D5 Auto - Acceleration lag when pulling off

[Peter Milnes]

There is an excellent tuning box available from a German source which gives the 163bhp D5 a boost to 195bhp for £100. See letters in the latest "Diesel Car" magazine for details.

All the best, Peter.

[StevePritchard]

>
>There is an excellent tuning box available from a German
>source which gives the 163bhp D5 a boost to 195bhp for £100.
>See letters in the latest "Diesel Car" magazine for details.
>
>
>All the best, Peter.

That's the sort of performance increase I'm expecting to get, but I did pay more than that, although mine comes with a warranty that covers any shortfall in the Volvo warranty should something go wrong.

Cheers,

Steve.

Hi Justin

I seem to be in a minority here but... my wife picked up her brand new XC90 2.4D SE Geartronic a couple of weeks ago, and it does not have the delay that you describe.

Not sure if that has helped you much, but maybe there was some kind of issue which has now been fixed?

Regards, Steven

I was told by my Volvo dealer, that the new D5 (185hp) with new 6-gear Geartronic should not have this acceleration lag. I am getting new xc90 in January and it would be great if this is now fixed. Does anyone know more about this? (Thanks Steven)

[StevePritchard]

>I was told by my Volvo dealer, that the new D5 (185hp) with
>new 6-gear Geartronic should not have this acceleration lag. I
>am getting new xc90 in January and it would be great if this
>is now fixed. Does anyone know more about this? (Thanks
>Steven)

I've read that this is the case too - however, it still leaves all of us existing owners with the problem looking for a solution. It does appear that Volvo don't have one. Fingers crossed the tuning box will make a difference.

Cheers,

Steve.

Hi there

It may be of interest to know that my wifes new XC90 is a 2.4D, not the new D5 - i.e. its the "old" Euro III 163bhp engine which used to be badged the D5. Its also got the "old" 5-speed geartronic box.

Been driving it around again today with four people on board and no delay in getting the power down from rest. I have owned an S60 2.4T SE geartronic myself for 2 years now, and I have found the acceleration in the XC90 to be pretty much as good as can be expected given the extra weight and diesel engine.

This made me think that something has either been changed, or that the problem may not affect all cars?

Regards, Steven

PS Do any other owners experience a kind of "boomy" noise (best way I can describe it!) just at the point the engine goes under load, e.g. pulling away uphill, or is it something I need to bring up at the 3 month quality inspection?

[StevePritchard]

Interesting - so you are saying that your wife's new XC90 is identical (engine/transmission-wise) to my 04 model but doesn't suffer the issue?

One way to test if there is a lag issue is to simply floor the throttle from a standing start - start to count. If you creep away during "1 - 2" and then feel a rush of power on about 3ish, then you've got the problem. It seems to be at about 2000rpm that I get a decent getaway. If you are pulling out/across traffic then you normally get the rush of power as you are trying to straighten up.

My performance box generates the same torque at about 1400rpm as the standard at 2000rpm, so I'm hoping that it will minimise the lag.

Cheers,

Steve.

PS. No boomy noise coming from my XC90...

[StevePritchard]

Just for the record, the Volvo dealer wrote on the job sheet that they updated the software and tested ok. I would say that there IS a marginal improvement. The power seems to be more evenly spread, and is slightly less "whooshy" a couple of seconds in.

Having said that, it's not a massive difference, and it's still a bit pedestrian for pulling out/across traffic. I'll let you know how the PBox affects its behaviour.

Cheers,

Steve.

Yeah...Bang on description Steve... the point at which you reach 2000 revs and woosh away you go....but up until that point it's scary....and genearlly if you're pulling away to the right or left then you tend to over-steer.

Let me know how the Pbox works out.

StephenY - I have no boomy noise either to report

Cheers guys

just a thought, would holding your foot on the brake and applying the accllerator 1 sec earlier work? with a torque converter (if thats how your autobox works), this would allow the revs to rise enough to get into the powerband, before you actually start moving..