Life in the old dog yet

[Tamworthbay]

Soooooo looking forward to the end of the month and getting out and about a bit so I retaxed the V70 and took it for a spin. The lambda light went off within 200yds. Result! Then came back on a mile later, shit. So A few miles later with the engine fully warmed up I gave it a couple of ‘Italian tune’ starts leaving a cloud of black flag behind. The light went off. Result! MK2. So roll up the slip road near home and the pissing thing comes back on again. I have ordered some injector cleaner and hope that a dose of that plus another good run will get rid of it. And it does at least switch itself off without any complicated reset sequence or reader needed. It seems to drive ok, engine was a little rough at first but I put that down to its inactivity of late.

So is it just a three month lay up that has caused this? Will it clear with a good run? We are planning on taking it down to Cornwall in the summer IF the caravan we have booked is still available so need it ok for then.

[purplebargeken]

Try some Seafoam prrhaps?

[Tamworthbay]

16 minutes ago, purplebargeken said:

Try some Seafoam prrhaps?

What’s seafoam?

[Tamworthbay]

Ah, found it! I have ordered some STP stuff but will try the seafoam if it doesn’t work.

[purplebargeken]

Nice one mate.

[Tamworthbay]

A proper blast today, including really pissing off a bright yellow MGZR on a nice A road, and the light is off. I will chuck the cleaner in when it arrives but looks to be ok. No big plumes of black smoke when I booted it today. Sadly I needed to move it to get the Capri out so for three months it’s been run but barely and I think it took exception to that.

[Tamworthbay]

Any MoTers who can answer a question? It has the lambda light on and off like a Scotsman jockstrap at the moment. It has done 650 miles in the last week and ran beautifully with or without the light on. Will it fail it’s upcoming MoT for the light being on? It’s a 1997 and the light is different to a later eml light - it has an orange background and lambda symbol in a green triangle in the middle. If so I am planning on painting the light black and see if I can get away with it.

[Mudster]

EML not checked for vehicles registered prior to July 2003*

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/8-nuisance

Might still fail emissions test though.

*I'm not a MoT tester

[Tamworthbay]

11 minutes ago, Mudster said:

EML not checked for vehicles registered prior to July 2003*

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/8-nuisance

Might still fail emissions test though.

*I'm not a MoT tester

Thanks! Looks like it’s post 2008 for dizzlers so well in on that. No idea on emissions obviously but searching Ovlov forums suggest it’s a false positive in 90% of cases so hoping that’s the case.

[scdan4]

I think it’s a fail, no lights on now afaik.

However, the bulb is easy to  remove, and they won’t be looking for a lambda light surely, that’s not in the manual.

[Tamworthbay]

9 minutes ago, scdan4 said:

I think it’s a fail, no lights on now afaik.

However, the bulb is easy to  remove, and they won’t be looking for a lambda light surely, that’s not in the manual.

That is why I was wondering if any MoTers could confirm either way. Really struggling to find info on what the cause could be, I can’t even find out if it has a lambda sensor 100%, some info says they do, other says it’s only on the petrol engine. The info linked seems clear, but I know they send updates out to the stations. My place is decent but I don’t want to ask him as he will be looking for it then whereas if I paint the bulb black I think he will miss it. I am unsure about just pulling the bulb as Volvo can be sneaky and I wouldn’t be surprised if that throws something else out. Dash top has to come off but that looks fairly easy*
 

MPG is fine, no massive flag out the exhaust, two bottles of cleaning through it. Some really good varied runs including a 200 mile motorway blast. If anything it seems worse of a motorway. On a 70 mile trip across Dartmoor yesterday it went on and off 6 times. This sort of shite is why I hate electronics. Not even OBD so can’t read the fault codes.

[scdan4]

I defo haven’t got a lambda sensor. Some bulbs may have fallen out of my clocks with no adverse effects. Not a lambda one though.

dash top is dead easy if you have torx bits and plastic trim lever. About 12 hidden fixings though, look them up first.

[Tamworthbay]

2 minutes ago, scdan4 said:

I defo haven’t got a lambda sensor. Some bulbs may have fallen out of my clocks with no adverse effects. Not a lambda one though.

dash top is dead easy if you have torx bits and plastic trim lever. About 12 hidden fixings though, look them up first.

I have an old knife wrapped in insulation tape that looks well dodgy! I had a look on YouTube and it looks about a 20 -30 minute job so got to be worth doing it. I couldn’t see a sensor on mine but it’s pretty crowded down the back of the engine so I couldn’t be 100% sure.

[Christine]

Bluetac over the bulb.... Buy ebay item  280869482150....and if you need a 12v  mini amber  led.,.i  have some ? works a treat !!!  Cures all , airbag. Abs ... Bulb out...Eml..etc  !! All for less than a fiver !

[tommotech]

If you want to pop down to mine we can plug this in and see if there are any error codes, assuming it has an OBD2 connection. Just let me know. 
Hope all is well otherwise mate. 

[Tamworthbay]

13 hours ago, tommotech said:

If you want to pop down to mine we can plug this in and see if there are any error codes, assuming it has an OBD2 connection. Just let me know. 
Hope all is well otherwise mate. 

Thanks mate, sadly it predates OBD2 and has some weird Volvo only system. From reading around it seems most likely to be down to either the battery or a dodgy wire. Most examples I can find seem to suggest that at the very least MPG suffers significantly when there is a real issue but that most of the time it’s just a dodgy connection. I think it’s down to it sitting doing nothing other than being moved off the drive and back on for four months.

How are your projects coming in?

[Tamworthbay]

14 hours ago, Christine said:

Bluetac over the bulb.... Buy ebay item  280869482150....and if you need a 12v  mini amber  led.,.i  have some ? works a treat !!!  Cures all , airbag. Abs ... Bulb out...Eml..etc  !! All for less than a fiver !

Brilliant! The guy I go to is decent and I doubt he have a problem with the light being non existent so I will just cover it over to be on the safe side I think.

[Tamworthbay]

That was nice and easy. No lambda light anymore. I appreciate this is masking a problem not solving it and it may still fail on emissions but we will see. Online info seems to suggest its most likely an electrical gremlin. Time will tell if they are correct.

[tommotech]

6 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

 

How are your projects coming in?

Slowly, just now. Busy at work and much to finish in the workshop. 
Recently took possession of an MG TF that I can probably get tested over the next couple of weeks. 
My old mans truck slipped its timing chain so ended up pulling the engine and doing him a full refurb (that I hadn’t bargained for). 
Just shout up if you need anything. 

[Tamworthbay]

6 minutes ago, tommotech said:

Slowly, just now. Busy at work and much to finish in the workshop. 
Recently took possession of an MG TF that I can probably get tested over the next couple of weeks. 
My old mans truck slipped its timing chain so ended up pulling the engine and doing him a full refurb (that I hadn’t bargained for). 
Just shout up if you need anything. 

Thanks mate, I am hoping to get the Capri MoTed soon, I will bring it round if you promise not to laugh at the paint job.

[Tamworthbay]

MoT booked for tomorrow for the V70........

[Tamworthbay]

And passed! Not even an advisory. It’s taken a fair bit of work to get the old dog in fine fettle but it’s been worth it. Note to self - next time you cover up a warning light, also check it at night, that way you won’t drive into a darkish workshop and notice a faint glow. Emissions passed no problem though so it’s obviously  just an electrical glitch.