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Turbo issue resolved, something for everyone to look out for.

3053 Views 15 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  turboale
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.
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
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So that's what it was. What a PITA. Glad to hear you got it taken care of.
George,
You have no idea how happy I am to have the car running again! Driving in traffic from Frederick to Bethesda w/out the turbo was torture. Now that I have the car running right once again I can start doing the modifications. I have changed the plan though. After riding/ driving with Kai in Terrence's old 850 with the modified turbo and fuel system, I decided to go that route. The car was just scary fast and smooth. The power was effortless. Well, when we finally meet up again, I will fill you in on the details if interested. Till next time...

Prospero
Is that the white 850 turbo? So what is Terrence driving now?
Sheeeeeeh.....c'mon now....let's not talk about this in the public. For any inside story, email me for it.


Hmmm...yeah...Terrence is hmm...yeah....*cough* *cought*
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Gotcha, we'll keep it on the inside...

Prospero
What mods where made to Terrance's car? Is it some kind of secret you can't post or something?
dave850r,
Nah...I was just trying to keep it as a secret, I didn't want my other friend to find out that I bought Terrence's car. That's all. His mod list is pretty much everywhere on the Net..no secret anymore.
Hey..you are from MD area, how come you did not show up for the Carlisle event? Let's get together sometimes. I meet with Prospero very often, wouldn't hurt to have another Volvo friend to join us once awhile.
It would be cool to hang out with you guys. I am just starting to investigate mods and it would be nice to see that white monster in person.
Nah,that's no white monster. For some reason that Matt(Prospero) and Andy (Rated R) were able to keep up with me. Either there's something wrong with this car, or I just suck at driving~! LoL..yup even just stompping on the gas pedal. What you want to see is my C70..hehe..that'll be something interesting to see.
Not related, just my list of stuff...

Interior: Momo aluminum pedals. Momo DTM shift knob, '99 model shifter boot. Custom boost gauge and exhaust temperature guage fitted in original ashtray area
Exterior: 35% Window tint, Carmate Gigalux 85/110W H7 **** bulbs, PIAA super-**** foglight bulbs, Clear corner lenses, clear side turning signals
Engine: Custom Tuned ECU with Max Boost 1.27 bar. T3/T4 Ceramic Ball Bearing turbo with EIP Tuning custom fitting. 3" Mandrel bent downpipe 3" Race cat by Random Technology. Full 3" piping with 3" straight thru Blitz NUR Spec muffler 4.5" Tip. A'PEXi muffler silencer. A'PEXi AVC-R. Extrude honed exhaust manifold with 10mm connecting studs. Hand ported and polished inlet manifold. Camshafts from '98 B5254FS M4.4 , inlet & exhaust. 20+ hours labor, ported and polished head work. Engine blueprinted and balanced. 5 angle(3-2 angle)valve job. 8.5mm Magnacor Wires. Blitz blow-off valve. Swain Tech White Lightning thermal barrier ceramic coating for engine piping. Cunningham connecting rods. EIP/Ross custom made pistons.
Suspension: Brembo 4 piston big brake upgrade with: Ferodo front pads, PBR/Axxis rear pads, stainless steel brake lines, ATE DOT 4 fluid, 320mm cross-drilled rotors, Folia Tech glossy black painted calipers. iPd anti-sway bars. Painted Silver OMP strut tower brace.Bilstein shocks. H&R Sport springs. 18X8.5 VOLK Racing Volk III rims on 225/40/18 Bridgestone S-02.

Kai
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What does the apex AVC-R do? I've seen it in sport compact car but was never sure of its function.
According to A'PEXi web site:
Advanced electronic boost controller
Highly flexible boost control with revolutionary new functions; Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD).
The Super AVC-R is the premium closed-loop electronic boost controller on the market. The AVC-R allows flexible control over virtually every aspect of boost control and adds new innovative functions such as injector pulse monitoring and gear specific boost control. Some key functions include: RPM-based boost and solenoid duty cycle control, scramble boost, self learning mode, 2D ghost map trace mode, analog display mode, real time replay and peak hold data modes. The AVC-R utilizes an ultra-fast microprocessor and a high quality solenoid valve to control boost. The result is ultra-fast response and accurate, stable boost control.
Due to the complexity of this product, A'PEX recommends having the AVC-R and other A'PEX electronics installed and tuned by authorized A'PEX Power Excel Shops.
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How do you like the exhaust setup? How does it compair to the iPd? Is there any way of getting a sound file of it? ooOoo... that would make a good thread... I guess what I was trying to ask, is your opnion of the exhaust... thanks!

--Austin

[This message has been edited by turboale (edited 06-02-2001).]
Austin,
Even though IPD's is a bit louder than Supersprint, and Terrence's Flowmaster is not as loud as mine. Not even close. It just sounds like some angry boat with a r0lc0e can.
I'm kind of curious to hear it. Ive never seen a volvo with a coffee can exhaust on it like every other ***** . I didn't run my car when I put the iPd on. A couple months back I helped a friend of mine put a Gibson on his Grand Charokee. To make a long story short, we had to run the car for a little wile w/o a muffler. And wow... what a sound... nothing like a roar of a good V8 every once and a while.


--Austin
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