D4 VEA 'check engine' light / EGR fault thread

[Marc01]

Originally Posted by craigv60

I spoke at length to the service manager at Rybrook in Warrington - the units being supplied now are apparently the latest revisions following the Swedish engineers' visit to the UK in November. He could not say if it was a definitive fix, but he did comment that the workshop had done 15 cars in the past week.

Mine has had the latest egr cooler fitted in November following the Swedish engineers visit in October.
This is my 3rd, the first lasted 12.5k the second 4K always used v-power or equivalent, always driven firmly, always over long miles.

And what is the deal with Swedish engineers coming to the UK, sounds like a some damage limitation bull.

[NigelDay]

Originally Posted by Marc01

Mine has had the latest egr cooler fitted in November following the Swedish engineers visit in October.
This is my 3rd, the first lasted 12.5k the second 4K always used v-power or equivalent, always driven firmly, always over long miles.

And what is the deal with Swedish engineers coming to the UK, sounds like a some damage limitation bull.

Suspect they are doing some detailed problem analysis. Perhaps UK cars are more susceptible than certain other European markets ? Who knows ? We don't but Volvo certainly have all the statistics to start analysing for trends. Will we ever get to hear even a summary of this ? Probably not. Frustrating.

[GuidoBrunetti]

Originally Posted by NigelDay

AdBlue is not the perfect solution either.

No, an efficient modern (small capacity) petrol engine is though. Just like JLR, Volvo have been caught out by the ebb away from diesel engines turning into a flow as a result of the VW scandal. Apart from the calorific differences between petrol and diesel as raw fuels there is no reason why a modern petrol engine can't achieve close to diesel levels of economy. And petrol engines are MUCH cheaper to build for Euro 6 and US regs.

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by GuidoBrunetti

It is a strange design approach that suggests you recycle dirty exhaust gases so that you can maintain a certain temperature range to avoid formation of NOx. Almost every other manufacturer has abandoned this approach presumably because the amount of EGR you need is too large to control satisfactorily. It is not beyond the boundaries of possibility that Volvo will be forced into a design change: to use AdBlue.

What has AdBlue to do with NOx emissions? DPF does not affect NOx emissions.

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by GuidoBrunetti

No, an efficient modern (small capacity) petrol engine is though. Just like JLR, Volvo have been caught out by the ebb away from diesel engines turning into a flow as a result of the VW scandal. Apart from the calorific differences between petrol and diesel as raw fuels there is no reason why a modern petrol engine can't achieve close to diesel levels of economy. And petrol engines are MUCH cheaper to build for Euro 6 and US regs.

No petrol engines I've seen have yet matched diesel for economy.

Also attention is turning to emissions of ultra fine particle emissions which petrol engines produce the majority of. Still room for design improvements for both types of engine.

However most of the worlds economy relies on the diesel engines efficiency. No petrol engine ships or trains, all diesel and most lorries and vans are diesel as well.

The other thing nobody mentions is that from day one petrol engines lose efficiency with use whereas diesels gain efficiency.

[londor]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

What has AdBlue to do with NOx emissions? DPF does not affect NOx emissions.

"AdBlue is used as a consumable in selective catalytic reduction (SCR) in order to lower NOx concentration in the diesel exhaust emissions from diesel engines."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_exhaust_fluid

[NigelDay]

Not sure if this comment by HonestJohn has any relevance to the Volvo 'situation'.
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/an...replacement-vw
Mention of a potential class action in 2016.

[craigv60]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

What has AdBlue to do with NOx emissions? DPF does not affect NOx emissions.

It's a urea & water solution which is injected in small quantities into the exhaust gas to catalytically reduce NOx into water & nitrogen. Lots of diesel cars, and many diesel lorries, use it to meet Euro 6 standards. It's held in a separate tank and needs refilling every few thousand miles.

Diesel engines that don't use AdBlue to meet Euro 6 have to use a lot of EGR instead - hence the Volvo problem. The EGR cooler design isn't up to snuff.

[craigv60]

Originally Posted by Marc01

And what is the deal with Swedish engineers coming to the UK, sounds like a some damage limitation bull.

It was genuine - they were driving customers' cars that had already had replacement EGR valves & coolers, and doing real-time datalogging to try and find any unusual / unexpected behaviour when driving in the real world, on roads.

My own car was earmarked for this, but my dealer (Rybrook Warrington) put forward other cars for testing that had gone into limp mode because of their EGR problems (mine has never gone into limp mode). Each big dealer was asked to find 3 or 4 cars for the engineers to drive.

This indicates Volvo is taking the problem seriously; but it also suggests that they didn't do much real-world road testing of the engine before going into full production.

And whatever anyone says, it's nothing to do with 'supermarket diesel' or driving styles.

[GMcL]

Why the UK though? Was it just the UK or have other markets been visited?
If it's just the UK does this point to a fuel issue? If so, are other manufacturer's having similar problems?
It's all a bit vague...