V40 T4 Dsa

[spaceace]

Hi,

I've just been to look at a T4 and I love the car....but the DSA light was on permanently. The car did drive fine and boy it shifted.

The owner didn't know why the light was on and the garage it was serviced at couldn't reset it (assuming it was a back street garage) and it's put a question over the sale.

Also, there was a little mayo in the oil filler cap, none in the dipstick or water expansion cap.....I'm assuming this would just be condensation?

Do you think it's worth a punt ?

Thanks
Jason

[spaceace]

whilst I'm thinking about it;

I was parked up with the indicator on, the illumination for the clocks was dimming slightly as the indicator came on...I'm wondering if the battery is toast and giving a low voltage on start making the DSA fault

[Clan]

I would get the vendor to fix the DSA Dynamic Stability Assist ( traction control ) before you look at it again and check the warm up phase if it take s a long time the thermostat could be stuck open . But its not good news you don't usualy get white condensation in there engines unless head gasket or worse ... unless hes been starting it up a lot and not driving it recently . The white gunge should clear up on it's own after a long run if everything is ok ..

[Jaytee-ex480]

with the mayo I wouldn't assume it was condensation ask a few questions about the cars use, has it been used only for short trips where it doesn't get to warm up ?
as for the dsa that could be costly I'd probably want to get it checked out by a dealer and get a decent answer as to what the problem could be.

[spaceace]

Thanks for the replies.

Apparently this was the guys 3rd car, hence the sale.

The car is a 1999 for only £2000.....now I know why it seems like a good deal

Shame as I thought it would have been great for the price

[mak1]

Walk away until it's fixed, my 98 T4 wasn't showing any problems and has been a total nightmare after breaking down on the way home from purchase. I'd never by something with a blatant fault!

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=48158

[spaceace]

yes, I'm going to look around for another v40 t4

I hate buying cars, I always seem to buy other peoples problems

Good luck with getting yours sorted

[pyaap]

Originally Posted by spaceace

Hi,

I've just been to look at a T4 and I love the car....but the DSA light was on permanently. The car did drive fine and boy it shifted.

The owner didn't know why the light was on and the garage it was serviced at couldn't reset it (assuming it was a back street garage) and it's put a question over the sale.

Also, there was a little mayo in the oil filler cap, none in the dipstick or water expansion cap.....I'm assuming this would just be condensation?

Do you think it's worth a punt ?

Thanks
Jason

My advice is to walk away from it. Electrical issues surrounding the DSA module can be very complex and costly. There are always good examples of T4s coming on to the market so it may be worth waiting for one.

However, if you are bent on this one, the next time you get to drive it, when you start the car, as soon as the engine fires up, step on the throttle and keep the engine speed just above 1500rpm for around 3-4 secs before allowing it to fall back to normal idling speed (750rpm) and see if that turns the DSA light off. If it does, then you have a fault in the "handshake" between the DSA module and ECM, most likely caused by a low engine load signal.

[spaceace]

thanks for all of the valuable advise.

I walked away from the car in question......I knew in the back of my mind it was the right thing to do, but my heart got giddy

I ended up buying a T4 in much better condition for the same price....just waiting for the cheque to clear

[mak1]

Excellent - hope you have better luck than me!