Hey everybody. Im new to the forum. I just purchased my first Volvo today for 1500 which i thought was a pretty good deal. Car is in great shape but the only problem it has is that when i punch it to engage the turbo it sputters and accellerates really slow or not at all. If i granny it tho it drives fine. It is throwing a service engine light. It also smokes a little out of the exhaust. I plan on hooking it up to a code reader but i was curious to see if anybody on this forum knows what could cause this. Its also my first turbo car so i dont know much about the mechanics of turbos. Can anybody enlighten me?

 

First thing I would do is a complete "stage 1" tune up. New spark plugs, Plug wires, air filter, and fuel filter, as well as an oil change, and see if that makes a difference. Service light is nothing to be concerned about as it is a reminder light that comes on to tell you an oil change is due. IF the check engine light is not on, there should not be any codes to read. As for smoking out the exhaust, what color is the smoke, black/gray is un-burnt fuel, blue is oil, and white is usually coolant pointing to a bad head gasket.

As far as how a turbo works, I would sugest you google it as there are a lot better explanations about it than I could give. BTW, what year and how many miles on the car??

 

1998 159000 and its gotta be unburnt fuel

 

Also it will only smoke when it sputters

 

Ok, sounds like the first step would be a tune up and go from there. Good thing about it being a 1998, no electronic throttle module to deal with. Oh yes, I forgot along with all the parts for a tune up, a new distributor cap and rotor and possibly a new coil as well would be good. All total, the parts should not be more than $120-$150.

 

Just wanted to update that i had the codes read and they are
P0103
P0243
P0455
which are essentially the wastegate, mass airflow sensor and the gas cap<-?
my mechanic is going to do an estimate for me this friday but i was curious, does anybody know what (ballpark) thats gonna run? Any guesses?

 

impossible to say. In no way do those codes tell you what that mechanic is going to do up to the point where the problem is actually solved. A lot of times people will replace parts whose names appear in the description of the code, but that does not really necessarily solve the problem.

 

Youre absolutely right. I have a maf sensor on the way and should be here this week. My turbo buddy said that if the maf sensor is not working that it has a tendency to throw off other codes like my wastegate code. So hopefully i can install this new sensor and all will be well, but we'll see i guess

 

You may have a leak that only leaks under pressure, and the MAF may be the only thing that is correct. There is a bunch of plumbing between the MAF and the throttle.

 

Just an update. I replaced the MAF sensor and it did help a little bit. Still sputters when i open up the throttle. Changed spark plugs today, they looked like they hadnt been changed in a long tine. Still had the same result. So a possible leak between the MAF and throttle?
Whats the best way to determine that?
Could clogged injectors be the problem?

 

Another update. I changed my coil out and still the car sounds like its coughing at high rpms. Idk where to go from here. Apparently this is a sonewhat common issue in these t5 cars. If anyone has any insight it would be appreciated at this point

 

Like I mentioned earlier, I would change plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, fuel filter, air filter, etc.....full tune up, as that will at least get you on a solid footing with known good ignition parts and fuel filter. Not sure about it being common in the T5's, but when we had an intermitant misfire/sputter, a new set of plugs and wires fixed it.