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P0015 Code after Exhaust System Incident Help!

1K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  bigtimemcalpine 
#1 ·
Hello Everyone,

First off, thanks so much to this community, its places like this one and a couple others that have kept my Volvo running.

Short story, I think the details are important on this one, so please forgive me.

I'm running a 03, S40 with 186K on the dial. Car has been mechanically going great with the engine, I had zero issues....until the incident. I have been fixing it myself for the last 120K, but this problem has stumped me.

I was on my way home from work and went over the classic pot hole, which resulted in my exhaust pipe breaking in half. Due to my location at the time I was able to pull over immediately and see what happened, but couldn't stop where I was for long. I had to take it another half mile before I could really deal with it. The pipe broke after the second catalytic convertor, solidly under the drivers seat. I think this is important because the car still drove fine, all-be-it very loud now.

Before I fixed anything, the next day I turned it on again, and the CEL was on. I snickered because there was obviously an issue.

One complete exhaust system later (I stopped at the O2 Sensor and first catalytic convertor, Convertor original, O2 sensor about 8 years old)....CEL still on.

I pull the code and its a P0015. My understanding is this has absolutely nothing to do with an exhaust leak (Please correct me if I am wrong).

I cleared it, drove another ~100 miles over 2-3 trips for a week....no problems, felt like a new car!.

Trip 5, CEL back on....same code.

I noticed during the cold start that the RPMs were normal, but then creeped up to above normal. I thought this might be an important symptom.

Do I have to drop another Benjamin on a new sensor? Pretty sure its original.

I'm up to date on oil, filters, plugs, belts etc.

Any thoughts are appreciated.
 
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#2 ·
I’ve had lots of experience with the P0015 code. I can say with great certainty that it has nothing do do with your exhaust issues.

It can be a couple of things:
1) bad VVT Solenoid (they upgraded the little mesh on the underside of that thing to prevent clogging over time)
2) wire leading to VVT solenoid: easy to crush by mistake when screwing the cam cover back on
3) clogged VVT gear itself (pulley on end of cam)
4) breaks in VVT wiring (even though it was not crushed)
5) mystery oil passage clogging due to extended oil change (good luck solving!)

I would start with a simple visual inspection of wiring. This is the most annoying code I ever had to deal with on my V40. I had the code go away for over a year twice only to come back when the weather warmed up. The good news is that I NEVER noticed a change in performance of the car for what that’s worth.


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