Hello,
New to this website, I've had my S40 since new, hard to believe it's been 10 years! I have 79k miles on it, and the car has been flawless really and trouble free, all this time. Just regular maintenance (brakes, filters, tune-ups, etc...).
The last month though, I've been trying to figure out what has happened to it. The car seems much more sluggish than it used to be, almost feels like you're pulling an anchor tied to the rear bumper
Also, the mpg went right down, I was averaging about 25mpg, now it's 20mpg. And I believe part of it, is because I feel like I'm stepping on the pedal a lot more to maintain my regular speed. I don't know if anyone has documented this before, but I noticed that on the highway, at 60mph, my rpm is 2200; and at 70mph the rpm is around 2500. Is that normal, I don't remember exactly what it was, but I don't think that I stepped that hard before.

The turbo seems to be working, but I don't know how to test it for sure.
Any input or help is greatly appreciated. Not fun driving it this way, especially watching the gas needle move so far, in one trip.

 

Your rpms of 2200 at 60 mph seem close to or about the same as my 2002 1.9T V40.

Have your o2 sensors been checked or replaced.
At 75k miles (120k'ms) one would have expected them to have been done.
They might account for your increased fuel consumption and the catylytic convertor may be getting tired or clogged up?

Suggest you connect her to an OBDII reader and see what fault codes , if any are stored on the ECM.

 

Thanks difflock for your quick response. Glad to hear that the rpms are normal. I'll check the O2 sensors, since I haven't done that.
And you mention the catalytic converter, just a couple of months ago, I had the muffler shop weld a new flex pipe right next to the converter, the original had a leak. I wonder if it matters the size difference, I noticed it is a bit shorter. Thanks.

 

Hello, I own a 2003 S40 with 34,000 miles.... Did you ever resolve your problem?

 

Well, I found the wastegate actuator arm came OFF, and was loose. The pin that holds it down was missing. So I just inserted the arm back onto the bracket and locked it down with a new pin. The turbo seems back to normal now, and the car feels much better, acceleration is where it used to be.

Here's a link to the wastegate actuator, scroll down. In the second picture you'll see the pin (that was missing). Actually, my son's R/C car's body clip fit perfectly in the bracket.

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...23391&p=191285

By the way, you'll have to take off a cover to access the wastegate.

Hope this helps.
Evan

 

Good to hear it was resolved...Thanks for the info!