Hey guys. It came time to do the bi-yearly smog inspection in cali. Been dealing with a leaky turbo, but that turned out to be the least of my worries. When they went to hook it up to the machine, the guy told me none of my O2 monitors were set or Cat monitor also wasn't set. I searched the internet and called volvo service and got the driving procedure to supposedly set the system monitors, but to no avail the system wont set ? So my question is in your opinions what can be done and where to start ? I know the turbo rebuild will be around $400.00 and whatever else as far as the emissions system goes. Also if it dosent pass smog with the leaky turbo then it seems like all this is a waste of time and money. My reg is due by the 28th of the month. Thanks in advance.

 

Do you have a check engine light on at all ??

What did you try to get the O2s to set ??

 

I got a specfic driving cycle from a local volvo dealer that is supposed to set all the monitors on the emissions system but that did not work it consisted of 6 different cycles speeds idle etc. No check engine light on thats what strikes me as weird ?

 

When you say leaky turbo, you mean the oil shaft seals have gone? I'd have to imagine that enough excess oil being pumped through, whether dumped in the intake and burned in the power stroke, or dumped straight in the exhaust, will throw off the emissions. Can't be good for the cat either.

 

Yea the shaft seals are going or almost gone !!! How could i check the cat for issues ? If they gross pollute it then more than likely I would be screwed ? Dont know what to do or where to start. Don't want to let go of the R as they are hard to find these days !

 

Buy a used turbo?
Then do the drive cycle and see if it sets?
Then have yours rebuilt at a later time?

 

Thanks i was thinking about doing that. The only thing is where i live I have not found a used turbo to use as a tester and what if the monitors won't set I only have till the end of the week to get this figured out. It is reallly a stumper to me as to what is going on with the monitors ? I was thinking of doing a compression test also just to rule out that, any certain writeup on doing that ? What type of numbers should I be looking for ?

 

A few more things to add before i do the leakdown/compression test. My gas mileage lately has been terrible around 13-16 mpg but thats at 6000ft above sea level ? Also the oil pools up inside the turbo at the lowest point on the intake side does that comfirm and internal failure of the turbo or something else down the line ? Will post results tonight of the test and also post some pictures of the plugs that come out to maybe shed some light on any other motor issues.

 

Cant you get a extension on the smog test?
Then buy a used turbo off of e-bay or Craig's List?

How do you know oil is inside of the turbo? Have you removed it and looked or is there a way to look inside with it still in the car?
If oil is actually inside the turbo itself I would say bad bearing seals and that will cause you not to pass smog.

 

Okay so here is what i came up with. Going from passenger side to drivers side cylinders. Motor was cold did not have enough time to warm it up !

(Dry Comp Test)
1. 130 2. 135 3. 130 4. 135 5. 130

(Wet Comp Test)
1. 135 2. 135 3. 130 4. 137 5. 135

I can tell the oil is pooling up on the intake side because if I take my intake boot off i can use an extension mirror and look in there and see it ?

 

I read somewhere that certian Volvos have a real hard time setting the complete thing on many testers. My tester in fact tells you that when I go to pull codes from the obd. I believe there's even a sanctioned exception for this issue with volvos.

 

Those numbers are good in the sence that they are consistant. However, they are all very low, which is rare. I'm guessing they are low because the car was cold. Just a thought, why would you run the test if you didn't have time to do it right (warm motor)? Compression should be between 156 - 185.

 

Ya I know thats a no no but the turbo was already off the car so thats all i could manage also where I live it was about 20 degrees out ! Am I correct at least the numbers were even ? Once daylight came I noticed that the turbo said TD04-15G I thought the R cars had a 16T ? Could my car really not be an R ? maybe a T-5R ? How could I tell ? Thanks in advance, by the way I always thought this thing never had quite the right amount of power.

 

It could be coming from bad seals in the turbo or it could be blowby getting sucked into the intake upstream of the turbo through the PTC valve and into then through the intake side of the turbo. You should pull the plastic tube to the intake side of the turbo and see if the inside of the tube and the impeller look wet.

 

Okay panic not. First of all...go pay your registration fees at the DMV. Once that is done you are in the clear and will not have to pay anything else or any fines. Then you can concentrate on the issue. After your due date comes you cannot drive the car legally on the roads without a moving permit. A moving permit can be obtained from the DMV and they usually issue them one day at a time but if your really nice to the employee you can get more days out of them.

From what I am understanding is that your car is not throwing any cells and has been reset but then you had it diagnosed in prep for your smog test they told you that your readiness light was not set. Is that right????
The readyness light is the time it takes for your ECU to thoroughly check all your systems. If you have a good OBDII code ready it will tell you whether the car is ready or not and what system is holding it up. If you lived close to me I would invite you over to find out whats up. Take it to Autozone or the place and have them tell you what is not setting. O2 sensors usually set right away, its usually the evap system that takes some time and that process can be sped up by filling your gas tank up. If it never sets they you have a leak in the gas cap or the plastic line from the charcoal canister to the tank is cracked. I do not believe a leaky turbo will cause a readiness light to not set unless gobs of oil have made their way down the exhaust and plugged the cat and 02 sensor. A thermal head gun can tell you if your cat is working.

 

Thanks for the info Boxpin ! From what I can tell you live about 10 hours north of me im in socal. Well what I found is is both O2 sensors would not set no matter what I did, also the cat was reading about 200 degrees front and back warmed up which I thought was about 1/2 of what it should be ? Also I talked to the turbo rebuilder today and the compressor wheel was dusted ? and both seals and bearings were bad and they did a full rebuild and I will have it back on thursday. The exhaust would always smell like raw fuel ? kind of misty in a sense but I also live at 7000 ft so maybe that does something to the system. Really appreaciate all the help guys bear with me here as I am a multi certified Diesel Tech but the gasser end I am still kind of a newbie on !!!!

 

our 96 850 NA, would not reset either, 5-10 drive cycles later and still no good for the majority of the systems. In PA luckily so got a "no communications" sticker...next year (approx 8k later) most were still not set, odo did not work, so exempt sticker. It is a known problem with the 850s and there should be someway around it in CA, as in PA, no?

 

Well if the O2 sensor was bad and the cat too that would explain the fuel smell. Sounds like you have some parts to acquire. Sorry to hear.

 

Thanks for that ! Ok thats makes sense now. Turbo should be in tommrow and 2 O2 sensors and a magna-flow (california cat) new rack & pinon and drivers side axle will be on order. Might as well fix it all while im in there. Hopefully she will be happy when all of this is said and done !!!!

 

Glad to hear you have a plan.

Where did you send the turbo? I've looked at a few online, but am not familiar with any of them. Afraid I'm about to have to send mine off as well.