Porsche owner here, hope you don't mind a European car brother dropping in for a question?

My best friend has an '05 S40 T5 FWD with 45k miles on it. Last weekend while driving down to Connecticut from Boston, a "reduced engine performance" light came on and the car suddenly lost power from 70mph down to a crawl. She managed to get it off the freeway and onto the shoulder.

AAA towed it to a garage (don't know if Volvo garage but I'm guessing no..) and the report she got back yesterday was:

- An issue with a valve in the turbo
- Entire turbo needs to be replaced
- $2,500

I've been researching your forums and found other folks having the "reduced engine performance" issue and something related to the electronic throttle, but this doesn't sound like that.

Question, please? Is this an issue that has come up before? A full turbo replacement on a car that rarely uses its turbo and barely has 45k miles on it?

I don't know if she's getting taken advantage of or not because the car is sitting dead, miles from home and some mechanic is taking advantage of her desperation.

- Its original warranty just ended a few months ago- few issues in 5 years
- 45k cared for miles, mostly city driving, turbo hardly used
- All maintenance performed on schedule at volvo dealer; in fact it was just in for service in July and nothing detected

What do you guys think? I also would love her to get it to a volvo garage for a 2nd opinion- if it is indeed at a non-volvo garage right now (trying to find that out.)

I appreciate any thoughts you guys have. She's in a crappy position with the car dead, hundreds of miles away from her and here I am, 3,000 miles away from her so I can only do so much; so just trying to help her and curious of any opinions out there on what she is being told.

Thx in advance guys!

 

I agree with your suspicions. A new turbo at 45k miles sounds like a scam.

At the very least I would ask for the trouble codes for further research.

On my 2001 S40 with the turbo 1.9L there is a small electric valve that actuates the wastegate to control boost. If this valve malfunctions it will set the CHECK ENGINE light and you will have less power. The car is still driveable though.

Maybe the new ones have something similar?

Do you know if there was any noise or smoke associated with the fault?

 

Thanks Hudini for your thoughts.

I did find out a little info this morning that made me feel better. My friend was able to have her car towed to a mechanic that has worked on her Sister's and Parent's Volvos in the past. So at least it is at a friendly place I have to assume.

My fear was AAA towed her to their nearest affiliated garage wherever in CT this happened, and some mechanic was taking advantage of her crappy situation and looking to pay off his kid's braces.. haha

I did ask her about the codes you brought up and she said he ran them.

I don't know, while i feel better about where it is at and who is giving the advice, this still seems hard to believe. I will ask her about smoke/noise though.

Good tips...

 

Maybe you can get some codes and post them.