Pushing Limits: Boost Pressure Experiment on my Rare Volvo V70R | Will It Surge or Soar? 

Please never stop the Volvo videos

ELLIOT! People are totally misunderstanding how VIDA reads boost pressure - you’re only making ~7 PSI! You’ll notice at idle you probably sit around ~990-1000 HPA (if you are at sea level). This is the literal atmospheric air pressure as measured by the MAP sensor, and this will be a smaller number if you are at higher altitude. In order to get boost pressure, you need to subtract the ambient air pressure from the reported peak value. Assuming 990 is ambient, 1500-990=510 HPA. PSI=7.4. A stock V70R should make around 15 if my memory serves me correctly. This likely means you either have a boost leak or a vacuum issue. The TCV is the famous failure point and just because VIDA tells you it is requesting ____% duty cycle does not mean that it actually is. You can test its function by going to Vehicle Communication -> selecting the ECM module, clicking “activations” and selecting turbo control valve and running it. You should hear rapid clicking from the TCV located right in front of your air box. FYI, you’ll never see above 92% TCV duty cycle. In any case, higher duty cycle means more time spent closed and thus boost pressure diverted away from the wastegate, ideally allowing boost to be generated. One of the first things many people do on the V70R is install an old fashioned boost gauge. The VIDA readings are a little annoying to work with and it’s a pretty cheap addition! Check out IPD for one of those :)

Elliott, you are the best dad on RU-vid and congratulations for having two beautiful daughters that are now social media celebrities!

I can't explain it, but the blue Volvo is my favorite on the U-tube.

looks like 1000hPa is about 14.5 psi or roughly1 atmosphère. Europeans tend to use atmospheres as a measurement for boost. 14 psi is like a normal blue sky weather day. With my "hacking" with turbo, having a manual hand vaccum pump and guage is helpful to know at what vacuum threshold the wastegate first opens. This is the key step to not have to warm up the engine to set the proper tension and have it for the correct nominal pressure. Your daughter is a real sweetheart. I'm sure having her around gives your turbo and heart a boost as well.

Yeah, I'm looking at the other comments, and seeing a few others saying that you're getting about 21 psi of boost there. So you should definitely be feeling it! Nice to see your Daughters wrenching away on the Volvo while you and Uncle Glenn monitor their work! Glad it didn't seem like too expensive of an episode! Have a great weekend, Elliott!

Get Charlotte to ask Hoovie why he has so many cars🤣

Sure appreciate RU-vidrs who go to the trouble of having enough microphones for everyone to be heard. Not everyone does that, including RU-vidr royalty .

Uncle Glen, great with cars and amazing with children. You can't ask for anything more. Great to see you back in the game Elliot, you got an awesome crew.

Hello Elliot! Am a Volov Mechanic in Sweden and 1400hpa or 1.4bar boost is a lot for these engines and you should get around 350hp at that number so there is something wrong with either the MAF sensor or TCV. You would feel it pretty clearly if it is making that amount of power. Anyways love the videos! Edit: And the stock boost from factory is around 0.9-1bar so the sensor must be reading wrong or you have another problem other than the TCV.

The five cylinder growl of these engines is sensational. Love the big blue wagon.

Don't run lean! It's all good and fun until you burn a piston.... Great video!

Your helpers stole the show! How adorable!! Nice work, Elliott.

Charlotte is adorable! I hope she keeps her interest in cars and has her own RU-vid channel one day!!

Uncle Glen is my favorite part of your videos 👍

I have always enjoyed the family dynamics that come through in your videos. You and your uncle are very patient with the questions from the Car Doctor. Hopefully you get all this completely sorted out with the turbo...I've been in the same shoes after blowing out a turbo and changing it out. I added a different intercooler and it threw off everything, so I had to go through all the adjustments to get the most out of it. Good luck with your auction broadcast!

You want enough preload on the wastegate so it doesn't start opening until near the desired boost pressure, but not so much that it adds a ton of pressure to the wastegate components. Generally that is 2-3 turns after it starts getting hard to turn. You can test it by using an air compressor and a blow gun with a pressure regulator and blowing air into the wastegate line while varying the pressure regulator. If it doesn't open all the way when at the desired pressure, you've tightened it too far. If it opens before less than half of the set boost pressure, you're likely too loose. These are general rules from memory, but hopefully that helps.

That's a record for me. I viewed 12s after this posted.

That is a product of the way the impeller works. The upgraded one is designed to come on around 3500RM. This is directly a result of the fact that the Angle Gear cannot handle that much low torque and you will just destroy it over and over if you chase low end torque. There are some workarounds (using the xc90 angle gear collar or welding the collar) but the reality is this is a Grand Tourer and not a 0-60 rocket. This car will destroy a lot of cars from 30-90 but cannot do 0-60 without incredible stress and potential breaking of the poorly designed AWD system.

It's really wonderful to see Elliot being able to share his petrol head passion with his daughter, it's so wholesome to watch. Work always feels a little bit less like work when kids want to be part of it (Even if progress does inevitably slowed down). Also, Charlotte has got to be the most stylishly dressed 'car doctor' in the world - a dress is definitely a fashion upgrade to grubby old clothes or overalls.

Even with the paint issues, that Volvo is cool! Loved seeing it in person recently!

For my S60r, I changed the gauge on a blood pressure pump and used it to pump the wastegate to the desired pressure (7.5psi in my case). Once that is done, tighten the wastegate rod until it is snug and the wastegate is seated. Re-tighten the lock nut and you are done.

I'm so glad you are getting back into doing stuff with the Volvo. I found your channel because I myself had just bought a 2001 Volvo V70 T5, which is basically your car minus AWD and some horsepower, to put it simply. Still a turbo five, but point is I found you while researching things for my own car and I binged your entire catalog of Volvo content. I've learned a lot and been plenty entertained, please keep it coming!!

Elliott another fantastic update video …brilliant…👍😀 I’ve never viewed the SRS airbag symbol as a baby in a mummy before but now I’ve seen it, I cannot un see it …. and I’m with you …what on earth is Hectopascal? I only did feet and miles at school … also please promise me you’ll get that bonnet fixed soon…it’s setting my OCD off 😎🤓

Elliot, your experience with your wagon is about the same as my dad's experience with his XC90... Drive it for a bit, fix something broke, drive it for a bit, fix something else that's broke; it was a non-stop merry-go-round of as soon as he got it back on the road it would have to go back for something else, pretty sure he spend twice as much on service and repairs as what he paid for it. He drives a Kia now...

Terrrific video, Elliott! And I’m so glad to see that Charlotte the “car doctor” was right there, ready to assist. Love seeing her! And now little Adalynn! Your girls will be the most knowledgeable “car kids” in no time! Lol! Always good to see Uncle Glen “full body” assisting with everything too. Have a great time in Auburn! Looking forward to watching. It’s always a great time. Soooo many awesome cars!

Glad to see that improving your VR nick had built two turbos for me and does a awesome job

Most wholesome car channel on YR

Love seeing your assistants get involved in working on the car. As the father of a 5 year old and 7 month old, there's nothing like spending time with them 😁

But is it faster than my C5?

charlotte is so attentive and she asks good questions!!

Greetings Mr Motary Notary, thanks for sharing another exciting Volvo video!!! You & your uncle make a great team & your daughters are absolutely adorable!!! 👍👍🙂

You forgot to mention the comedy talent of Worldwide TV. I am deeply hurt!!!! Seriously, see you next week!!

Another long-roof video!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see what happens when you pump up the jam.

The RU-vid algorithm severely underrates your channel.

Careful with that TCV. It can fail like mine did and ended up overboosting and cracking the block between 2 and 3. If you are going to run higher boost, shim the block. That's what I've got now.

My cuteness boost is over loaded. If you ever add an actual animal to these videos I'm going to have double diabetes. Also it sounds like the Volvo is getting so close to perfect. it's always one more twist way.

Have you read the service information from volvo????? You adjust the waste gate arm by applying a set amount of air pressure to the wg and adjust the rods length so that the pin fits. If you have ViDA RTFM…

As a woman I can appreciate Charlotte's questions: "Daddy, why are you trying to make this car go faster" and "Daddy, why do you have so many cars"? She has your beautiful blue eyes.

3:47 I was waiting for "It used to be fast but now it's only half fast"

Good thing Elliot is still with us after seeing those sniper rifle lasers on his chest earlier in the video, yikes!

Switchblade keys have been around longer than the 2000's. My dad had a 95 Mercedes with one. I thought it was the coolest thing.

Charlotte reminds me of my kids at her age. So cute.

Hi Elliot, thanks for the videos and I always look forward to them. I have a 2004 V70R Auto and am interested in what you have done to yours. Based on my research, the car should be around 1000hPa stock (14-15 psi) with many factors influencing how much boost and when. I'm a little bit worried about your block and head taking 1400hPa (20 psi) which is a 40% increase over stock. The blocks are very thin where the cylinders meet and the heads like to crack. I decided when I bought mine that it was already stressed to its limits and I would not ask for more power (not that the trans/angle gear/head/block/turbo/intercooler/injectors/fuel pump/exhaust could take it). Please be careful when pushing the boost up, especially when running the car hard on hot days. The stock intercooler setup in these cars doesn't like 70 degree weather, much less 100. Make certain that you have lots of octane, perfect fuel pressure and clean injectors, as well as a new MAF/TCV. I would seriously hate to see you lose this thing because it detonated or windowed the block after all the effort that you and your uncle (hero) put into it. Remember that a turbo car will "feel" it's best right before it breaks. Maybe consider some professional dyno tuning at this point with AFR/EGT analysis to ensure longevity? Thanks again for all the time that you put into your videos and good luck with the car!

From my perspective as someone who has a tuned p80 with a K24, you want to avoid adjusting the wastegate actuation without knowing at what pressure the arm begins to move, which I think is 6-7psi. Double check all of your TCV lines and make sure they're routed correctly. Additionally, since you're trying to acheive more boost on an untuned car, I would highly recommend to monitor mass airflow, which is far more important than how much boost you're making: Something that was observed when my car was getting tuned is that mass airflow did not increase with higher boost beyond 20psi and that greatest airflow was achieved by going no higher than 20psi. I also will say this as someone who isn't too familiar with the engine management system on the P2R's: on a tuned M4.4 for the p80's, you can reach a point where if you max out your MAF reading at too low of an RPM (let's say arbitrarily 4000) and you continue to push the car at WOT, calculated engine load will decrease because the ECU is not picking up on any additional air mass while the RPM increase. When engine load decreases in this scenario, the car will run leaner and you get into dangerous territory when it comes to engine knock. Again, not to say that the P2R engine management system doesn't have code that compensates for this, but it is worth looking into - determine what's the max voltage/flow that your MAF should be reading and then see if you're just reaching that max, pegged at max, or pegged below max. If you're pegged at max, do not increase boost. If you're pegged below max, then you don't have an OE quality MAF sensor and should get an OE replacement that is capable of reading the full range of airflow. If you're just reaching max as you're maxing out RPM, then I think you're where you want to be.

1440 Hectopascals is almost 21 Pounds of Boost (20.88). Think 1.5 Bar in Metric. Which is a healthy amount of boost for the Street.

Great Volvo video!! Having the girls inVOLVed was great!! Looking forward to the next Volvo video!

Numbers look good now. 👍🏼 possibly need a new tcv... however seems to be doing well now.

Kind of cheating bringing in this very cute young car doctor to work on the car. Hope subscriptions sky rockets, it was brilliant.

Lovely video Elliot, looks like your making progress on the video, and how could you fail with help of the Car Dr - who needs the Wizard of the Ninja

I'm a little late. You can look up the correct wastegate adjustment psi for your engine. Then apply it to your wastegate actuator with the rod disconnected. Then you adjust the rod end to the closed wastegate and reinstall.

Man that thing sounds so good. Glad to see it’s been behaving a bit so you can get some fine tuning done.

Love this video

Charlotte has good tastes, switchblade keys are peak car key technology. I hate the keyless kind, my sister's Outback's battery died on her and I couldn't even put it in neutral to move it back to get at the engine bay better. I managed to get at it but it was a tight fit in her garage with too much crap in it.

You have an air leak somewhere in the pressure hoses. Any pressure/vacuum leak makes the car reads higher boost levels i think it is because it's calculated by the MAF reading. Had a similar problem my car would read like 2000 hpa but was really slow, it was a cracked intercooler hose, fixed it and now the car is 100%.

Cool video 😊

Really interesting.

Use a hand vacuum/pressure pump with a gauge like mightyvac, and connect to wastegate, disconnect wastegate actuator arm and put wastegate in closed position. Pump wastegate input up to 7psi pressure, then adjust the nut on the wastegate actuator until it just slips on the wastegate in the closed position. Reconnect the actuator. reconnect the wastegate hose. Should now get you correct boost control. Use Torque and OBD II device to monitor you cars boost sensor while driving.

Charlotte asks the best questions.

love these vids elliott, just be careful when turning up boost as these cars crack cylinder walls like crazy.

Great video Elliott. Glad you got you got your Volvo running better. Always fun to hook up a computer, I do this with my 03 F150 4.6. I have many mods and a tune. I wouldn't paint your car, make it look like a rat rod.

Love watching your V70R videos! It's very inspiring, especially since I have a 2005 V70 T5 6-speed manual, and since the T5 and the R share a lot of their mechanical components, watching your videos is a great way for me to learn working on my own car. At the moment, it's at a local workshop for a bad turbo as well... :/ So I'm looking for the same turbo you sent off to restore earlier. I was just wondering if yours also had the classic crack in the exhaust housing?

Awesome 😊

Your hood was repainted before and only one layer of clear coat was used.

"a couple of turns" ..no theres a tool.. you put pressure to it and see when the gate cracks open to set it, if i recall the P1 was make it crack at 4-5psi.... you'd have to check the P2 R specs, but having not had access to that tool for a bit when i did a new gate on my C30 changing and fiddling with the gate can drastically change the response, if you can get access to the tool do it right.. you'll end up with near OEM drivability

Youre reading an absolute value, with in reality is about 400hpa/7psi. 7psi is wastegate pressure in the R's. Id look into a new tcv or see if the lines are backwards on the tcv

Glad you fixed the problem, now get the hood repainted. Your girls are adorable.

Great video!! I personally love the Volvo content. It would be pretty cool if Tyler let you borrow some cars sometimes to do videos on. You have a different approach and I think would have great content even with some of the same cars.

It's 2023, why not just do a simple google to convert hpa to psi? 😅

Enjoy that time with the kids, it disappears in a blink

I think you can get a TCV from a porsche that will work and give you some more boost!

Awwww, your daughter is super cute!!

Good video. 👍 Charlotte is adorable.

The alarm horn problem is a watch battery on the horn circuit board, that corrodes the board. The horn is in the passenger fender. Previous owner probably disconnected it, like I did my 228k mile 04 v70r. Your suspension problem is probably just a broken or disconnected wire from the passenger strut.

For the life of me, i dont understand why Elliot doesn't sell this car and the maybe even the Maserati. It seems as though he only bought these cars for content for the channel and they have run their course. He could use that money on another project car (and have some budget to do some mods, restore, repair and then flip into a nicer car). I like Elliot and would like for him to grow his channel, but i dont see that happening with the current stock.

Hey Elliot! Love the v70r! Ive got a stage 3 t5 swapped saphacamav70r myself, and I just wanted to throw out a rumor Ive been hearing. I don't have a hood firewall, and I was going to buy one, but everyone says it heavily dampens the turbo noises. Id be interested to see if you could take ur hood firewall and seeing if it makes it sound better!

You , your Uncle and your Daughter will be Better than Certified Volvo Techs if this keeps going on

I couldn't totally see, but if your car is requesting a certain amount, and getting less, then you may have a leak in your system. I'm chasing one this weekend on my 9⁵. My car is requesting 1400 and getting about 950. So mine is pretty massive.

Thats a bit of a bodge to be honest, and not how you set the boost up. The boost pressure is controlled by the ECU and the map tables. There should be a Base Boost setting of the wastegate which is generally about 0.4 bar. Set by adjusting the wastegate with the boost control valve disconnected.

The waste gate spring pressure is set low on these cars - around 4.5psi. Any boost more than that is computer controlled via the TCV and should top out around 15psi on a stock tune. Sounds like something is not working. Are the lines to/from TCV in good shape and hooked up right? Any leaks in the intake system? A smoke test is good for checking that.

I call these p1 and p2 volvo the nightmare cars. Worth it tho since manual five cylinder volvo

That should be done with programming by specialists. Boost is electrically controlled by ECM. You are exceeding programmed value by about 0.35-0.45bar. You get fuel only up to desired value which car sees as it has been originally configured from the factory. I think in those temperatures engine will be soon toasted without remapping. It might be that most of the problems comes from different turbo specs than original.

I’ve removed that crossbar like 10 times within 6 months on my S60R…

Charlotte is super cute. Could also be handy with removing items in tight spaces on the cars with her little hands. Hopefully she grows up to be a car crazy girl. Also helping while wearing her what looks like a princess outfit. I love content where creators Glad to see you getting the Volvo boosted up. Was it charlotte driving the Yellow corvette doing the outside shots on the test drive?? 🤣 Also I forget, do you plan on correcting the paintwork or are you going to keep the patina? I think both options would work. Kind of like the "used and abused look" but also like the clean look.

Use the converter on your phone and 1.4 bar = just over 20 psi

bro even if you have to add a boost gauge with the line going through the window, get that psi lol

We talked about vinyl wrapping the hood months ago, what's taking so long? ;-)

🎉🎉🎉

Or you put a box fan over the engine to cool it off and work on it in an hour

It seems like you are replacing the TCV control with just tightening the waste gate so it is always closed. I would make sure the TCV is actually functional and all hoses to it are not leaking and connected properly.

Divide hectopascal by 33.68 = inches of mercury.

HectoPascal = 100pascal. Kilopascal = 1000pascal. 1400hpa = 1,4bar = 20psi. Roughly what the boost should be on that car at max. The wastegate actuator solenoid duty cycle is raised when boost is too high and lowered when it is under the desired value. Raising the DC will lower boost and lowering DC of the solenoid will allow for more boost. The ECM has a built in map for the boost control solenoid duty cycle. So it tries to maintain a set boost at a set engine rpm and throttle position to maintain a flat torque curve. Tightening the boost actuator arm too much will spike the boost and could create boost cutoffs or other problems. Having the actuator too loose will of course make the boost come in very late and the boost being lower especially at low engine speeds. Are you sure you don't have boost leaks? You should do a pull with a higher gear from around idle to full rpm, preferrably 3rd or 4th gear. THen you should log the actual boost pressure and desired pressure on same graph. The pressures should be very close. DON'T try to do it in 1st or 2nd gear, the system isn't fast enough to comprensate for problems in low gears.

69%... Nice.

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Cracked block in 3....2....1....

My daughter is 4 also and is much less helpful. When she was two she tried to help polish my S6 with a wire brush.

And throw a box fan over the engine and you can definitely get it cooled in 30 min.

"Daddy why you have so many cars"... 🙂

whats about the AFR ? those numbers are also very important

what happened to the car? where are the videos? why didn't you show like the finished car? would have loved to see the exterior getting fixed.