVERHEAT IT!!!!!

i do the 3x seafoam thing, and to elaborate on the crankcase part, do as follows:

-1 get car to operating temp temp.

-2 add 1 can sea foam to oil fill.

-3 drive car for 30-45 minutes. don't beat on it, but don't put around either. you should see 4k at least a few times.

-4 drain oil. DO NOT REMOVE FILTER.

-5 fill with cheapest possible 0w20 oil, or the thinnest you can get.

-6 drive GENTLY for 10 miles.

-7 change oil and filter. use good oil this time. dont forget ROCKAUTO for the filters and such cause VOLVO stuff aint cheap. DONE.

you will be surprised at the GUNK that will come spewing out the drain plug on the first dump, and even more surprised you got more on the 2nd. After that, perform 3k changes on dyno oil or 4k on syn (plz use syn) and your good to go for another 200k.

also on the smoke thing, remove all the manifold bolts from the exhaust on the head, and pry the manifold back an inch and stick a light in there. if the runners have oil traces or heavy sludging, your smoke is engine related, if they are dry black and sooty, the oil is turbo related.

-J0N

Neglected PCV plays havoc on these engines. I do not know for sure if PCV is causing your smoke issue but try to confirm that the PCV has been serviced in the recent past.

My Volvo 850 no-turbo engine only liked to run on true Volvo spark plugs. Now way of knowing for sure if that is contributing to your misfire but they are available cheaply through all the online parts houses.

Double check the gap on the plugs before you install.

I had a misfire under heavy boost, found that the new platinums I put in were gapped at 0.040.

I bought good, old-fashioned copper plugs, set them at 0.028 where they should be and had no problems.

This running 14lbs of boost mind you.

Shawn

Is turbobricks.com still the go-to forum for Volvo turbo goodness?

If it's truly black smoke - it's almost always mixture related. Black smoke = mixture that's too rich. Blue smoke on acceleration is oil burning - could be turbo seals, rings. Blue smoke on cold start up (that goes away after a bit) or on deceleration is usually valve guides/seals. And if steam (commonly referred to as white 'smoke' which drives me crazy) is exiting the exhaust - water/coolant is entering the cylinder somehow. Cracked head/block, head gasket, sometimes other entry points for coolant.

Have someone follow you while you accelerate and decelerate --- they can tell you what they see.

And the folks in turbobricks.com - maintenance/repair thread should be able to help. In reply to MichaelYount:

In reply to jmthunderbirdturbo:

Thanks, that's definitely on the to-do list. Gonna have to change the filter after because the PO didn't know how to take the housing off, so who knows when the filter was last changed.

In reply to JohnRW1621: It can't hurt to check, i don't think PCV has been done in awhile.

The black smoke is the only issue i've heard about so far. My sister loves Volvo's so there was no talking her out of this one. But it doesn't appear to have been rode hard and put away wet, just a family truckster with some deferred maintenance. We'll see how it holds up. thanks for all the info folks!

In reply to MichaelYount: With the random misfire code i was think a rich mixture, especially since it only seems to happen while sitting at a stop or not under load.

To check the PCV system, pull the dipstick and put a balloon over the tube. If it inflates, the PCV system is blocked.

You can go the hard route, and do it all, which is the proper thing to do.

You can go the easy route, which is to clear the tiny port in the rubber intake hose, which is normally where the failure is.

Turbobricks.com is mediocre good for rwd bricks, not fwd. Try matthewsvolvosite.com or volvospeed.com for fwd bricks.

Temp sensors fail on these cars, which can cause it to run quite rich.

+1 on the sensors causing a rich condition. I just replaced the coolant temp sensor and thermostat this weekend and it was running very rich and hard to start at times. As above, check your ignition system also( wires -- should have dates on them if they are oem, plugs, etc ).