Turbo Issues T3 ?

[MarminUK]

Anyone else had issues with the turbo on the T3 (R design engine)?

The reason I asked is that I have had a couple of instances in "Eco" mode where I entered a motorway and floored the accelerator to match the speed of the traffic and the turbo stuttered for a good couple of seconds!!! This is a manual BTW so is nothing to do with gears.

[blastpipe]

The answer is don't be in eco mode when you want performance.

[MarminUK]

Thanks for the , erm, helpful response. ;p

Think that's kinda obvious, but Eco shouldn't mean that the turbo doesn't fire under acceleration. That's just downright dangerous, just wondered if anyone else had experienced this.

[blastpipe]

Have you tried it in a different drive mode..does it do the same? It is maybe the revs are slow to get up there in eco mode to get the turbo spinning when you're in a hurry. Eco mode isn't really designed to deliver speed quickly it is designed to maximise fuel economy.

[Chris John]

Why do you think it’s an “issue”?
Don’t use eco mode when you want acceleration
Clues in the title!

[Peter8642]

Er, I’m inclined to agree with the original poster that this is a problem. According to the manual, it is a safety feature of eco-mode that full acceleration is available when you floor the throttle.

[crtony1]

Had this happen with my T3 manual whilst driving in normal mode on a couple of occasions.

[stu22]

You sure its not the daft collision prevention gubbins?
We had similar and only way to cure it was to lower sensitivity of the system and ultimately a software update from the dealer.

[crtony1]

I put my problems down to software issues. Had my T3 manual approximately 3 months now and can only say the software of the vehicle is extremely bad, encountered several issues that always right themselves overnight. Worst example to date having to drive over 2 hours home with the air conditioning blowing maximum heat the whole journey despite stopping and restarting the vehicle several times, magically rectified itself overnight.

[Gnomeface]

Just stopping and re-starting the car may not be enough to reset it. We've had a couple of system errors (one of which set the heating to full on) but they cleared when the car was turned off and locked, waiting for a few minutes for all the systems to turn off, then unlocked and started normally. Both our incidents were almost certainly due to low battery voltage I believe - perhaps not surprising when the car keeps some communication links open at all times so that Volvo On Call is always available.

The slow pickup in Eco mode when you've been travelling on light or zero throttle is inevitable - Eco is a fuel saving mode so there is very little exhaust gas to drive the turbo in these circumstances and it is only spinning slowly, so flooring the throttle leaves it struggling at first. If you find this a problem in Eco mode then opening the throttle more gradually will allow the turbo to spin up and then deliver the power. I never use Eco mode for just this reason.

Incidentally in any car when the throttle pedal is held right down (in 'kickdown' in most cars) maximum power will be delivered, regardless of which mode it is in. It would be dangerous otherwise.