D5 Swirl Flap Assembly replacement guide

[Semnoz]

Originally Posted by anyiddo

Great article - did my swirl arm and manifold clean over Christmas break. Had the same problem with excess movement on the arm in all directions so bit the bullet and changed it. Had a few problems with ejectors sealing but ok.
However the motor is in the wrong position and appears to have overdriven by about 5mm so I can't quite reconnect the link arm. It doesn't seem to want to reset or recalibrate either. I've given it a tug(very stiff) and tried a few options in VIDA but no effect.
Any suggestions anyone?

For now left flaps open and the task has made a hugh difference but would like to sort motor.

That's unlucky. At first I was concerned I'd have the same problem, as the car had spent at least a year with no link arm fitted and I was worried the motor would have knackered itself. Fortunately I found that the motor had stopped in exactly the right position for open swirl flaps, and I didn't even need to use my VIDA device, so I'm not sure why yours would be different.

If you start the engine a few times, does your swirl throttle motor ever move to recalibrate it's stop positions ? I read somewhere it does this every now and then. With someone helping you, it might be possible to wedge something behind the motor control arm to make it record the correct stop position.

EDIT - sorry, just re-read your post and you've said it doesn't want to reset itself. I wonder if the motor has jammed in position then....they're not easy to find 2nd hand to try a swapout...

[Joe Harding]

Two dumb questions:

Do the injectors need to be removed to get the manifold off?

Can you reuse the high pressure diesel pipes?

[S60D5-185]

Originally Posted by Joe Harding

Two dumb questions:

Do the injectors need to be removed to get the manifold off?

Can you reuse the high pressure diesel pipes?

Hi Joe,

1. Yes

2. Not supposed to BUT many many people reuse them without any problem whatsoever. Remember though that these systems operate at very high pressure and are potentially dangerous if leaking.

[Semnoz]

Just to add to the last reply - if you've not removed your injectors before, you might run into problems if one or more is badly seized. I was warned about this by my local Volvo indy, and I can now understand why they said it's sometime best to leave a knackered swirl throttle alone as it's not worth the potential cost of injector removal.

In my case I found only one of the 5 injectors was seized, but after a day of trying to get it to rotate, I was getting to the point where I was considering reassembling everything and leaving the original swirl assembly in place (and maybe paying a professional mobile injector removal engineer at a later date). As you'll see from my post, the only way I was able to remove the seized injector was by using a specialist extractor tool, which required the injector to be dismanted (the extractor tool threads into the inside of the main injector body), rendering it unsafe to use again without professional refurbishment. As I accidentally broke my injector trying to twist it, I had no choice but to remove it, whatever the cost (£300 in my case).

My advice is to first see if you can remove the injectors before buying anything. The downside to doing this is that to check if they can rotate once the clamp bolts are loose, you should really first remove the high-pressure fuel pipe as they don't have any flex in them (they're much stronger than, say, brake pipe). Therefore you then introduce the risk of losing the seal on those connection, and if you can't get a pipe to seal, it's recommended that you renew it (not cheap). In my case I kept everything spotless and used a very accurate torque wrench and my original pipes are still perfect 3000 miles later. When I did first run the engine having refitted the pipes, I wrapped all the pipe conections in rags and stopped every few minutes to check for any leaks. I never experienced a drop of leaked fuel at any time, so I would say it's definitely worth a go, but as already said, be very careful.

[Joe Harding]

Thanks for that update. I was quoted about £600 plus VAT to have the job done by our indie, a garage I always trust. That's in total so I might well give it to them. I don't mind the swirl flaps not working, the engine runs fine. But it does fire dirty gunk out of the orifice where the arm connected.

[S60D5-185]

Originally Posted by Joe Harding

Thanks for that update. I was quoted about £600 plus VAT to have the job done by our indie, a garage I always trust. That's in total so I might well give it to them. I don't mind the swirl flaps not working, the engine runs fine. But it does fire dirty gunk out of the orifice where the arm connected.

I have just had this week, a quote of £290 from my local Volvo independent near the Tyne Tunnel, and that includes absolutely everything.


http://autofixnortheastltd.co.uk/


This was for a 2007 XC90 that I was considering buying where the swirl flaps were definitely broken and leaking oil.

The owner wouldn't accept for one second that anything was wrong so I left it.

That said, having that quote from a garage that I trust and are very familiar with the job is reassuring should I ever need it doing.

At that price it's not worth the hassle for me.

[Semnoz]

My indie quoted about £700, and that was assuming they didn't need to call in a specialist to remove the injectors.

£600 sounds possible. The full swirl throttle kit comes with new fuel pipes and injector clamps, and retails for £450, so £150ish for labour sounds fair, although I doubt they'll spend much time (if any) cleaning out the inlet manifold or EGR valve, which in my case really needed doing.

For £290 that must be based on only renewing the swirl throttle, inlet manifold gasket and [hopefully] injector copper seals - this is the 'basic' kit. Those parts can be found for just over £150 so again, around £150 for labour.

I went with the basic kit, but then spent £95 on a torque wrench, £100 on an injector remover (heavily discounted) and £240 on a refurbished/new injector. So I ended up spending over £600 plus many hours that I could have spent with my kids. So in hindsight I would have been better off spending £700 at my indie, although I'm not sure they would have been able to remove my seized injector without dismantling it. I'm even more sure they wouldn't have spent as much time as I did cleaning out the EGR valve and inlet manifold (I spent 4 hours on that and a whole can of Wynns carb cleaner).

[S60D5-185]

Originally Posted by Semnoz

For £290 that must be based on only renewing the swirl throttle, inlet manifold gasket and [hopefully] injector copper seals - this is the 'basic' kit. Those parts can be found for just over £150 so again, around £150 for labour.

I went with the basic kit, but then spent £95 on a torque wrench, £100 on an injector remover (heavily discounted) and £240 on a refurbished/new injector. So I ended up spending over £600 plus many hours that I could have spent with my kids. So in hindsight I would have been better off spending £700 at my indie, although I'm not sure they would have been able to remove my seized injector without dismantling it. I'm even more sure they wouldn't have spent as much time as I did cleaning out the EGR valve and inlet manifold (I spent 4 hours on that and a whole can of Wynns carb cleaner).

Yes, I'm certain that is the case as all that you have mentioned was mentioned by my Indie.

It just seems easier letting them fit it and possibly deal with any stuck injectors. As it is I didn't buy the car so haven't needed their services .

[greeno]

I've just done this job and found this thread helpful - thanks!

Fortunately my injectors came out without too much trouble. I'd periodically given them a squirt with carb cleaner in the days and weeks prior to doing the job which may have helped.

I might have a different variation of the d5 but I had to disconnect a coolant line that runs over the top of the intake manifold too.