Hi, just wanted to say hello from scotland. i have just bought a volvo v40 t4 in burnt orange with 16" bbs alloys. not sure if these were standard or not but they look ok. they are in a kind of matt greyish white colour.
my car has leather, climate and cruise, and it all seems to work ok.
i bought a wee tuning module off of ebay that is reputed to give upto 20bhp on this mode.
It fits onto the air meter beside the air box.problem is when i fitted it as per instructions, i noticed no gain, but 2 dash lights had suddenly appeared -
1 from the DSA!!(no idea why cos this should have nothing to do with it), and one for the engine electronics and coolant management system.
I reversed the fitting process ( i.e disconnected the battery etc) and put it back to normal but the engine electronic warning stayed on for ages but eventually went off after a few hours.
Does anyone else know about these wee tuning modules? it was bought from mvt tuning off ebay.
Anyways, good car although not as rapid as i expected from 200bhp. seems very sluggish under 3000 revs.
are they all like this or is mine a duffer. it revs smoothly with no pinging or juddering, but it has been getting used with 95ron unleaded.
will this make a big difference like i seem to be experiencing?
all answers on a postcard to the usual address!!
cheery by
lazygti

Welcome. The cheap modules off ebay are JUNK. There are good modules but they will cost alot more. High octane gas might make a small difference but not enough when compared to the higher price. Check out the S40 forum. Upgrades are best done in stages and include chips, exhaust upgrades. etc.

if your running a t4 you should be using no less than 97 RON+(more would be better. like v power or i believe tesco's do a high RON too) in fuel or you will find that the engine really dont like it.

personally i find that the higher RON fuel actually makes the car run alot more cleanly threw the rev range.

i only run a 1.8i and since trying both lower 95 RON and v power fuel (at 1.13 a litre) i much prefer and actually notice the difference in the higher RON.

and this maybe just my illusion but i seem to get more mpg out of the higher RON fuel. (maybe coz i dont have to accelerate as hard to get to the same speed as i would with the 95 RON crap) not really sure but i'm converted anyway to the higher RONS even if it is a bit dearer.

also the like above post i would take the module off and throw it in the bin.

welcome scotland to the forum. congrats on your 40. both jks2 and huskydo are correct. while a bump up to the next octane level might not be felt in the seat of the pants, across the rev range it will show itself in the engines ability to use the octane. now, if your car is a duffer, have it tuned correctly. not sure how the previous owner ran it, but a mandatory tune-up with a good set of plugs, wires, filters, synth oil( engine and tranny-if needed), check rotors, turbo hoses, etc. check for any codes in the ecu. if any codes, have them checked out and cleared. then you can decide if you need more power. those wee boxes are shite. plain and simple. a proper tuning is called for, not a plug-in module. take the box and just go skeet shooting with it. :grin: check out the s40 forum and say hello to all. you'll see all stages of mods there, from mild to wild. good luck and glad to have you on board.

Thank you all for the good advice. the module is now binned. the guy i bought it from on ebay was a bit of a tit, and wouldn't respond to my queries about lack of power etc.
I changed the fuel i use to shell v-power as according to other posts, this was better than tesco's but i swear my car ran worse! i experienced juddering around 4000rpm and it wouldn't go above 110mph (not that i actually did this on public roads, honest!) but when i changed back to normal 95ron, my car has run alot nicer and smoother. not got round to changing plugs etc as i'm a bit skint at the mo.(poor student).
anyway, great to be aboard. very helpful folks on here.
cheers

if you can find it, there is a product called seafoam. pour it into the gas tank. later on you can do the intake trick, but find the one that is for cleaning your lines. it'll smoke a little, but try running at 110, just a little :grin: and it'll clear up. you might have gotten a batch of stinky gas.

yeah very werid that that the car runs worse <_< maybe it just lived off 95 ron fuel all its life and dont't like change :) mine does the opposite effect lol (runs a bit ruff on the 95 ron stuff (no stuttering or anything on any of the fuel mind,))

if it runs better on the 95 ron stuff mate stick to that :57:

was it pure v power stuff (i.e tanks near enough empty total?) or was it mixed with it just for info more than problem solving :)

like greek says also it could be a bad batch, had some 95 ron stuff like that. Car really ran badly with that, till i filled it to brim from another garage and dilluted it then it was fine.

huskydo is right, diluting it will work also if you can't swing the dosh for the seafoam. you can also try any of the known brands of fuel line cleaners. just stay away from the crappy ones, they are just alchohol based or have a turpentine base. marvels mystery oil is one from waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when that used to work on older cars. keep us posted please.

Hi guys. sorry for not replying sooner.Not been online for a while. Anyways, i have decided to stick to 95 ron for the moment as my car seems to be running ok on it. i did experience a lack of power and a hunting idle speed one day when i was stuck in a heavy traffic jam for ages. i reckon it must've been some sort of electronic thingy for the turbo shutting down due to heat. hasn't happened again since but ive not been stuck in bad traffic again like that so fingers crossed. I used two single shots of ' x-power ' additive to 2 full tanks of fuel. seems to be running fairly ok but revs are taking a while to drop between changing gears during spirited acceleration.
on a seperate note, does anyone know the ins and outs of changing dashboard bulbs?
the fan speed backilight doesn't illuminate, and on my dials, the multi function readout backlight has just went dull. are these hard to change? or would it be bes to take it to an auto electrician?
cheers for any help
doug