With these quick guide you can check if the Variable Valve Timing Pulley on your Volvo is playing up.
This tutorial was done in a Volvo S40, but it is the same in any 4 or 5 cilinders engine in S80, V70, S60, XC70, XC90, S40, V40, C70 Volvo’s.
First of all you need to remove the top plastic covers of the engine. To do this, undo and remove the 6 screws (highlighted in the yellow circles). Remove the right hand side engine cover.
To remove the left hand side engine cover, you need to undo the 2 clips (highlighted in the yellow circles) and lift the cover.
Now you can see the VVT pulley and the VVT solenoid.
Now, unplug the connector going into the VVT Solenoid (highlighted in the yellow circle in the above picture) and start the engine.
– If the noise stops, then it is 99.99% the VVT Pulley being faulty and it needs replacing. A lot of people or garages misdiagnose that the VVT Solenoid is at fault, but very rarely does it fail. To replace it, you only need to remove the 4 bolts, one on each corner.
– If the noise is still there when you disconnect the VVT Solenoid connector, then the VVT pulley is fine and something else is wrong with your car
This tutorial was contributed to www.volvohowto.com by it’s author “gatos”. Original posted in Volvo Owners Club Forum
The instructions in this tutorial will work in the following models / years:
– 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Volvo S40
– 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Volvo v40
MIKE says:
is the noise still on when vvt selenoid is disconnected, what else could it be?
Juha says:
I got the VVT problem as well and I’ll get it fixed soon. I was wondering if there is oil under the plastic covers as seen in your picture number 2? Is that normal?
Alexandra M. says:
No, it’s not normal.
Usually it’s leaking from the oil cap, and a new o-ring should fix it.
Regards,
ben says:
where is the oil cap located? When I took off the plastic cover there is oil spilling everywhere. But its hard to tell where the oil was coming from all I know it was concentrated under the plastic guard
Alexandra M. says:
Hi
The oil cap is the big black cap in the left side of the engine.
Regards
Jo says:
Mine is throwing a few codes, camshaft control, camshaft position sensor, tc system flow fault, throttle position sensor 1&2, and torque. Removed the cover to find that oil appears to b leaking pretty heavily from the solenoid,could a bad solenoid throw all those codes