Volvo 480 Club Europe

Excuse me, I'm new in this forum. Where can I get more information about Richmod ecu and buy one? I don't found it.

This post is for caminate

It is not so straight forward , if you are buying a second hand richmod ECU then you need to know the colour of your existing ECU as they have to match up more or less. Not all richmods will run with all colours so it is important or you will just be wasting your money as a mismatched ECU will cause the car to run badly.

RPruen used to do these modifications but he has stopped this now. Occasionally a member will collect ECU's and take them down to Richard for modification but that does not happen very often. So the usual route is to buy a second hand modified ECU.

Do a search on ecu colours there is plenty of information about this on the forum.

start with this thread

http://volvo480.northernscum.org.uk/for ... +ecu#84478

if you want a richmod ECU then post up a wanted thread in the parts accessories part of the forum.

Thank you very much for your fast answer.

I'll look for information in the foro.

I have just buy a 480 turbo for classic races (in the Jarama circuit in spain) and looking for a plus power I found this web

Caminante the richmod ups the power to 179 bhp bringing the top speed of a 480 turbo up to 148 mph ( 238.2 km/h) and thats was with a 1992 480 turbo my son owned at one time.

There is also an extremely rare super rich mod.

if it melts the pistons you probably have a richmod.

Caminante rich mods dont melt your pistons Ted clutch is poco loco .

jejeje, Richmod sound good... I want one

Well this afternoon I look slowly the forum an try learn more about how to get the pole in the Jarama... and my english too

glasgowjim wrote:Caminante rich mods dont melt your pistons Ted clutch is poco loco .

roto maquina de expansion mod.

Some time ago I purchased a blue richmod from a forummember. Because of curiosity I opened up the ECU this week. It looked similar to the picture that Sieger showed in this thread, except I have only one resistor instead of two. Is this ok?



My car failed MOT (or APK in the Netherlands) because the CO-level is to high (around 3 to 4%), and since I can't figure out why I'm checking all possibilities. The richmod was installed about a month before MOT, so I'm wondering if there's a link Also the fuel consumption went up since I installed the richmod! Before it was around 8l/100km, now it's around 11l/100km!

i have richmod and t25 turbo

fuel consumption was on road away from town 7l/100km, in town 11l/100km (with t2 and now rich mod) around 8l per 100km
and now fuel consumption is on road away from town 8l/100km, in town 15l/100km (with t2 and now rich mod) around 12,5 per 100km


i had problem hire, my car eats 16-17litres per 100km and it was time to go to MOT, co2 was 0,6-0,8, earlier was 0,07, but it was broken sealant Between a collector and turbo.

I've discovered a leak in the inlet manifold, but that should lower the CO instead of raising it. I also replaced the NGK BPR8ES for original bougies and now the fuel consumption is back to 8,7l/100km. The electrodes on the NGK's are shorter than the ones on the original bougies. Could that be the problem?


on the left the original bougie and on the right NGK BPR8ES

@plugs: The difference is between hot and cold. The lesser protruding the colder. If you really use your extra power the NGK is the better choice. I wonder if the fuel economy changed that much by just exchanging plugs. There's a lot of variables to take into account.
@resistors: It's the total value that counts, not the amount of. A lot of resistors in parallel and/or in series can be replaced by one, given the calculated value is available.
@real richmod: As stated before you only can tell by examining the mapping. For this you need special equipment in order to read the contents of controller or eprom.

Put your foot to the floor if you cant tell the difference you are either dead or useless.

the difference is obvious

Robou wrote:@plugs: The difference is between hot and cold. The lesser protruding the colder. If you really use your extra power the NGK is the better choice. I wonder if the fuel economy changed that much by just exchanging plugs. There's a lot of variables to take into account.
@resistors: It's the total value that counts, not the amount of. A lot of resistors in parallel and/or in series can be replaced by one, given the calculated value is available.
@real richmod: As stated before you only can tell by examining the mapping. For this you need special equipment in order to read the contents of controller or eprom.

Tnx for the answers ! The fuel economy is fluctuating. It's now around 11l/100km with original spark plugs and the original ECU. Just have to figure out what's wrong with my car

glasgowjim wrote:Put your foot to the floor if you cant tell the difference you are either dead or useless.

the difference is obvious

I can tell the difference, but because of the problems with my car I can't fully enjoy it

Oh bummer !

If you are getting a bad fuel economy, and the richmod isnt working correctly check your lambda sensor, if this is dead or diying it will cause all sorts of mayhem! Also check your icv is functioning correctly.

One other point would be are you running the volvo standard dreirc (dump) valve?? This might be at fault, due to the fact that it was never designed to take the increased boost. when it's failing you will hear a "fluttering sound". If this valve is damaged you could be getting an air leak after the MAF sensor causing the mixture to lean out, this would then cause the ecu via the lambda reading to increase the fuling!.

Hope this makes sense!

bkf_uk wrote:If you are getting a bad fuel economy, and the richmod isnt working correctly check your lambda sensor, if this is dead or diying it will cause all sorts of mayhem! Also check your icv is functioning correctly.

One other point would be are you running the volvo standard dreirc (dump) valve?? This might be at fault, due to the fact that it was never designed to take the increased boost. when it's failing you will hear a "fluttering sound". If this valve is damaged you could be getting an air leak after the MAF sensor causing the mixture to lean out, this would then cause the ecu via the lambda reading to increase the fuling!.

Hope this makes sense!

The lambdasensor and the icv are both new. Also the standard dumpvalve was replaced with a VAG one before I installed the richmod, so those options can be ruled out. I even replaced the MAF-sensor, but that didn't make a change.

But thanks for the info!

i know this might sound funny but you are using the right "octane" rating of petrol? should be a 95 OCTANE (dont find the more expensive and fancier stuff does much myself.), Just if the octane rating is too low, you might be suffering from pinking (pre ignition), and so therefore the knock sensor on the engine is retarding the timing to the point the ecu goes into saftey mode.

Otherwise i would recomend a "stage 0", new oil, oil filter, air filter, plugs (use ngks not champions or bosch super4) ht leads, rotorarm,distcap and give the coolant system a flush through and put new antifreeze in. this should get it to run much smoother.

Also give the "ICV" a good clean out, use carbcleaner, make sure it's moving freely.

Check for any airleaks in the hoses after the MAF to the inlet manifold (a small hole anywhere alsong here will cause a "Lean" mixture making the ecu richen the mixture.

Another thing that could be causing a bad fuel economy is if another of the "recirc" valves is on the blink. see the following thread for details :-

http://volvo480.dragons.org.uk/forum/vi ... 1b263ada21

Hope this is of use to you, if none of this works im sure somone else will be along with some other answers.

bkf_uk wrote:i know this might sound funny but you are using the right "octane" rating of petrol? should be a 95 OCTANE (dont find the more expensive and fancier stuff does much myself.), Just if the octane rating is too low, you might be suffering from pinking (pre ignition), and so therefore the knock sensor on the engine is retarding the timing to the point the ecu goes into saftey mode.

Otherwise i would recomend a "stage 0", new oil, oil filter, air filter, plugs (use ngks not champions or bosch super4) ht leads, rotorarm,distcap and give the coolant system a flush through and put new antifreeze in. this should get it to run much smoother.

Also give the "ICV" a good clean out, use carbcleaner, make sure it's moving freely.

Check for any airleaks in the hoses after the MAF to the inlet manifold (a small hole anywhere alsong here will cause a "Lean" mixture making the ecu richen the mixture.

Another thing that could be causing a bad fuel economy is if another of the "recirc" valves is on the blink. see the following thread for details :-

http://volvo480.dragons.org.uk/forum/vi ... 06b8689366

Hope this is of use to you, if none of this works im sure somone else will be along with some other answers.

I use RON95 petrol (at least my wife does). I prefer BP Ultimate (RON98) myself. All the things you mentioned have been replaced or refreshed recently. Also the "evil valve" was leaking and has been replaced with an original new one. The only thing I haven't done so far is checking the hose for leaks, but that's on my to do list! Read useful info in this thread while searching the forum.
Can't think of anything else except maybe renewing the ignition cables and checking for leaks.

Thanks for your effort!