Death of my D5?

[NAD]

Sorry, when I said last April I meant April 2021, not April 2022. Even so, the belt is only 15 months old and has done 28,000 miles, so is still a bit premature to be failing.

Thanks for the heads-up I’ll certainly look into the Volvo lifetime warranty. I’ve written to Volvo Customer Care UK, so will see if they come back with anything.

[XC90Mk1]

Originally Posted by XC90Mk1

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.

Sorry I had not read the other posts.

If it were me I would scrap it and replace it. If you are an excellent home mechanic then by al means rebuild it, however I doubt you will be able to get a garage at less than £60 an hour and the cost of rebuilding will soon be huge!

[NAD]

Any recommended sources for a reconditioned unit?

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by NAD

Any recommended sources for a reconditioned unit?

You want to find one out of a write off that you can hear running, recon doesn't always mean anything more than tugged out of another and pressure washed,

Learn by my mistake in the past, recon box for a Pug, sets off to get it and once fitted it's smashing 2nd gear syncro's, rings up, "no problem mate I'll call you when I've got another one in" the call never came and I disposed of the car a few weeks later, what he actually gave me was a cleaned BX box and I knew when I picked it up he'd done me by just looking at the yard,

Personally I'd listen to XC90 and draw a line under it.

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by NAD

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.

If you have room break it yourself, you appear to have 8 panels at at least £100 each, a gearbox at £3-500, alternator, starter, rads and everything else around the engine at £50 a pop, EGR I'd look for more for, interior £300, Alloys £200 and then you'll get another £300 for the shell.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by NAD

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?

3 months ago? work has a 12 month warranty why did the belt break ? Did the tensioner break? this needs investigating ..

[Tannaton]

When the cambelt gives up or jumps, it usually forces the hydraulic adjusters out of their housings - i.e. fractures the head casting. Some companies offer a welding service but the clearance for the adjusters is critical, so I would be skeptical of that approach.

I've bought and sold a number of Volvos as spares repairs following cambelt failure and I've done it most ways. I would say the easiest and cheapest option is a second hand engine. The cheapest way of buying a cylinder head is a second hand engine (heads on their own sell for circa £700), then you have the cost of gasket sets etc. and I would say it takes a lot longer to replace the head than remove/refit the whole engine. In each case you would want to do all fluids and belts.

Their used to be sellers on e-bay selling second hand D5 engines including fitting starting at circa £2k.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

When the cambelt gives up or jumps, it usually forces the hydraulic adjusters out of their housings - i.e. fractures the head casting. Some companies offer a welding service but the clearance for the adjusters is critical, so I would be skeptical of that approach.

I've bought and sold a number of Volvos as spares repairs following cambelt failure and I've done it most ways. I would say the easiest and cheapest option is a second hand engine. The cheapest way of buying a cylinder head is a second hand engine (heads on their own sell for circa £700), then you have the cost of gasket sets etc. and I would say it takes a lot longer to replace the head than remove/refit the whole engine. In each case you would want to do all fluids and belts.

Their used to be sellers on e-bay selling second hand D5 engines including fitting starting at circa £2k.

what also happens is the cams can turn slightly on the camshaft you will never tell by looking at it . You build it up it seems to run fine until you get used to it and wonder what the rough running is you can never prove it unless you put 2 good camshafts in......

[XC90Mk1]

Originally Posted by SnineT

You want to find one out of a write off that you can hear running, recon doesn't always mean anything more than tugged out of another and pressure washed,

Learn by my mistake in the past, recon box for a Pug, sets off to get it and once fitted it's smashing 2nd gear syncro's, rings up, "no problem mate I'll call you when I've got another one in" the call never came and I disposed of the car a few weeks later, what he actually gave me was a cleaned BX box and I knew when I picked it up he'd done me by just looking at the yard,

Personally I'd listen to XC90 and draw a line under it.

Totally agree reference the recon. To recon something professionally requires full strip down, replacement of high wear items and measurement/specification of items subject to wear. All bearings and friction linings replaced etc. For a home mechanic with a second vehicle (I.e. someone like me) this is doable.

For a remanufacturer however paying the Labour rates they do it will cost so
Much as to not be viable. Accordingly remanufactured now a days really does so often mean degreased, new timing belt and off you go.

10,000 miles down the line you have leaking camshaft oil seals, etc etc etc all of which should have been replaced.

Getting a 40,000 mile engine with history is a go, as is getting a genuine rebuilt one, but many of these £1,800 reconditioned units really are just pressure washed….

In my opinion of course.

[NAD]

Originally Posted by Clan

3 months ago? work has a 12 month warranty why did the belt break ? Did the tensioner break? this needs investigating ..

Apologies, should have been clearer. Aux belt was done in April 2021.
It hasn’t actually broken - it’s just frayed and some of the bits of cord got in the timing belt.

I agree it needs clarification of what has caused it, otherwise it will just happen again.