Hello everyone

1. I drive a Volvo 740 Turbo Diesel Estate in silver lovely its is!
2, Today whilst doing motoway speeds on the A14 my exhaust started 'sparking' i thought the car was going to blow up so pulled over at next junction.

3, okay i think this is turbo (temp gauge was about half-way) so i eventully re-started engine drove (slowly not above 3,000 RPM) and came back to where i first stopped, there are still some sparks coming out of exhaust but not the clouds of sparks on the A14.

Just drove the car home and seems okay! But i know it is not okay

Does anyone have an idea what this might be? (Garage just done an oil change and there is slightly too much oil on the dipstick).

 

Maybe the Cat converter is going bad and coming apart.

 

Wow, so this is a diesel with sparks flying out of the exhaust?!? Now that is a new one on me! The only thing I can think of is a buildup in the exhaust coming out. Have you ever heard of an italian tune up? That is where you find a long steep grade and mash the pedal to the floor and rev the heck out of it up the hill to 'blow out the carbon'. This is helpful in a diesel, but not so much on a gasser. All kinds of stuff will come out of the exhaust when doing this. Were you going fast, up a hill, lots of load, etc? Was there soot with the sparks or clean exhaust with only sparks?
Are these sparks like burning bits or actual sparks like one would see when grinding? If it's the latter of the two, it could be the turbine coming apart and burning up, which would of course be really bad.
More info would help, hopefully what I have shared helps a bit.
Scott
<<Diesel enthusiast>>

 

Hi thanks for response this was the fastest the car has ever been so hopefully was just crap coming out, but those sparks were fierce at first! The car seems okay though! gonna take it out again tomorrow and hope it is okay

please if anyone knows this to be an expensive/dangerous fault let me know. maybe it is cheaper to get it looked at now? Cant afford new turbo for it anyway so maybe a new engine

How much (ballpark) would it cost to get a new engine (maybe petrol or maybe diesel)

Will the car run with out turbo (but slower of course)?

 

Well, being that it was the fastest that the car has ever went, I have my money on just crap flying out and that it's nothing serious. If there is nothing wrong with the performance and not a lot of smoke (you would get TONS of smoke if the turbo let go and oil pumped into engine) then I would have the feeling that you did your car a favor and performed an italian tune up. (I don't mean to offend any italians, it's just what we diesel folk call it!)
Why would you be considering changing out the engine? That would be pretty expensive overall, and converting to gas would be troublesome. Keep it diesel! How many miles on the clock? That engine should run 250,000+ happily. It's most important to change the oil regularly and not run the engine with a ton of load and then just turn the engine off, this will 'coke' up the turbo lines if you are using non-synthetic oil. Don't loose sleep over it or sit around idling the car all the time, just don't drag race and then park the car.
As for the car running without the turbo, mostly they sieze, break shafts, oil seals or have the turbines destroyed. Any of the above and you'd be parked for the most part.
I'd maintain it, do an italian tune up now and then and enjoy the economy and that lovely diesel sound!
Where are you located, you can sell me the engine if you don't want it!
Scott

 

why would i sell the engine now that my wallet has breathed for the first time in hours?

when i was sitting in the entrance for the ipswich sugar beet factory i revved up the engine (in neutral) and all that happened was a little black smoke which is just unburnt diesel right? and that was at 4,000RPM!! hope that the engine is okay and can get some sleep! will still have nightmares looked like i was about to become a goverment statistic! must have looked bad from behind!

okay if it survives what should i do???? i have changed the oil but thats it. shoud i just get all the belts etc done? or should i get volvo to take it to bits and replace anything old?

 

changed oil at 195400 only this last week.

 

Yeah I would keep up on the oil changes and new belts and such are never a bad idea if they have not been done for awhile. Don't just take the car to Volvo and ask them to throw on new parts, they could go nuts. But a check over by a trusted mechanic could never hurt. A little bit of black smoke is normal, it is just that, poorly burned/unburnt fuel. I drive a TDI VW and it still smokes now and then, it's hard to have it gone completely.
I wouldn't worry at all unless something else changes, like a big drop in power or a spy hunter smoke screen!
Well enjoy your car, it sounds great!
Scott