Well if you saw my post about the strange turbo problem that I had last week, I finally resolved the issue. A huge thanks to Kai for the turbo and all of the support! Anyhow, here is what went wrong. Keep an eye on your car to prevent the same from happening to you. Evidently my pressure regulator electrically failed. The ECU never gave a check engine lamp so all I felt was an increase in performance. (Not exactly something to complain about!) Well, with the bad pressure regulator and a heavy foot I managed to break something. One second I'm accelerating onto the beltway with great power then all of a sudden nothing then full power and then nothing again. (The whole time an 18-wheeler is placing his sights on my rear bumper getting ready to turn my 850 into an accordion.) I managed to pull off without getting creamed, but my motor had died.
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Thinking the worse had happened I inspected the motor looking for a hole and connecting rod poking through. I did not find anything at all! No leaks, no smoke, no problems. After checking for anything out of the norm I went back and attempted to start the car. It started right up, no problem. I went to accelerate and had no boost. Carefully driving the car and listening for the turbo to spool, I heard nothing. I looked for any obvious signs of the turbo's demise but found nothing. I verified that the wastegate was connected and working, vacuum lines and electrical connections to the pressure regulator were all there and good, as well as checking for obstructions in the fresh air pipes and finally the intercooler itself. I found nothing wrong! I then figured that the turbo shaft had snapped. I discussed the symptoms with a few other mechanics and Volvo guys and we all came to the conclusion that the turbo was gone. Well, come Sunday night I started to replace the turbo. (It took about 4 hours to do. If I had new studs and better tools, it could have been done in 2 or less.) I wrapped everything up and went to start the car. No leaks, no smoke, no problem, right? No boost! What the fudge! Well, forced to drive the car in its current state the CE light finally came on. It gave me a code of 414 "Can not regulate boost." gee thanks for the early warning! Monday I replaced the pressure regulator and ALL vacuum lines to be safe. Turn the key, same problem! Tuesday, inspect the turbo hoses again, this time pulling each one off and looking it over. Finally! The pressure hose from the output side of the intercooler going into the throttle body was toast. From the top it looked fine. On the bottom, the oil ate through the rubber and weakened it to the point that it blew with the added boost from the turbo. The hole was large enough for me to put my fist through it! Funny part was, it did not show until I put pressure on the system. All I saw was these little black flaps poking down when I accelerated the motor. Well, the hose was $70.00 from Volvo and I should get it today. Anyhow, to make a long and painful story short, check or replace the turbo charger hoses before replacing the turbo. Coincidentally, the replacement of the turbo was not a waste of time. While removing the old turbo, I found RTV clogging 90% of the oil lines from a lazy mechanic that did not replace the gaskets with OEM ones. Guess he did not think about where all of the RTV went when it did not seep out of the sides while tightening the lines. The new turbo is much quieter than the original, seems that I was on borrowed time anyway. I won't complain though, 180753K miles on the clock this morning. Well, that's it. Just wanted to share my fun with you guys. Oh, and also just want to say thanks again to Kai for the turbo and help.
Prospero
Prospero
