Interesting view.

If the *manufacturer* disagrees with a broad brush-stroke general statement on “good engineering practice”, I have to say I would be inclined to side with the manufacturer 🤷

You really think Volvo wouldn’t care about the publicity associated with a bunch of failures later on?

I plan to get a couple of quotes (main dealer and local respected indy) and then likely go with the indy - I suspect theirs will be a couple of hundred lower….I’ll let you know what they recommend!

You highly underestimate Volvos engineering and parts quality ... Its not a "normal" car .. thats why you bought one right? Obviously a water pump failure is an engine wrecker so that is why they chose the very best components available on it .
I have been working on volvos professionally since before these water pumps were introduced in 1990 in the 960 , I have not heard of or seen one water pump failure irrespective of mileage .. These pumps continue on the current engines . The only water pumps I change are those non volvo ones which some back street garage fitted previously whilst throwing the perfectly good high quality volvo pump in the bin ! The non volvo pumps have a very short life span just like a "normal" car ....

At the risk of siding with Clan on this one and once again being branded the "usual suspects...."

Think of it like this (I've made the figures up but I don't think they're fanciful):

First cambelt change - risk of water pump failing before next cambelt change:

Retain original pump: 0.02%
Replace pump with genuine Volvo: 0.01%
Replace pump with quality aftermarket: 0.1%
Replace pump with cheap part : 1%+

Second cambelt change - risk of water pump failing before 3rd:

Retain original pump: 0.04%
Replace pump with genuine Volvo: 0.01%
Replace pump with quality aftermarket: 0.1%
Replace pump with cheap part : 1%+

I would say, if you are of the opinion that you want to reduce the risk of a pump failure, however small that maybe, the replace it - but only with a genuine one. This doesn't factor in the risk of "disturbance" - i.e. the new pump not fitted well and leaks from day 1 from the gasket line...

By quality aftermarket - I would say only 3-4 manufacturers fit this like SKF - not "First Line" etc. They key point is if you remove your genuine, factory pump and replace it with something that cost £25 on e-bay you are likely in the region if 50-100 times plus more likely for it to fail in the next cycle than if you left the original. I've thought about that carefully and I think it's fair to say it.

I can't understand why someone thinks they know better than the people that designed and built the car. If Volvo say do it, then do so. If Volvo say leave it alone then leave it alone.

When changing cambelt last year I asked for a quote from official garage I go to, and when it came back it didn't have the water pump listed. I was pleased because I've read a lot about this Volvo pumps, their impeller (metal, not plastic like most of other cars have), and finally when I brought the car to them I asked - why no pump, on all my other cars it was always changed together - to which he replied "why, do you have any problems? Leaks? Because I'd be glad to replace it and take your money and your "old" pump and put it on another car, making everybody happy in the process: just tell me why you want it changed? Because Volvo said not to change it except if it makes problems"

That garage is family-owned, one of the first in my country, with long history and good reputation, and he inherited this business from his father, and is now in his 50s, and said also that he works there since he could hold a wrench, always was in the shop even as a kid, and he never ever saw a waterpump fail since they started using this model in early 90s.

I don't know, but I tend to believe him and all the write-ups I saw on the web about this very same thing. He could've taken my money, use my (used) pump for another car, and I would never know.

Oh yeah, he also said one other interesting thing: he said "Not all Bosch is Bosch. There are products labeled as "bosch", as "Bosch" and "BOSCH", and there IS a difference. They know they can't live only on best quality superior parts, they need cheaper parts too, so they label them differently - tolerances are much smaller on more premium parts and bigger on cheaper parts. Sure, not even the cheapest Bosch will be as bad as some no-name thing from e-bay, but surely there is a difference between "bosch" and "BOSCH".

I agree 100% with him .and that goes for BOSCH too , those halfords ones barely last one season . There are various qualities of Bosch, SKF etc as with many manufacturers . Volvo always use the very best available .

yes it very fair to air our thoughts and share our many decades of volvo experience with these newbies who are used to " ordinary" cars ... :-)

Another part is the old 850 cam belt tensioner , they were never ever changed and never failed either , if you take one apart you will see why ...

Volvo could have kept that going on the later engines rather than using cheaper ones as they did and getting the owner to pay for a new one every time the belt was changed .

I bought my XC60 from a long standing car dealer and was told cam belt had just been changed. There was paperwork supporting this from an independent garage but the cambelt kit on the invoice is a Gates part no. Not sure if they did the water pump or not at the same time. Now I'm wondering if I need to check and maybe have the whole job done again! :speechless-smiley-5

I wouldn't sleep at night if that was me . sounds like a typical case of a independent garage throwing away a virtually everlasting waterpump and replacing it with one that will fail sooner or later. not to mention the cam and aux belts and tensioner . they would put on the cheapest they could find .
Not that the belt will fail particularly , but we have zero experience of how long it will last . With the volvo parts the quality is known and proved over several decades now . The quality of the non volvo water pumps is known now after quite a few failing in the last 5 years ..

The aux belt on the 5 cylinder diesel must be changed every 54000 miles too . ( but it's tensioner every 108000 with the cambelt )

I use Quinton Hazell and couldn't see any difference between the original Volvo branded pump and the QH replacement. The same applied to the belt, tensioner and idler. The waterpump looked like it came out of the same factory.


Many parts on the V60 are Ford branded.