2009 R-Design 1.8 rough idle etc

[BarryZola]

Hello again. Grille is sorted now so onto my next issue which has been bothering me for a while. S40 2009 R-Design.

When sitting at traffic lights or at any point when the engine is on and the car is in neutral, there seems to be a lot of rattling in the car, felt first and foremost through the steering wheel (you can visibly see it shaking up and down). If I have a bottle of water on the passenger seat you can see the water shaking inside that too. The car has done around 85,000 miles and has a full service history. Bought it about 4 months ago. I just live with it at the moment but it is an annoyance.

Any idea what I could try to sort it out? My plan is to change the spark plugs first of all. Anyone know if I can do this at home by following instructions? I'm not a mechanic and I don't have a torque wrench. Also, do I need to buy genuine Volvo ones or will NGK be just as good or better? Any links to the correct ones? Also read that fuel filter change is relatively inexpensive and worth a try?

Probably around 3 times a week the car won't start on first attempt so have to turn the key again to get it to start. This never seems to be first thing in the morning, but actually after it's been driven for a short while then parked for a short while. It's when I get back in a and try to start it for a 2nd time that it tends to do it most. Had a look at the battery today and it looks like a relatively new Yuasa so I would guess that the battery is probably not a problem?

Also, car seems to not go as fast as the engine rev sounds suggest it should be. It's not really slow, but seems like there should be a bit more power there. Never had a Volvo before though so have nothing to compare it to.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks

[volvopilot]

the starting problem sounds very familiar to me. This is a hard one to solve since it is a commen 1.8 petrol problem that happens for the Ford Focus and C-max as well. This goes hand in hand with erratic idle problems. You can try to put your car into neutral while driving with clutch up and you will see an unstable rpm (between 300 and 1000rpm).

What I have done to adress this issue down the it's very minimum:
- clean the throttle body (this one was really dirty)
- replace air filter
- clean air filter housing
- replace spark plugs
- clean TMAP sensor

and last but not least: get yourself some descent fuel. This really made a significant difference. I only get BP or SHELL fuel. You can try to use a wynns fuel additive once as well. I do get regular gas from BP/SHELL but I do get super plus once every month or so. I really did not believe the hype that cheap gas would be worse than expensive stuff, but this made a huge difference somehow. In combination with all the steps above.

you will see that this starting problem will reduce to almost zero if you take this route. I had this problem occuring almost every day. Now I did almost 15.000kms and it only hesitated once on startup. It's relatively cheap to do. buy sparkplugs (40gbp), airfilter (10gbp) and a can of throttle body cleaner (10gbp).

You can buy NGK sparkplugs easily since Volvo original spark plugs are actually from NGK. Make sure you get the correct ones from NGK though since the gap might be different. I would personally buy original volvo plugs from ebay, they are only 35 pounds or so.

[StatusRed]

Is it just vibrations you're noticing or does it sound rough if you idle it and pop the bonnet open to listen?

If it's just the vibrations it might be the engine / torque (gearbox) mounts?

[BarryZola]

The engine sounds ok with the bonnet open, it's definitely more noticeable in the interior of the car.

I have made a note of all the tips above and will look into the methods of how to do them. Does anyone have a link for the correct set of spark plugs? Finding different ones getting recommended by various websites. Thanks for the help so far

[volvopilot]

part no:30777349

it's a set of 4 in a blue package with volvo on it. you can find them on ebay or at the volvo dealership or parts specialist.

btw, I had a rough idle as well in the cabin, only with warm engine because of the lower rpm. Around 1000 rpm the problem was not very noticeable.

it ended up being my upper motor mount (right side) which has hydraulic fluid in it. This one did not have any play and my garage said it was fine, however I replaced it myself even though the shop told me it was a waste of money and time. It did fix the problem however... So you might look into that as well.

What I did got from that bad motormount was a huge kickback when changing gears in high revs. So when you change gear at 5000rpm it would give a a loud clunk.

the part was around 70 euros, I replaced it for a Febi bilstein mount and it has been fine for the last 15.000kms

[BarryZola]

Will get that checked out too, cheers