V70: V70 2000 W 2.5tdi

[Martin Cox]

Got to agree with Rudi Dudi on this one too.

On this engine the glow plugs serve two practical purposes in the usual UK climate.

1. To plug the holes in the cylinder head.
2. To help flatten the battery in cold weather.

When I had the head off mine to sort out the bent valves, I checked the glow plugs and found all of them open circuit and suspect they had been that way for years. The only time it didn't start within the first turn or so was when it reached -11 Celsius. It still started after about 10 seconds or so.

I did fit new glow plugs when I put it all back together and its made not the slightest bit of difference to the starting. However it's not got down to -11 since then. If I hadn't had to have it in bits, I wouldn't have bothered to change them.

Pump timing is everything.

Just enjoy driving it!

Martin

[DrewV70D]

Quick update on the V70, it’s finally road legal and have taken for its first proper run up to Dalby forest yesterday...absolutely love this car!!!
The trip wasn’t without its moments though, I had an intermittent engine management light that seemed to come on and throw us into limp mode every time we climbed a hill or accelerated hard.
After doing a bit of research, I removed and cleaned the MAF sensor. When I replaced and took for a test drive the performance was noticeably improved and no engine management light even when hitting the throttle up the steepest hills I could find...result!!!
One thing is slightly worrying me, one of the tell tale signs of a bad MAF sensor was no black smoke on acceleration...although the EM light has gone and performance improved, I have no black smoke from the exhaust even when I boot it...should I be worried???
It’s hard when you don’t have another to compare to...
Thanks in advance for any help.

[SwedishBus]

If you are happy with the performance, do not be concerned with a lack of black smoke on heavy acceleration.

The old quote, "No smoke, no poke" is an utter fallacy. Smoke is a killer for diesel performance - it implies a quenching of combustion peak temperatures through incomplete combustion, and that means torque-loss.

A fair indicator of the air/fuel ratio being "about right" on a diesel of this age and technology is whether there is visible smoke in daylight (little or none is good) and whether you can see smoke behind the car at nighttime when illuminated by the headlamps of following vehicles (some is OK). Headlamp illumination of the smoke column is one of the most severe tests of tailpipe emissions, so seeing some is not an indicator that something is wrong.

[Martin Cox]

Glad to hear you're road legal and are enjoying the car. With regard to smoke, mine only smokes on hard acceleration if it's been driven gently for a while beforehand. it's usually only for the first couple of times you floor it then it doesn't do it any more until after another period of gentle driving.

I found the comments by Swedish Bus most interesting; I have sometimes noticed the smoke being illuminated by headlights when it wouldn't otherwise be visible. it only happens now and then and seems to be somewhat dependent on the weather.

I've never cleaned my MAF sensor yet. Maybe I should?

I'd drive it and enjoy it.

Martin

1998 V70 Tdi SE auto,

[DrewV70D]

Hi Martin, the MAF clean is such an easy job I’d highly recommend...the difference on mine was massive for such a cheap & easy job.
I bought some electrical contact cleaner from Halfords for about £3/4, removed the MAF, gave it a blast with the full can to be sure, let it air dry for 30 mins then banged it back in, job done 👍