Death of my D5?
 

After 4 years of relatively trouble free motoring, I fear the end is nigh for my D5. Even though the aux belt was changed at a main Volvo dealer last April, it has shredded its edges and a piece has got into the timing belt causing it to jump.
The garage are doing some diagnostic work to work out how bad it is, but it my be terminal.
So the question is what to do now? Repair it? Have the head rebuilt if the lower engine and bores are ok? Try to get a recon engine? Or scrap it?

What miles was on it when it died?

My indi tech would tell you to source a replacement engine and have it fitted and if you love the car and it lives on there really is no argument is there?

It’s done 186k, but it doesn’t look it visually and is pretty clean and tidy.

My girlfriends car did the same thing last year I did all the work myself and parts totaled about £800. I put a lower milage head on and reused as many original part's as I could. I would say have it repaired but I don't know how much they would charge for labour. I had no bottom end damage and it happened at 70 mph so I think yours will be alright.

Apparently the head is toast.
So the options are now:
Reconditioned head,
Replacement engine,
Scrap the car and buy something else.

From a purely financial perspective.
What's the cost for a new head ?
What's the cost for a new engine ?
What would the car be worth once the work is done ?
What's the value of the car in it's current state, if you got rid
What could you buy with the money you would spend on this car ?

There are others factors at play, but getting the figures together would guide you.

Volvo Dealer doesn’t want to do a new or reconditioned head and would only fit a replacement engine at a cost of 14k…., so that’s a non-starter. I could get a much newer car for that!

Fixed the car would be about 5k, if I’m lucky. Might get 800 for scrap, so anything over 4K and it’s not worth doing.
I might look into a recon head, but think it’s looking more and more like the scrapyard.

I'm thinking bent valves and cracked guides......is this the garages take on it needing a new head?
Surely a reputable machine shop could sort this.....it's called fixing stuff !

Hope you get it sorted and the scrapyard doesn't get it !

One other though pops in to mind, is this issue worth pursuing with the dealer that changed the belt before spending money ?

A belt shouldn't be failing after 3 months. I think there is an issue there, possibly with the installation, possibly with the part ? I'd like to know why it failed so soon. Volvo may well blame it on something else.

Another thing to bear in mind is the Volvo Lifetime parts Warranty. Not sure what exactly it covers, (I'll leave you to look in to what it entails). If they'll just give you the cost of the belt, or best case scenario, they'll cover everything caused by the failure.

https://www.volvocars.com/uk/own/mai...parts-warranty

Even without the warranty thing, certainly worth looking in to.

It’s possible for a belt to skip a tooth and to be repairable. However the D5 is a known interference engine and as such it’s very unlikely you will get away with it. We also have no real idea how many tooth it jumped.

The labour costs of a strip down and inspection, along with minimal repairs will likly exceed the cost of a good reconditioned engine.

This therefore reduces options to1). Fit a recon unit.
2). Scrap the car.

Even the highest milage vehicles have some value, and if you know it well then it may be worth keeping.

Myself, I would cut my losses personally unless you intend to fit recon and keep. The reason for this is because friends of mine have bought XC70s and such like in very usable and serviceable condition through covid etc for not much more than 1-2K and they would be cheaper than a replacement engine.

Obviously it is worth checking yours is runied first. I assume a good mechanic would remove the belt, set to TDC on cylinder 1 and refit a belt, turn over by hand and if it turns then start it and see how it runs.