Swirl flap arm refresh

[foggyjames]

Hi All,

I need to address a loose swirl flap arm issue on my friend's 2008 V70 2.4D (Euro 4).

The received wisdom appears to be to fit a new arm and rod/flap assembly, but it strikes me that that would be subject to recurrence of the issue in due course, whereas removing the existing rod and carefully drilling a small hole in the ball for a split pin to retain the arm would potentially address the issue permanently, and at near-zero parts cost.

Any thoughts?

cheers

James

[cheshired5]

I believe the genuine Volvo repair kit effectively does what you've described. Cost is around £5.
At the end of the day, so long as arm movement is free yet secure, you can mod it however best works for your budget, skills and tool collection.

A hot pin or nail can be used to get through the ball too.

[foggyjames]

Ok...interesting...so the only "repair kits" I've seen involved a new 'rod' assembly, removing the rocker cover, etc, etc. That looks far more sensible.

This looks like the official part:
https://www.volvopartshop.com/swirl-...91-12423-p.asp

To be clear, you drill a hole (a fresh one? Or through the middle of the existing ball) in the arm attached to the end of the main swirl flap rod (i.e. the one in the head), and this is used to hold the link arm in place if the joint is a bit loose...? Do you happen to know if there's a VIDA procedure for this? I can take a look at that tomorrow evening, I'm just being lazy, and wondered if you knew off-hand (of its existence - not looking for a copy!).

Now I know what to look for, I see there's also talk of a bump-stop (on the motor end, I presume), so the linkage isn't stressed whilst the stepper motor is doing its regular re-calibration.

cheers

James

[cheshired5]

Some useful information to answer your questions in this thread.

Vida doesn't know the repair kit number so I doubt that it will contain the procedure either.

[foggyjames]

Gotcha. Found most of those earlier, but sadly missing attachments (wot? me?!) made for tricky reading. I get the idea at a second pass, though - replace the ball/socket arrangement with a nut/bolt (the Volvo fix being a bit weedy), and fit a travel-limiter / bumpstop to the motor arm.

Worst case scenario, the rod / flaps arrangement is broken, and that needs replacing separately. Unlikely, but a few users have reported that.

Many thanks!

cheers

James

[Clan]

Originally Posted by foggyjames

Gotcha. Found most of those earlier, but sadly missing attachments (wot? me?!) made for tricky reading. I get the idea at a second pass, though - replace the ball/socket arrangement with a nut/bolt (the Volvo fix being a bit weedy), and fit a travel-limiter / bumpstop to the motor arm.

Worst case scenario, the rod / flaps arrangement is broken, and that needs replacing separately. Unlikely, but a few users have reported that.

Many thanks!

cheers

James

If the problem is just the ball and socket worn i would go into an aircraft model shop and get a suitable metal ball joint and socket , make up a new rod and That should last a long time , Assuming the actual Swirl throttle spindle bushes in the cam cover are ok .

[rxtian]

This thread might help you:
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=92301

I bought BIC1's car and had it from 2012 until 2 weeks ago - the swirl arm never came off again!

[Semnoz]

Originally Posted by foggyjames

Hi All,

I need to address a loose swirl flap arm issue on my friend's 2008 V70 2.4D (Euro 4).

The received wisdom appears to be to fit a new arm and rod/flap assembly, but it strikes me that that would be subject to recurrence of the issue in due course, whereas removing the existing rod and carefully drilling a small hole in the ball for a split pin to retain the arm would potentially address the issue permanently, and at near-zero parts cost.

Any thoughts?

cheers

James

I managed to repair mine by drilling a small hole in the 'ball' and 'socket' and threading a bit of wire to hold them in place. Assuming nothing else is wrong, there's no reason why that won't last indefinitely.

In my case, I ended up replacing the entire swirl-flap assembly as the control arm (the inner part with the ball on it) had become detached from the swirl-flat shaft.

[S60D5-185]

Originally Posted by rxtian

This thread might help you:
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=92301

I bought BIC1's car and had it from 2012 until 2 weeks ago - the swirl arm never came off again!

I followed Bic1's advice in 2010 and had no issues whatsoever over the next 60k when I sold the car.

See my post no 117 in the thread link.

[foggyjames]

Many thanks for the updates, all.

Massive shame the pictures from Bic1's thread (any many others!) were lost in a software update which went wrong. Anyone got copies saved...?

cheers

James