Exactly this. When I had the EML pop up in late December, I called my dealer and they said straight away "Yes, we know what it is - we'll book you in as soon as we get the parts from the factory."

The service manager told me they had done the job on 3 cars that day, and were waiting for parts for another 7 cars, which gives an idea of the frequency of the issue.

I can understand Volvo's reluctance on a recall, but "fix on fail" is probably not the best way to deal with things from a customer's perspective !

Apparently it's not a definite need for both valve and cooler, it depends on your production year. Or so I'm told today - mine has gone in today for verifying that it is the issue as suspected and I must be lucky because they have a few spares in stock so I get it back tomorrow....

D4 EGR Replacement
 

My S60 warning light came on at around 8K miles and 11 months.
Dealer reset it as parts were not available for 4 working days.
The warning light returned after perhaps only 50 miles.
My fuel consumption went up a little but this could be the cold weather and the stop start not cutting in as often.
Now 46.2 mpg but I had averaged 49.2 mpg for months.
Will have to see if it goes up again.
Very satisfied with the dealer trying to sort it ASAP and offering a vehicle while waiting for parts.

Had mine done today - both valve and cooler replaced. I then drove the exact same journey I had already done on Wednesday, except this time with kids, dog and a long list of heavy shopping to deliver on board. Wednesday's run on a clear road was 46.7mpg, today was 50.2mpg with a lot more overtaking required. Totally unscientific but it felt the car ran better too.

Join the queue...
 

Well we've re-joined the back of the queue for the modified EGR valve and cooler. I am not quite sure what happened when our XC60 was in the dealer for two days about a fortnight earlier.

But we have just had her delivered back onto our drive after another two days with the dealership and, like everyone else, we're waiting for the parts to be delivered from Sweden. Five days is being quoted - let's hope they're right.

It's clearly not the dealers that are at fault. Rather, it's obviously a design flaw in Sweden.

I have learned a lesson here for my next car - don't be the 'test pilot' of brand new technology. New model XC90 anyone?

Oh, and I stand by my comment on another thread that diesel technology is just getting too complex these days. I read that other manufacturer's are now having to top-up special 'Ad-Blu' reservoirs at service intervals to keep the diesel emissions within agreed limits. If the Ad-Blu runs out.....the car stops! It's getting like the story of the woman who swallowed the fly.

Just out of interest, how long have folk been waiting for their replacement EGR valves and cooler pumps to be delivered and replaced? And has anyone actually experienced a roadside failure because of this yet?

Arianne

PS. Currently averaging 33mpg, wow!

Ah yes Ad Blue, been fitted to trucks and buses since they got to Euro 5. You see the blue cap next to the diesel filler on a separate small tank

Diesel engines are now getting more complex. Trucks are starting to be fitted with a DPF and Ad Blue

Diesel is so embedded now it's difficult to spec a petrol. Anyway if you read other forums the new petrols don't fare much better. VW are changing injectors and inlet manifolds quite regularly

Glad I ordered an AWD so I get the traction and the more behind the curve technology

My V40 D2 engine was originally designed to use Ad-blue but Volvo upgraded it so it doesn't need to.

Think 5 days might be a bit optimistic. My dealer ordered mine on 29th Jan and still no parts arrived yet. So coming up for a month now.

Agree with the added complexity of the engine design to meet emission laws. Too much going on under the bonnet now to increase possibilities of failure.

Hi Arianne

Volvo will have extensively tested the engine, but probably in Sweden. My guess is the type of cold weather we have is moisture laden and theirs is dry, and that is causing the issue.

Volvo are good at sorting issues like this so I wouldn't be too worried. If it was Ford I would be. We had a diesel Focus that needed a new alternator every 30K because that's how they originally designed it and that was the way it was going to stay!

We have only ourselves to blame. We don't want to be regularly servicing our cars like we used to. My 1926 Rolls need 1,000 mile services. The 63 mini 3,000 miles. Volvo 940 6.000 miles XC90 12,000 miles XC60 18,000.

Manufactures did surveys many years ago and asked what people wanted and extended servicing with reliability were the main ones. They given us what we wanted and buy.

There are simpler cars available from India, Russia, China. Not big sellers here though.

My D4 FWD manual put the light on last week at 7000 miles, just shy of its 1st birthday. Volvo Assistance said over the phone that as the light was orange and not red I could probably keep running the car. Bit of a risk that, diagnosing over the phone. No mention of EGR issues,

Volvo Assistance sent out a local garage who reset the light. Car booked in at Lloyd Volvo, Carlisle on Thursday 26th. I was told the light came on due to an exhaust sensor, that was what the diagnostic machine said on the screen anyway.

Will post outcome after the service

Don't think many car drivers would put up with a bike and its servicing requirements. My own bike needs a service every 4,500 miles. I had to replace the tyres at 3,200 miles and it now needs a battery at fewer than 3,500 miles. It's not 3 years old.

Imagine having to stop every 150 miles to fill the tank too (S/V60 Polestar driver exempt).

They're better than they used to be - despite the complexity
 

Mrs A's parents bought a new Morris Marina in the 1970s.....broke down on the way home from the dealership.

We bought a new Renault 21 from Caffyns Maidstone in 1990.....gearbox failed within three weeks.

Can't remember the last time I woke up to the sound of starter motors failing to kick an engine into life....before slowly dying as the battery expired.

And I am glad we no longer need to be bothered with manual chokes or those early auto-chokes from the mid-1980s.

Nevertheless, I want someone to adopt my tortoise and take him away forever.

Arianne

What year was your Ford?

Regards

Try 1926 tech. Double de clutching with a non syncro mesh gearbox was fun. Retarding the ignition and setting the choke for the starting handle risk of breaking your arm was really exiting as well. To say nothing of trying to stop 3 tons of Rolls with drum brakes.

Roy

Can't remember exactly, First generation around 2001.

No,just my father has one,and it has been the epitome of reliabilty for around a decade. No servicing,no tlc, no real washing, no cam belt changes, no nothing really bar a set of tyres, and it still motors on.

Regards

Gosh, I'd forgotten about manual chokes (showing your age there as the current younger generation would be saying 'wassat dad')

My dad used to get the car started and then as soon as we we going (like 20 yards) he's close it off and we'd either stall or kangaroo down the road until it warmed up. I remember saying to him even as a little kid to leave it on until the car warmed up but he'd just ignore me. Only when i got my own car I'm afraid I used to do exactly the same as him............

What a relief we don't still have to play chicken with the choke.....

I used to push it in a little at a time. Can't remember if I was told to do that or if I just made it up myself.

It was 2003 Ex Police. My Son-in Law told me that it was a know fault with that model and the police had thousands of them so he should know. Part was cheap though so not a big deal, just irritating. Had about a million new parts on it during service with the Force.

Sure your Father's isn't second generation? 2005 on.

Did you now......'fraid I used to push it right in and hope for the correct response. we are talking about chokes here aren't we?

So far so good had mine since Oct 2014 done well over 10k and so far no issues (Crosses Fingers!)

Not sure if it's related, but on Wednesday I had a message appear on the screen saying "Engine maintenance required". There was no light.
I happened to be very close to the dealer so I dropped in and told them.
Of course when the service guy turned on the ignition the message was no longer there!

The car is on 11000 miles and is 7 months old, so not due a service yet.

Yep, that is the one. It has begun and it will return, mine did the same.

Well, having had both the EGR valve and cooler replaced last week, the tortoise appeared twice on a short run locally this morning, starting the engine from cold. Oddly, it always appeared when stop/start kicked in. Switching s/s off made it disappear after a few seconds of engine idle.....

Coolant level
 

EGR & cooler were replaced (mileage 18,480) yesterday and the only comment from the service department was to keep an eye on the coolant level.
The parts were ordered on Jan 27th even though they put down the car was off the road, but that was a fib.
S60 D4

This is weird. My tortoise makes celebrity appearances in a completely random way too. I am quite bemused by it.

My own dealer is clear that they replaced the EGR valve and cooler on the first visit about a fortnight ago. The tortoise re-appeared and that's not what they were expecting.

They are now suspecting something else (cooling pump) and are trying to get to the bottom of it in dialogue with Volvo.

My mpg is now close to rock bottom - we are averaging 31.9mpg (albeit that Mrs A is now not taking the XC60 out of town). But really? Other than that the car runs fine.

I foresee the day coming when someone will do what my Alfa dealer did all those years ago. They snipped the wire to the LED display - Volvo will shoot the tortoise!

Arianne

Think there must be something other than EGR valve issue then if the warnings still show even after a replacement.

Still awaiting contact from my dealer for new parts that were ordered on 29.01.2015.

Volvo v60 2014 PLATE, 25K Miles

Light has come on and the tortoise made an appearance.

Volvo assistance were utterly useless, taking in to the dealer myself today.

Really annoyed with all this, as the dealer has told me there is a 2 week lead time for Volvo to get the parts, let alone get them to the dealers in UK, even then I am number 13 in the list.

Would be far easier if they just recalled them all.

Two weeks, you'll be lucky (I think) as EGR & cooler for mine has been on back order since 29.01.15 and still not arrived with dealer. Only spoke to them yesterday about this.

How would doing a recall get the parts any quicker? It would actually put many weeks delay into the process whilst they order enough parts, get them to do dealers, then inform all the owners and dealers sort out repair slots.

And remember, there is no proof that the EGR or cooler are the root cause yet.

Hi David

If it was just the EGR valve and cooler replacing them would have cured the problem for at least several months because the EGR won't get dirty that quickly. There is a problem with the EGR otherwise Volvo wouldn't be redesigning them but I think the dealer is right to look for another cause as well.

Roy

And they are. I'll update the forum when the dealer gets back in touch as it may be helpful for others. I know they're taking it seriously.

Arianne

4300 miles, 3 months old - Check Engine lamp has just illuminated. No other symptoms. Not even a tortoise. Will update once the dealer has had a look.

Arianne, I think the low mileage runs really exacerbate the issue, whatever the issue is. I've carried on using mine for several hundred mile road trips even whe both engine check and tortoise were regularly appearing. Once things were up to temperature if I pulled over, switched the engine off and then immediately restarted then both warnings would be gone. Similarly if I do nothing but short journeys, both reappear.

Mine is back to the dealer for investigations on the 9th, will report back with what they say.

Question
 

For people that have this 'tortoise' issue - what is your driving style like?

Irrespective of whether you are doing urban or long distance motorway driving, perhaps your driving is too gentle and thus giving rise to the issue?

By way of example when I have had any new car and 'run it in', I always ignore the 'gentle for so many miles' procedure and drive hard (hard but not stupid) from the get go (obviously when engine is warm).

Regards

Well my last 4 long runs were to and from the same remote part of Scotland either very late at noht or very early in the morning. So to pass the time I've been seeing if I can beat my previous best. Sport mode and don't hold back on the right foot :) Also good brake tests when Bambi decides to pop out the trees....

Not been seen by a dealer yet, and didn't use it at all yesterday but the 'lamp' extinguished itself earlier today during a short journey. I thought it was supposed to stay lit until reset?

It can go on and off in the early days. Eventually it will just stay on.