'08 XC70 D5 - Intermittent acceleration problem / goes sluggish

[DFL]

Hi All,

I'm after some advice from anyone who may have experienced issues with the D5.
I am facing intermittent problems where when accelerating the car goes sluggish and the revs will not pick up.

An example: sitting in traffic taking off from lights up a slight hill and acceleration just slowly climbed then hit a point where it went no further. The car was maxing out at 20kph with my foot flat to the floor. The revs were non responsive.
The car has behaved like this now possibly 4-5 times in the past week. Never any issues before.

2008 XC70 D5 with 130,000 KMS


Appreciate any advice here as the mechanic has been no help at this point. Scanned for codes, test drove etc... and gives a clean bill of health.
But clearly something is not right and the problem seems to be hanging around now, but still intermittent. May go 2-3 days of normal driving without an issue. (though I do suspect acceleration is less responsive, but I may just be over analysing as I'm now paranoid)

Thanks

[netpres1]

Hello,

Sounds like it is going into limp home mode.
My previous V70 did this.
The fault should be logged in the system.

Beware that all scanners are not equal.
You mechanic's scanner may not read or see the codes.
I have had issues where a scanner shows nothing yet a Volvo specific one will see a history a faults.

Just out of interest, what fuel do you normally use?
My XC70D5 will sometimes stutter and carry one when I used budget diesel.
If I use Shell or Caltex it never has an issue.

[DFL]

Thanks for the reply.

I will try a Volvo dealer workshop to review for fault codes again and see if the can uncover something.
The mechanic I use does specialise in volvos though but perhaps not genuine kit.

Had hoped if the car was going into limp mode that it would at least throw an info warning also but nothing registers in messages.

As for the fuel I always use Caltex and occasionally Shell but never really shop elsewhere for fuel so wouldn't expect that to be a factor.

[netpres1]

If you are in western Sydney,
Chan at Reliant Motors in Penrith is independent but ex-Volvo

His scanners have picked up codes that others haven't.
Let me know what you find.

[DFL]

Just an update on the issue.
The car had behaved well this week not going into limp mode or playing up. Hadn't had a chance to get it checked out by another mechanic yet. But all was seemingly ok.

However...

Driving home last night things went bad. Slowed down in traffic and the car stuttered a bit and went dead basically. Maxing out at 1000 rpm. Was able to limp it 100 meters up the road to get out of the traffic. Car displays the message 'engine system service urgent.' There was also a smell when I came to a stop. Couldn't quite place it. Not an engine oil smell but perhaps a transmission fluid smell. Nothing leaking from the car.

Will sort out a tow today. Doesn't sound like good news...

[DFL]

A delayed update on this issue.
After a lot of time wasted with my mechanic doing who knows what, I paid the bill and drove it home... The very next day the car broke down again and I couldn't budge it. After my own research online I had suspicions the issue was related to a faulty EGR valve (the mechanic assured me this was checked).
I got back to my car on the side of the road with some tools and after some investigation was able to get the car home. I removed the throttle body to get better visibility of the EGR valve. There was a decent bit of gunk in there but not too bad. What I could see was that the valve was half open. With the position sensor removed I was able to see that the servo rotor was binding and getting jammed. When the actuator was running it was not always returning to the spring loaded closed position.
I sourced a used EGR valve from a wrecker as a new valve from Volvo was $1000 aud and is an exchange part. $270 from the wrecker. Picked up the part and spent a good few hours doing the replacement.

Since replacing the part the car started with no problems and has not skipped a beat since. It's been more than three months and around 6000kms driven. So it seems I have fixed the issue.
Pretty disappointed with the time and money wasted with the mechanic but on the bright side, the car works.

Just thought I'd share this update in case it may help anyone else facing similar issues.