My new 94 Volvo 940 turbo

Hey everyone, I am excited to be a new owner of a Gold 94 940 sedan. So far I am loving it, its only been a few days. I started out car shopping with the intentions of getting a waggon and couldn;t get the wife to agree to a 900 series waggon. She had her eyes on a 2001-06 XC70 AWD. After looking at several XC70's and noticing an overall lack of reliability in cars costing in the 4k-5k range I started looking at beater XC70's,

Found one for 1500 at a lot at went to check it out. Parked next to the ducked taped together XC70 was a clean but dirty Volvo sedan. One look at the ducktape and my wife was like "hell no" and refused to even look at it. So I was checking the XC out and my wife said what about this one, I like this one... Pointing at the gold 940.


I took the opportunity and ran with it. I originally wanted to get back into a RWD Turbo ride, Fondly remembering the 1988 Nissan 300ZX turbo I had as a teen. I have been missing power for quite some time being saddled with a 86 Subaru XT and its NA 86hp 1.8L and even though the XT is a fun ride, it is small and wasn’t suited for our new arrival to the family, my new baby girl. Safety was my first concern, so VOLVO came to mind, I never knew the swedes could do performance, but it makes sense. A reliable engine has headroom for performance.

So back to the 940, so Its got around 233K miles, timing belt was recently changed. and the car is in decent shape overall with only a few plastic pieces broken on the inside. But It does have its problems, one of witch is an unusual amount of blueish smoke from the tailpipe when you mash the throttle. Hell it can blow smoke rings LOL (badass in its own right) I first assumed blown turbo seals, but now that Ive researched some more it may be too much crankcase pressure. Not ruling anything out as of yet.



Symptoms:

oil appears to be leaking from oil cap (the whole area has oil over it.)
the car idles fine with little smoke
once you get into turbo range smoke (bluish white) billows
Nice power (compared to the XT lol)
oil consumption is of course high (about a half quart every day)

I'll get some pics and post them. But I will be investigating futher the PVC system, and am still thinking I might need a turbo. I hope I can get this car going good or the wife will never let me into another volvo.

The turbo needs a rebuild or you can find a good used replacement. You can drive the car like that until you have the funds available. I would go ahead and replace the pcv breather box(only buy genuine volvo). You will also need an o ring that goes on the bottom of the breather box.

So anyone have any info on using a turbo out of a 2001 FWD XC70 LOL, theres 2 at the local pick a part. I gather that you can but it needs to be reclocked and a bracket made. Would like specifics, buy cant seem to get productive search results.

Or should I just rebuild the one I have? I have never done one, but I do all my own work on my cars. Cant be harder than rebuilding a carb right? The rebuild kits range in the $150 range from what I can tell. its $89 for the turbo from the 01 at the pick u part. I want to keep it as budget friendly as possible...

update

So I have cleaned out the PCV system. The "flame trap" was clogged at the nipple to the intake solid. I didn't replace the box, it wasn't that bad. The o-ring was completely flat so one leak fixed when I replaced it. but that fixed the smoke (blow-by?) out of the dip stick tube and the oil fill. The pressure is reduced but still there, the cap now just jiggles but stays in place when loosened. (I'll have to get a glove from work to do glove test) The egr tube to intake was blocked completely and a couple vac lines needed replacing.

I am now hearing a vac leak somewhere so I will have to find it. I think it is something that got disconnected in the process of the PCV job. Also there is a brass nipple that is on the intack that doesn't have a connection or cap. I can't remember if it had a hose on it when I started or not but looking at the diagram for the vac lines on the wheel well shows nothing going to that nipple. Should it be capped? or am I missing a vac line there? (edit: I found it, LOL I remembered I took pictures before I started...)

Next step will be to clean out the intercooler and inspect the hoses there. I suspect that it is full of oil and crude as well. Plus the intake hose from the turbo to MAF will need to be replaced (bottom is soft/spongy)

Then a compression test and a check of the spark plugs. I am thinking one or more may be fouled. I am hoping at least the bottom end is OK . My wife would be pissed if the engine is toast on our new volvo. she wants to sell it if it needs major work. Looking back I probally should have had a mechanic do an expection on the engine prior to purchase but I was so excited that she approved of a 940T instead of one of the XC70's she was wanting to get.

I should shoot a video, that might help with diagnostics. My fear is that its the turbo + worn rings/broken pistons + clogged cat. I am happy that the cats are relatively cheap ($173 at IPD) but I will be broom sticking the old one to see if it runs better before purchasing a new one (plus I dont want to ruin the new one by putting it on while the engine is still having issues)

NotablyOffbeat said:

So anyone have any info on using a turbo out of a 2001 FWD XC70 LOL, theres 2 at the local pick a part. I gather that you can but it needs to be reclocked and a bracket made. Would like specifics, buy cant seem to get productive search results.

Or should I just rebuild the one I have? I have never done one, but I do all my own work on my cars. Cant be harder than rebuilding a carb right? The rebuild kits range in the $150 range from what I can tell. its $89 for the turbo from the 01 at the pick u part. I want to keep it as budget friendly as possible...

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I believe that the XC70 uses a <del>TD04HL-13G turbo</del>. In order to make the TD04HL-xx turbos bolt into a RWD turbo setup you need the conical exit TD04HL turbine housing (some members sell them). You then swap turbine housings, grind off the housing alignment pins, reclock turbine and compressor housings to match the RWD turbo orientation, add your custom wastegate bracket / actuator and bolt it in.

IMO rebuilding your existing turbo isn't that bad if you are patient and detail oriented.

In mine, the "alignment pins" came right out with some needle nose pliers. My 16t from a fwd v70 was rather low mileage though, so it might be more difficult to remove if its older/more milage

Yea I guess that's a "YMMV" item. I tried to remove them with pliers/vice grips but they were stuck so I broke out the dremel.

The XC70s will have a 13t turbo which could later be upgraded to a 16t or larger. I think it would be better idea to find a 16t. You would need fabricate a new down pipe if you go that route.

I am only aiming for 200-230hp so I didn't think I would need to go any larger than the stock offerings. I am impressed with the stock power its putting down right now. but I have been driving sub 100HP engines for the last 8 years. (a vanagon and the XT)

Plus the more power you make the more gas you use and I want to keep the mpg in check. this will be a our daily driver after all. the budget is tight at the moment, with the wife staying at home now. So i have to balance performance with reliability and cost.

It's ok for these cars to burn and leak some oil. Mine did for years until I finally just rebuilt the engine and swapped the transmission. The pistons aren't broken they just slap a lot, the rings are probably clapped out, Your PCV probably doesn't pull hard enough, and I'm sure the turbo could stand a rebuild kit (gpopshop.com). Might as well do the timing belt for good measure. But once all that's done it's going to be the greatest car ever built.

NotablyOffbeat said:

I am only aiming for 200-230hp so I didn't think I would need to go any larger than the stock offerings. I am impressed with the stock power its putting down right now. but I have been driving sub 100HP engines for the last 8 years. (a vanagon and the XT)

Plus the more power you make the more gas you use and I want to keep the mpg in check. this will be a our daily driver after all. the budget is tight at the moment, with the wife staying at home now. So i have to balance performance with reliability and cost.

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I put a 50 trim turbo on my car with 440 cc injectors and my car was pretty good on the high way not so much in town since I had a heavy foot off the line.

This is just my opinion so not worth much but ...

New baby + old Volvo - funds = stage zero
Lots of funds x time + no responsibilities = moar boost

Basically an older Volvo at best will need stuff done - it’s like whack a mole - but when trying to get to 230hp, while relatively simple, you are now playing several games of whack a mole all at once. And even then it’s only going to be as fast as a not very fast modern car.

Regardless good luck and enjoy the baby/Volvo

S70T5fivespeed said:

you are now playing several games of whack a mole all at once. And even then it?s only going to be as fast as a not very fast modern car.

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truth

Congrats on baby!

I love whack a mole... and a absolutely hate modern cars. They seem so disposable, UN-servicable. The worst car I owned was a 2010 jeep commander back in 2013. only had 22K and gave me constant trouble till i sent it back 6 months later putting me 15K in the hole. an inch of Water in my 2008 Passat wagons floorboard totalled it.



As for technology improving cars, I get that... but I enjoy being able to work on the car, and I like to look under the hood of my car and not see an ocean of plastic.

Cell Phones have become way more modern these days, A million times more powerful than my first cell phone, but does that even matter when all I need to do is make a call. Honestly I wish my old cell phone still worked, the battery lasted forever, it was damn near indestructible. It didn't heat up to the point I think its cooking my leg...

notablyoffbeat said:

i love whack a mole... And a absolutely hate modern cars. They seem so disposable, un-servicable. The worst car i owned was a 2010 jeep commander back in 2013. Only had 22k and gave me constant trouble till i sent it back 6 months later putting me 15k in the hole. An inch of water in my 2008 passat wagons floorboard totalled it.



As for technology improving cars, i get that... But i enjoy being able to work on the car, and i like to look under the hood of my car and not see an ocean of plastic.

Cell phones have become way more modern these days, a million times more powerful than my first cell phone, but does that even matter when all i need to do is make a call. Honestly i wish my old cell phone still worked, the battery lasted forever, it was damn near indestructible. It didn't heat up to the point i think its cooking my leg...

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Preach brothuh! Preach!