1.6D 2008 power loss, no fault displayed

[binty]

Readers may be interested in an issue which effected my 2008 C30 1.6D and took Volvo months to rectify.
Firstly let me pay tribute to John Morris Volvo at S****horpe and Grimsby for the unfailing belief in us and ensuring we were well looked after with decent cars whilst ours was off the road. A real family firm where you can talk to the owner Mr. Morris, that makes a nice change.
Also to Volvo UK, who when i changed my car for a new one, offered me a substantial further discount for the trouble I had suffered.

Symptoms
About 10 000 miles an intermittent fault developed, it would suddenly loose power and drop to about 40 mph on the motorway. No lights would come on, and no error codes on the dash board. Stopping the engine and re-starting generally cleared it and it would not appear for days or even weeks.

Diagnosis - All actions were as directed by Volvo UK.

Initially the EGR valve was changed, no difference.

Then the fuel tank was cleaned and the fuel lift pump filter had a gooey deposit on it blocking the flow. Low fuel pressure code stored. It was suspected to be contaminated fuel. - a few weeks later it happened again.

Fuel tank cleaned again, and more goo found, low pressure code again stored. it is unheard of to get two batches of contaminated fuel unless the petrol station is contaminated, So this time the dealer cleaned it out and ran the car for a week from a different town, they then striped the tank again, and found yet more goo. Everyone was now baffled.

Fuel samples were taken to Volvo for analysis and found to contain plastic and metal.

Volvo engineer arrived, and directed the entire fuel system be replaced under warranty from injectors back to the tank, including every pipe and junction. (£3500 parts alone, glad it was under warranty).

The problem was now sorted, hurrah !!

I understand the problem was internal degredation of the fuel lines, they were breaking up between the lift pump and the high pressure pump in the engine bay. The pump was under pressure from the debris, hence the metal in the fuel which flowed back to the tank with some plastic debris by he return pipe.

We still do not know why the pipes degraded, was it a batch of contaminated fuel or a manufacturing issue?

I provide this info just to help if anyone else experiences something similar.