D2 running issues - advice wanted
 

I'm in a situation where the garage says my car is fine, whereas I say it isn't. They have updated the SW twice, and it was actually better after the first update. Issues that I have now are (sorry for being so longwinded) :

- High fuel consumption
- Reduced power in 1st gear - noticeably better acceleration in 2nd gear
- Slow pickup after changing up a gear under acceleration (turbo-lag)*
- Reduced power/sluggish below 1500 rpm*
- Uneven running at low rpm, car often will not crawl along smoothly when sitting in line, sometimes even bucking and lurching to the point where it can only be stopped by de-clutching and starting over again#
- severe repeated cut-out during medium throttle use, went away when floored (worse than a stutter)
- difficult to take off smoothly, car bogs and sometimes revs soar to 2000 rpm without correspondent throttle use - but car still bogs when clutch is released at the approriate speed#
- "misfire" randomly after letting up on the throttle following normal acceleration
- sometimes the throttle pick-up or letting it up is butter smooth, other times it is very abrupt, even though the throttle is used in the same manner#

* was fine after the first update, reappeared after the second update
# appeared after the first update and stayed like this

When I first got the car, I could drive it silky-smooth, like a well-designed automatic or better. The only annoying issues were the high consumption and sometimes a judder when gently reapplying the throttle after coasting.

Now, the car is sometimes smooth, sometimes impossible to launch smoothly. And the judder has gone from something mostly I noticed to something that one fear will cause whiplash one day if a passenger is sufficiently pencil-necked.

Since the car's behaviour isn't consistent, we are down to me either suddenly having forgotten how to drive after 30 years, or the car has some issues. Even if the computer says it's fine. Anybody have some idea of what could be the culprit? What I can suggest to the dealer that has just shrugged it off since the car doesn't have any fault codes to share?

Since I probably - as per normal for me - just type too much, let me shorten the question:

What can cause a diesel to stutter and judder evry now and then?

Engine only as 2500 miles on it and has been troubled from new.

Im not hugely technical, but some of those questions I can answer

The car has only done 2500 miles so Fuel Consumption will increase over time. Take into consideration how you dive obviously also.

Reduced power in 1st Gear, you shouldnt ever expect much power in 1st as the ratio is very low.
Turbo Lag may improve as the miles clock up on the car and everything begins to bed in more. Expect to feel the cars performance pick up after about 4-5000 miles.

Are you use to driving a petrol car?

Thats all I can really answer really, but If your not happy with it, I would tell the dealer I'm returning the car and I want another one.

The car use more fuel with more miles, not less. And I drive very economical, which I have proved consistently over past 30 years with a number of cars.

1st gear will always have the most torque going to the wheels, provided the engine making the same power. On my car, power is clearly restricted compared to the taller gears. This is not noticeable on the old 1.6D.

Turbo lag went away after the first SW update and came back with the second, has nothing to do with mileage.

My former car was a turbodiesel, otherwise I've had mostly petrols, yes.


One theory; could it be wrong timing of the injection, causing combustion to happen at the wrong time as well? Not sure how this is controlled on modern diesels, but if the pump was adjusted wrongly in the old days, they would run erratically.

1st gear still isnt used for power.

As I said above, the ratio isnt big. I doubt the turbo will spool much in 1st if any at all, hence why you get better acceleration in 2nd and the higher gears because the turbo will be kicking in.

As your problem with mpg, I have had a few members contact me about it and have seen better results as their mileage increases

As I tried to say, the 1.6D - and the French car using the same engine as well - have smooth power from idle that's the same in all gears. My engine simply do not deliver the same power under any conditions that it does in 2nd to 6th.

Over at www.spritmonitor.de there are lots of enties from various drivers of all sorts of brands, and there is little to support the idea that modern cars drop noticeably the amount of fuel they use with mileage, if at all. The lowest entrance from the first tank listed is a V50 DRIVe that delivered 92.6 mpg - from new. But again, consumption worsen on mine instead of improving.

Here is something for you on power that clearly explains how low gears are for power and acceleration, taller gears for speed and economy. http://www.car-videos.net/articles/h...wer_torque.asp

Air in the fuel line will cause this , have they done any other work than look for fault codes ? just go back and insist , and enclose that large letter above you wrote that explains it pretty clearly .
And volvos will get more economical the older they are , especialy around the first service or just after , they it continues to get better with age at a slower rate , thats always been the case with volvos ..

Boost is often limited in first gear to protect the clutch and transmission and prevent excessive wheelspin, not sure if that's the case with the D2 as it's pretty weedy but that could go some way to explaining the difference between 1st and the other gears.

As for the rest I'd do what Clan says, it really doesn't sound right at all. Have you been able to demonstrate these issues for the dealer? Do they have another D2 you could try for comparison purposes?

Thanks for the useful replies!

I had an appointment for today where the plan was to go for a test drive, where both the mechanic and I would take turns at the wheel. Yesterday, they cancelled in a rather rude manner after I sent them a detailed description on my experienced - which they strongly requested, BTW. After spending a lot of time writing down the issues as clearly and detailed as I could, I got an e-mail that said (in Norwegian) "we have entered the latest upgrade, there are no fault codes, there is nothing more to do." At least it was to the point :lol: But I wasn't impressed.

I blew a fuse, which I rarely do, and contacted the seller who said they would issue a meeting with me at a later date after they had absorbed the info I had provided them.

As to the power restriction in 1st gear, that may well be the case - but it was fine for a day or two after the first upgrade and the old 1.6D is always fine.

What really annoys me is that my car is constantly changing the way it acts. It can be smooth as a doddle for 10 miles, then act up like a bastard for the next 2 miles. Also, every one of the three SW releases I've had have been different.

And it isn't just me; I've had others test it - without me on board to influence them - and they all say the same thing; difficult to launc smoothly and erratic running periodically at low rpm and noticeable power delay.

Sorry, long winded again :(