700/900 series Diesel engines?

[Laney760]

Junk eh? Thats why a guy in Finland has acheived over a million in his!

Underpowered? Try driving a 2.0 non-Turbo petrol, thats what gave Volvo the reputation of being slugs driven by old men in cloth caps, the TD is like a racing car after driving one of those!

[artiedtke]

was the 760 td not one of the world's quickest diesel powered cars at one point ???

[jpliddy]

yes i have just been looking through my volvo books cant find the piece but remember it the d24 was the fastist production car between 50 and 70 mph
im sure it was on the 760 model . . mr 940 turbo is entiltiled to his coments like all of us here .but he is going to find many more positive coments than neggative on the 700/900 diesels .

[Palmer]

Originally Posted by 940_Turbo

Complete piece of junk Volkswagen unit. Personally offered one as a gift I'd impolitely decline. They're stupidly unreliable, laughably thirsty and ridiculously under powered; and those are the qualities I like about them.

Seriously if you're looking for a diesel at that sort of money and age buy a Mercedes C250 (not an early CDI) or pretty much anything other than a 7 or 9 series diesel.

Unreliable - Service it then

Thirsty - Wvo

Underpowered - More boost.

Anything else?

[940_Turbo]

Originally Posted by Palmer

Anything else?

Indeed, Mercedes, Peugeot, anything else with a diesel engine in it in fact.

Or a Volvo running on LPG.

[Laney760]

Originally Posted by 940_Turbo

Complete piece of junk Volkswagen unit. Personally offered one as a gift I'd impolitely decline. They're stupidly unreliable, laughably thirsty and ridiculously under powered; and those are the qualities I like about them.

Seriously if you're looking for a diesel at that sort of money and age buy a Mercedes C250 (not an early CDI) or pretty much anything other than a 7 or 9 series diesel.

Laughably thirsty, NOT. My 940 TD estate always returned 32 around town and 40 on the motorway when fully laden, others on here have acheived a little more. Take a look at the prices very old VW campers and vans with this engine fitted fetch on Ebay, high prices...

Unreliable? My 23 year old 760 TD hasn't missed a beat in nearly two years of ownership

[Palmer]

Originally Posted by 940_Turbo

Indeed, Mercedes, Peugeot, anything else with a diesel engine in it in fact.

Or a Volvo running on LPG.

Anything with a diesel engine?

Yeah id go to work in a CAT rather than a 940 td lol....

[940_Turbo]

Originally Posted by Laneystrider

Laughably thirsty, NOT. My 940 TD estate always returned 32 around town and 40 on the motorway when fully laden, others on here have acheived a little more. Take a look at the prices very old VW campers and vans with this engine fitted fetch on Ebay, high prices...

Unreliable? My 23 year old 760 TD hasn't missed a beat in nearly two years of ownership

That is exactly my point. I've had 36 to the gallon out of a petrol 940 and they can turn in high 20s without even trying. It may upset the D24 fan boys, but I have real world experience of D24 engined cars, and I've regularly had them turn in low 20s to the gallon; that isn't unusual at all.

I know that they can be made to work reasonably well; but they require good maintenance in order to do it, and a healthy slice of luck in getting one that is a good un. Most I've looked at in recent times are neglected. There are far better diesel cars out there that will cost no more than a 700 or 900 with a D24 in it.

As to the camper argument, have a look at pretty much anything that can cal itself a camper van and it fetches strong money. The engines were a mixed bag when new. I had the misfortune of working on umpteen D24 engined VW LT minibuses with catastrophic reliability.

Some D24 engines fitted to Volvos did indeed work painlessly, many others were ridiculously unreliable. When they're bad, they're very very bad. Overheating, failed head gaskets, cracked heads and low oil pressure are all part of the D24s stock in trade.

Go out and find a gas converted petrol 700 or 900 and you'll have a car that is cheaper to run and vastly superior to the diesel version.

[Briz]

Originally Posted by Laneystrider

Junk eh? Thats why a guy in Finland has acheived over a million in his!

Underpowered? Try driving a 2.0 non-Turbo petrol, thats what gave Volvo the reputation of being slugs driven by old men in cloth caps, the TD is like a racing car after driving one of those!

As someone who has a 2.0 non-Turbo petrol 740 (338K miles) and until recently also a TD 940, I have to say the performance wasn't a lot different between the two. The petrol was a bit quicker off the line, and the diesel a bit quicker above about 65mph - the turbo boost coming in of course.
The petrol 740 gets a pretty consistent 30mpg, while the diesel got a consistent 36mpg, which was a bit dissapointing.
But of the two, the petrol was MUCH nicer to drive; the diesel felt 'lumpish' and noisy around town (but fine on the motorway)
The diesel always seemed to be too low geared - pulling away in first, it ran out of rpms almost immediately, but it never seemed happy pulling away in 2nd. I suspect that this is because diesel 940s were built with towing in mind.

[doingitsideways]

Originally Posted by Briz

I suspect that this is because diesel 940s were built with towing in mind.

You're not wrong there!

I've got a 940 d24 tic, and it could pull a jumbo jet!

It doesn't seem to matter how much weight you throw in the back of it (I had over 1/2 a ton in it recently) it just keeps on pulling, never really slowing down!

I admit, they're far from the most refined engines in the world, especilly compared do modern common rail stuff, but I think they're good buses.

Over the years I've had:
850 2.5 10v petrol auto
240 2.0 petrol manual
2 x 960 2.5 24v petrols, auto and manual
940 2.4 Diesel manual

I regularly pull around 150kg around with me for my work in the boot, the 240 was FAR too slow for me, the 850 was good, but struggled to return more than 18 mpg, the 960s pulled very well, but fuel economy was awful, especially the auto.

Around town, my d24 returns about 32mpg, and I don't hang about!!

The 2.5 manual 960, gets half that!

Hence why I'm currently planning a d24 conversion on that


At the end of the day, it depends what you're looking for; If you want a strong, rear-wheel-drive car that's good for towing and general load lugging, if a little rough around the edges, you could do a LOT worse than a diesel 940; they roar like a lion, but perform a bit like a pussy-cat.

But if you want a diesel that purrs like a kitten and goes like a cheetah, then they're probably not for you, I'd go for an 850 TDi instead.


All this is just my two penneth worth, and soley based on my personal experience.

HTH, Steve