What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Volvo XC90 - Xc90 d5 rough start and weird gurgling sound - Bonobo

Hi, my 2007 xc90 d5 starts from cold very rough. Probably misfiring. It jutters for 30 seconds or so then drives perfect for the rest of the journey. Cold starts only.

I also noticed a gurgling sound from possibly the engine when driving. Happens upon acceleration. I uploaded the sound below. Turn volume up and wait for the gurgling. That is when I accelerate.

https://jmp.sh/s/0YoLtl5IQO2jNmj6xpXe

Would love your thoughts as to whether this is normal. Or what it could be.

New fuel filter fitted. Apparently injectors were tested with leak off test. I'm not convinced.

Cheers

Volvo XC90 - Xc90 d5 rough start and weird gurgling sound - Falkirk Bairn

Give it a doze of Redex / Some Premium Diesel & a Italian Tune Up!

Might do some good for the sake of a few £s investment.

Volvo XC90 - Xc90 d5 rough start and weird gurgling sound - gordonbennet

Presumably things have got worse now colder nights are here?

Could be a glow plug or two on the blink causing the intial misfire, they are usually linked by a heavy duty live wire so to test the current each one draws you will have to disconnect the link wire from each one and provide a live feed fed through an ammeter to each one individually, last time i checked glow plugs like this a healthy one drew some 15 amps but that was a good few years ago.

First of all though make sure there is power going to the glow plugs from the relay/timer when you switch the ignition on.

You could remove each glow plug and watch it physically glowing red, but i'd be inclined to leave them in place unless intending to replace.

Gurgling sound might be air in the heater matrix, try bleeding the heater outlet pipe to expel any air and see if things improve.

Volvo XC90 - Xc90 d5 rough start and weird gurgling sound - elekie&a/c doctor
Glow plugs don’t do a lot on a common rail Diesel engine . They really only come into action if the ambient temperature is 5 degrees or less. I would suspect the injectors are in trouble. A leak off test is not really good enough. They need to be removed to do a flow and spray pattern assessment.
Volvo XC90 - Xc90 d5 rough start and weird gurgling sound - Bonobo
Glow plugs don’t do a lot on a common rail Diesel engine . They really only come into action if the ambient temperature is 5 degrees or less. I would suspect the injectors are in trouble. A leak off test is not really good enough. They need to be removed to do a flow and spray pattern assessment.

Thanks for all the replies. Yes the problem was the same at the height of summer so I am presuming not a glow plug issue too.

I tried some diesel additive hydra maximus (good stuff that turned it into premium plus plus apparently). Didnt change things.

I have a gut feeling it is injector linked. Could this make the gurgling sound? Will try and find somewhere that tests them.

Cheers

Volvo XC90 - Xc90 d5 rough start and weird gurgling sound - elekie&a/c doctor
Can’t see the gurgling sound being fuel related . It’s working at very high pressure to the injectors. As previously mentioned, it could be coolant related . Does the heater work properly?
Volvo XC90 - Xc90 d5 rough start and weird gurgling sound - Bonobo

Heater is spot on, and no coolant leaks etc. It happens when I accelerate. Take foot off, and sound stops. Doesn't do it all the time. I'm very intrigued. Cheers

Volvo XC90 - Xc90 d5 rough start and weird gurgling sound - edlithgow

Could there be condensate and/or excess fuel pooling in an exhaust resonator chamber?

I'd expect if it were this, you'd probably have visible liquid spray at the exhaust end until it cleared, though, so maybe not.