S/V40 1.9D Shut-off throttle & EGR valve

[bobthecabbage]

Thinking about it I can probably get the part number off the EGR and extrapolate from there. I don't think its a volvo one. I reckon I can knock up some sort of tool to locate in the bolt holes. I'm not sure about the logic behind the bolt thing. They are only supposed to be 9nm tight but I guess they seize in the manifold or something.
There should be a new o-ring fitted to the stop valve assembly very recently so I won't be putting a new one on unless its no good.
I am interested to know what is causing the poor fuel economy on my engine. Sometimes it seems better than others! That is on one engine start to stop cycle fuel economy may be better than the next time the engine is run.
Obviously the EGR is an obvious candidate as is making sure air in and exhaust out is not restricted.
Car has had filters and oil service. No not volvo a parts but it hasn't had them for the last seven years so I'm not that bothered. I may go for a volvo oil filter if I decide to put a recon turbo on it.

Also as a quick addition, the fuel gauge malfunctioned today. One minute it was at one notch off full, the next its reading less than half. Came back to normal after stopping and restarting.

Thanks to everyone for the EGR advice. Just need to find the time and the motivation (and a bravery badge) to tackle the task!

[kieran40]

Originally Posted by skyship007

Nox is nasty stuff to be emitting in a town or city, it was one of the first targets of the EU Greens and the EGR valve & EU standard CAT was the solution (Although the CAT also stops oil ash and some Carbon particles).

The UK MOT regs were upgraded, as was the emissions test and replacement CAT specs for this year. So if you blank off an EGR and then adjust the MAP to allow for it, then it is an MOT or emissions test failure point.
The block was designed to use an EGR & CAT, so if it does not circulate some exhaust gas back when at idle or cold, the CHT falls which increases Carbon deposits in the cylinders and exhaust system.

You clean the EGR with Carb cleaner and toothbrush (Not your own!), BUT when trying to get the valve to budge, Volvo say that dripping rust solvent along the edge of the manifold works better than Carb cleaner.

Some good advice there skyship but I don't care what the eu thinks or says who in Britain does lol,as long as it's good for my car then I will do it,and every diesel in Britain could belch out toxins and it wouldn't have an effect on climate change or green issues,china and India are the worst offenders for it,not good old blighty .

[skyship007]

Environmental effects (Copy from Wiki)

NOx reacts with ammonia, moisture, and other compounds to form nitric acid vapor and related particles. Small particles can penetrate deeply into sensitive lung tissue and damage it, causing premature death in extreme cases. Inhalation of such particles may cause or worsen respiratory diseases, such as emphysema or bronchitis, or may also aggravate existing heart disease.[8]

NOx reacts with volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight to form ozone. Ozone can cause adverse effects such as damage to lung tissue and reduction in lung function mostly in susceptible populations (children, elderly, asthmatics). Ozone can be transported by wind currents and cause health impacts far from the original sources. The American Lung Association estimates that nearly 50 percent of United States inhabitants live in counties that are not in ozone compliance.[9]

NOx destroys ozone in the stratosphere.[10] Ozone in the stratosphere absorbs ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to life on earth.[11] NOx from combustion sources does not reach the stratosphere; instead, NOx is formed in the stratosphere from photolysis of nitrous oxide.[10]

NOx also readily reacts with common organic chemicals, and even ozone, to form a wide variety of toxic products: nitroarenes, nitrosamines and also the nitrate radical some of which may cause biological mutations. Recently another pathway, via NOx, to ozone has been found that predominantly occurs in coastal areas via formation of nitryl chloride when NOx comes into contact with salt mist.[12]

@Kieran40:
If your country joins a group like the EU, then you are stuck with the club rules. My own opinion is that the UK should never have joined in the first place and should now leave to the extent necessary to join a new commonwealth trading block.
My main reason for saying that is the more recent boom in the economies of both Canada and Australia. The outlook in economic terms for Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India is real good. C&A have some very valuable mineral ores, gas and oil fields. New Zealand is a top player in the fruit & veggie game and I like roast lamb when I visit my old folks in Blighty. If Yellowstone goes bang in a big way, the Southern colonies will be very important tourist destinations in winter and Australia does have plenty of room.

The EU car emissions regs make a lot of sense and the UK was silly not to have adopted them in the first place, although the Greens went way over the top with forcing the use of the DPF down the throat of car manufactuers who do not have an answer to the oil contamination story. That was not too good, BUT the Green muppets then start insisting that all diesel fuel must contain some Bio diesel content. Adding some BD was real good news for the non DPF diesels, because it cleans the fuel system and lubricates the HP fuel pump, so you don't need diesel additives in Germany or the UK, assuming you are buying fuel from a major oil company and NOT from some Indy service station who just got a visit from a tanker that drove all the way from Spain or the Eastern block (High sulphur content marine diesel or out of volatility spec high sulphur diesel).

Diesel fuel contamination of engine oil is not too big an issue until it gets above 2% in the very long term (You can just about smell that level), 5% is not good but no big deal for one service interval, any more than that and it's time to leave the big city stuck at low power mob and move to the country, with a nice autobahn blast to work. The Bio diesel content does not evapouate from engine oil (Higher flash point & low Voly index) like normal diesel fuel, it just builds up to what might be some serious level (Over 10%). Diesel thins the engine oil and directly interferes with the AW, EP and FM oil additives (Zinc, Boron and Moly etc). 10% is about the level at which a hot idle rattle might start to be heard.

The DPF concept was valid, but the EU should have just pushed the manufacturers towards smallish stop/start diesels, hybrids, gas jobs and all electric, BUT only insisted on DPF's for SUV and city use trucks. Fine Carbon particles are an irritant, but no where near as bad as NOx.

[mjb73]

You can still pass the mot with the egr blanked off as long as they cant see it. With the dpf and cat its obvious if its missing but if the engine cover convers the area and it cant be seen from any angle then it wont fail. You can pass emissions tests with out an egr valve as long as its been retuned. They don't check the mapping in the mot. You used to be able to get a plate that fitted between manifold and the valve so from the outside it looked stock and Vauxhall used to sell egr blanking plates in their dealers.

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by mjb73

You can still pass the mot with the egr blanked off as long as they cant see it. With the dpf and cat its obvious if its missing but if the engine cover convers the area and it cant be seen from any angle then it wont fail. You can pass emissions tests with out an egr valve as long as its been retuned. They don't check the mapping in the mot. You used to be able to get a plate that fitted between manifold and the valve so from the outside it looked stock and Vauxhall used to sell egr blanking plates in their dealers.

I hope you live in the countryside and not downtown Leicester and don't spend any time stuck in traffic near a school. NOx is a major cause of lung troubles in children and the elderly, just read the section I copied in a previous post.

I know from several years living in Trinidad, that lung troubles in kids are almost unknown outside of POS or San Fernando (Unless they smoke). The local lung cancer specialist lived across the road from me and what he said was very interesting, because he kept records of lung troubles in young children and where they lived. Every local Indy garage or tyre place outside of the towns and cities had some houses around it and the ones downwind of the service bay and parking lot nearly always had a red mark.
He was no fool and said the reason was the boy racers were buying diesel SUV's (Cheaper insurance) and tuning them. First thing was an EGR, CAT and back box delete (TT has no effective MOT enforcement agency, you just bribe the examiner), serious MAP tune and almost straight through stainless exhaust with a nice pair of Chrome tail pipes (Lowering kits are not popular due to speed bumps and pot holes).

The boys I worked for used disposable Nissan Sunnies (Very popular in TT), they always went 3 up (Very well armed) and were sometimes followed by a small helicopter gunship, so failure to stop once the sirens started was not an issue. I saw them stop a local teenager who had obviously more money than sense and was wanted for several dangerous driving charges, so the boys told them to walk well clear of their top of the range SUV. I thought they would just shoot the tyres out and then drive past them saying, "Have a nice day". But the lead officer said, "Time to fly", so he got in and drove a few miles to the nearest small cliff and shoved it over.
He made me laugh later, cos he said, "I don't like dem smelly diesels and all duh black smoke when dey boot um". They found another diesel Toyota later the same day, handcuffed the driver and drove him back to the town where he had just run over some old woman and not stopped. Then he just left him there. The locals found him, stole his car and gave him a TT once over, that nearly killed him. That was the last major exhaust system delete and failure to stop after an injuries accident outside of the big cities for some years. I did manage to stop the tyre shoot outs and get them to do a washing up liquid job on the engine, they topped up the oil with Fairy Liquid until it brimmed the fill cap (Several liters) and jammed the gas pedal down. Then they drove past saying,"Diesel runaway time!". There is a bit of smoke, but they had been using petrol before which was not good in emissions terms, but boss man said it was an explosion risk.

Great place TT, but steer clear of the big cities at night.

[mjb73]

We are talking about a tiny proportion of vehicles and you will still pass an mot and be with in all levels due to the dpf doing its job. Your talking about people running with nothing which is not what's being asked.

[baldmosher]

I'm just amazed that NOx isn't tested on the emissions. Seems crazy. Then again, they add benzene to unleaded, and your Nissan Leaf is powered by a combination of nuclear, coal, gas and renewables, so it's not like any kind of fuel is particularly "clean"

[bobthecabbage]

How did you know my Nissan Leaf was Nuclear? That was supposed to be a big secret. It does do a million miles to 50g of Uranium though.

[baldmosher]

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...y_emmokapp.jpg

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by mjb73

We are talking about a tiny proportion of vehicles and you will still pass an mot and be with in all levels due to the dpf doing its job. Your talking about people running with nothing which is not what's being asked.

The V40 does not have a DPF, the V50 does. That's why the V40 diesels are slowly going up in value in Germany and France, because no one wants a used V50 because the DPF system is real bad news in engine life terms and replacement costs.

Tiny proportions add up to bigger proportions and as this is a public domain it makes sense for members not to suggest breaking the MOT regs. A blanked EGR is now a failure point and they should be changing gas analysers to detect NOx soon, so even if they miss it, the cheaper MAP fiddles will result in an emissions test failure.

As far as I am aware the type of CAT and DPF fitted to the V50 would not stop NOx gas passing through. It might during a regen or fast run, when the CAT is hot enough, BUT I doubt if they would when cold or at low power.

To make matters worse, if you delete the EGR and you are using Diesel with a high Sulphur contamination content, you will start forming Suphuric acid in the cylinders when at idle or warming up. Sulphur contamination should not be an issue for a diesel with a functioning EGR, as the cylinder head stays hot enough to form SO3 (Sulphur tri-oxide, a gas). H2SO4 is real bad news, as it can damage the valve guide oil seals, corrode both the exhaust valve seat and HG edges and in a serious case it will increase the ring wear patterns, if the engine spends too much time at low power or short tripping.

If you buy diesel from a major oil company (Shell or BP etc) service station it will not be contaminated by Sulphur. Buy it at some lesser known station and your guess is as good as mine. Spanish and Polish marine diesel is not taxed and has a high Sulphur content, label swapping is very profitable and it takes a few years before any symptoms occur, although you might not notice if you don't spend much time in traffic or short tripping.