Don't know this car but a lot of diesels have swirl flaps and they don't make a great of difference to the performance they are there to reduce emmissions, a lot of people have removed them with little effect, whether its legal to do so or not I don't know, I'm sure someone will be along who does.

This seems to be a very common problem with this engine - the linkage can be seen flopping around at the front of the engine.

The good side of the problem is that the flaps fail open and the only apparent effect is a rougher idle and possibly a less good low speed response - although most people would hardly notice the difference. MOT smoke performance will be unaffected and at least the flaps stay attached to the engine...

The less good side is that when the vehicle meets a Volvo dealer, the fault shows up as a logged defect and in usual m o r o n i c style they will slavishly replace the actuator before doing any other (useful) work. Costs are what one would expect from Volvo nowadays - if you have to ask...

This and a few other faults have been around on the D5 engine for too long now. Volvo owners suffer from the consequences of low market penetration with a resulting shortage of pattern spares, pattern diagnostic software and good independents. Contrast with VAG. (Try an eBay search on Volvo spares, followed by Volkswagen spares and compare the number of hits).

Even an engine oil change costs an arm and a leg on these engines (no multi-sourcing of oil brands with a ludicrous volume of oil required). If you want one of these cars, be aware of the cost of keeping it running. Diesel savings are unlikely to be realised with this engine.

659.

Edited by 659FBE on 02/06/2013 at 23:53