Missing some power?

DaKyy · Post by **DaKyy** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 10:23 pm

Been trying for few days to reach reasonable top speed. The car is a 87 or 88 white ES. It should have 80kW and should reach top speed of 195km/h. Ahem.. and ofcourse i've tried these top speeds in restricted areas

However, i've only managed to reach 190km/h according to the speedo, that isn't quite accurate either. (Radar says 72km/h when speedo says 80km/h) And ofcourse the margin of error rises in bigger speeds.

What could be wrong, the speedo should go way over 200km/h?

volvofox · Post by **volvofox** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 11:15 pm

is the car ok ? no vacuum leaks, ignition trouble, or clogged catalists ? How was the road condition (mountain upwards, wind)
Them little things mean them 5 km, aldough i would not lie a wake at night of this. heck, its an old car, remember !

possible it has gone a bit "lazy" and has to be "driven in" again (ingereden) to get it in optimal condition. Maybe the previous owner never exeeded 120, and the car is lazy

maybe the speedo understates the real kilometers/hour at the end...
it can be possible that in real you drive 195.

do you have other tyres and alloys ? the roll radius is different, so is the data on the speedo !

luck
JPF

DaKyy · Post by **DaKyy** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 11:23 pm

Well, the idle is ok, stable at about 800rpm, runs just fine. Altough I decided to renew the ignition parts. They're quite cheap. So the engine is running just fine I think. I've pushed the pedal quite alot lately, so I think the lazyness should be gone. The engine is old, though it has low mileage, only 180 000 kilometers. And the road.. well let's say it's a two lane highway and a downhill.

I have two differend alloys, 14" pollux with 175/65 and 15" cetus with 195/55. Can't hit the 200 limit with either one...

Have to check the compression rates in cylinders next..

asterix · Post by **asterix** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 1:51 am

Interesting topic for me, as I believe that the 480ES I've just bought is also a bit 'lazy'....it starts, idles and runs beautifully, but seems to lack the punch of other cars I;ve tried.

Admittedly, the car had been sitting unused for 6 months before I bought it, and already the clutch and gearbox feel better that they did two days and 300 miles ago. I've replaced the disgusting rotor arm, and the dizzy cap will be next, although the plugs were fine....the only other problem I see is that the corrugated trunking from the air cleaner is very cracked and perished - this may alter the mixture, so I'll repair that too.

After this, I'm not sure what may be wrong - any suggestions?

pol · Post by **pol** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 10:24 am

Maybe it's possible that the previous owners never saw above 30 and being the built to last engine that they are, they have never even been broken in yet!!??

pol

volvofox · Post by **volvofox** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 12:53 pm

yes "broken in " is the word i was looking for
thanks
JPF

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 6:23 pm

Maybe it helps to empty the tank (not completely!! Leave about 5 liters in it) and fill her up once with Euro98 (RON 98 or something), also add a can of injector cleaner.

With this nicely drive the engine untill it's warm and then floor it and misbehave a little

Don't want you to go speeding (isn't even needed) just drive the car at a higher RPM...

Maybe just a silly thought or maybe it will wake up the engine, I don't know...

chris1roll · Post by **chris1roll** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 6:10 pm

Did you try it at night?
I always try the top speed in the dark on the M5 as you can see other cars ahead and behind and therefore any potential police!

With the headlights up the wind resistance may mean this difference at that kind of speed. It takes a lot of power to make a small difference above about 110mph (sorry dont know kmh)

doug_480_turbo · Post by **doug_480_turbo** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 6:38 pm

195 kph is about 120mph. my 440 (i know its not a 480 but has the same engine and it was before i seen the light) but it was like that to start with but after about 6 months of lazyness and a new exhaust it done 139mph. which is about 225kph.

but now i got 480 turbo

johnd · Post by **johnd** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 7:14 pm

139mph out of a 440!! My mate only got 145mph out of his M3......admittedly he bottled it then!

John

doug_480_turbo · Post by **doug_480_turbo** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 7:33 pm

yeah they are pretty under rated cars, no-one expects them to be that fast. cheap to insure too mine was in insurcance group 6

volvofox · Post by **volvofox** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 12:04 am

some tip to explain the 5 missing top kilometers : you might have the cat (if you have it) clogged. But if you keep on with the "fitness programm for your car" this will get hot and burn away a bit

most people take it off and stick in a thingy(

) in it of some kind, to kick a way the clogged platinum mesh Be aware it can cause you trouble in the anual test of your car in your country.(exhaust test)

Now I wouldn't do this right away, just as "breaking in the car "doesn't help

luck
JPF

DaKyy · Post by **DaKyy** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 5:56 am

I'm not missing the top 5 kilometers

It is actually more like 20-30 km/h in reality. My 480 doesn't have catalysator. That btw takes off about 10-15hp. Yes, I've tried without 'POP's up

480R · Post by **480R** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 10:13 am

When I first bought my 480ES it didn't go any faster then about 155km/h! It had been standing for about a year without moving so I thought that was the cause!
After about 4 months driving everyday and putting the pedal to the metal I had already 195km/h on the clock so the car was a bit lazy!

Now that I put the Turbo-lump in it does 180km/h easy with a lot of power still there to accelerate even more, but the car was shaking so much that I didn't think it was safe to go any faster at the moment! :S

Gr. Ted

www.volvo480turbo.tk

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 10:21 am

DaKyy wrote: (Radar says 72km/h when speedo says 80km/h) And ofcourse the margin of error rises in bigger speeds.

What radar is used, and under what conditions? You'd be better off using GPS to gain more accurate readings, radar is suscepible to errors due to atmospherics, reflections, doppler shift etc...

Interested in your radar solution though, so do tell

DaKyy · Post by **DaKyy** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 1:50 pm

dragon wrote:
DaKyy wrote: (Radar says 72km/h when speedo says 80km/h) And ofcourse the margin of error rises in bigger speeds.
What radar is used, and under what conditions? You'd be better off using GPS to gain more accurate readings, radar is suscepible to errors due to atmospherics, reflections, doppler shift etc...

Interested in your radar solution though, so do tell

Well, actually it isn't a radar

We have these infodisplays here, that shows your speed. Actually they are there for checking the speedo error, so they are calibrated correctly. There are two 'gates' on the road, and when front wheel crosses the first, timer will start, and when the front wheel gets to the second gate, the timer will stop. So when the distance between the gates is known, it's easy to calculate the correct speed

Btw, the margin of error is quite the same with my mom's -96 440.

DaKyy · Post by **DaKyy** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:19 pm

Ok, the car went to repair today. They'll check out the air filter and ignition parts, they also test the pressure rates on cylinders.

DaKyy · Post by **DaKyy** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:30 am

Hmm, sparks nor ignition parts were not to blame. Also cylinder pressures were ok. To describe the problem better, power seems to come down in higher rpms, about 4500 to 5500 rpms the torque seems to come down quite a bit.

MatBat · Post by **MatBat** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 11:55 am

Paint your car red!
It'll go much faster.

DaKyy · Post by **DaKyy** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:44 pm

Argh, went to M.O.T. today - didn't pass. Too high oxygen readings on exhaust :/ Exhaust must be broken somewhere? Can this affect the power so much? Also the handbrake didn't pass, it didn't lock the rear wheels. Any tips on making it work better?

Volvo 480 Club Europe

Missing some power?

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