What are the chances my XC60 D5 has headgasket issue?
 

Hello folks,

Bought a 2014 XC60 D5 just recently (documented in another thread).

Other than a few minor niggles, door lock, A/C not working, absolutely love the car.

It's gone to my trusted independent for a cambelt + water pump last week.

Drove fine for the first 30 minutes until i started working the engine hard. Got low coolant warning so stopped within a minute or two. Coolant reservoir is below the minimum and some white steam is coming from the rear left hand side. Top up on the spot and car drives the 30 minutes home just fine.

Out again over the weekend and car drives fine for 35 minutes until we start pulling up a steep and longish hill. Engine temp warning comes on, again some steam but it doesn't feel excessively hot when stop to check. Engine coolant has dropped but not below minimum. Leave it cool for 15 minutes then continue the 5 minute journey to destination. By this point low coolant is on and it's dropped to below minimum. Top up and return the 40 minutes home normally about an hour later.

Gone back to independent today and they've said they'll look over and check the work first. They hint it could be Head gasket because of the coolant loss only at higher rpm and smoke at rear left hand side. There's no other sign of head gasket symptoms though, such as tail pipe smoke, bubbling, milky reservoir etc.

Any thoughts? From what I've read, D5 Head gasket failure is rare.

I'm wondering if maybe a hose hasn't gone back on right or the water pump gasket hasn't seated quite right, but would that account for the loss only at higher rpm? No visible signs of leaks that I can see either.

Do you know what water pump was fitted? D5 head gasket failure is rare but not unheard of especially in later cars as more materiel was removed from the block where the head sits. A Cracked liner is also rare but again not unheard of.

If the issue has only come to light after the pump was changed I’d be suspicious of this. Is it a quality part? Is the impeller circulating coolant correctly at high rpm for example.

No external leaks means it’s either combustion gas entering the system to pressurise it or it’s overheating due to either poor cooling or an air lock. Could be worth checking the thermostat is operating but from your description it would appear to be ok. They do tend to bleed up ok tho and your specialist will have probably done all that anyhow.

A pressure test of the coolant system may help find the problem and prove there is an internal or external leak.

Its rare, but I wouldn’t say it never happens either.

Garage would have to do a pressure test to find out what’s going on. It does seem odd that the car has just started acting up after a water pump change.

Out of curiosity, why was the pump changed? Water pump failure is very rare on these engines (assuming it was original)?

buy a sniff test to see in any combustion gasses are present in the header tank but i would suspect the water pump or gasket as these are more difficult to fit than the earlier d5 pumps was it done by a trusted volvo specialist?

Part will be OEM but unsure which make. I can find out though.

Yes they've suggested a pressure test. This is the thing though. The car was driven to me by the dealership (2hours) and I took it for a 15 minute spin after receiving it. I didn't drive it that hard, but I didn't encounter any issues and they don't strike me as a dealership who would try that on. They've actually been quite co operative with the other niggles. In a nutshell, I can't be sure the fault didn't exist before the work was done as after the initial drive, I hardly drove it until the cambelt, aux & tensioners were done the following week.

In all honesty, I asked for the water pump to be changed as I've always changed the water pumps when I've done a cambelt myself or had garages do the work. Always seemed to make sense. They are not a Volvo specialist but they are a good independent with a lot of experience in cars and larger commercial vehicles. If it turns out to be an issue from what they've done, they'll put it right. I've used them for years now and have a good relationship.

Do these cars need a Volvo specialist? Have I missed something there perhaps.

Cambelt and water pump on these isn’t a difficult job as far as timming belts go. No real specialist tools required unlike other makes ect. For an experienced garage they can’t really get it wrong. You can’t really fit the water pump wrong it just bolts to the side of the block. You would get an external leak if the gasket wasn’t seated ect but nothing to cause overheating. It wouldn’t be workmanship I’d be questioning as such. If the water pump is good quality which to be honest most garages are using half decent quality bits now really, they can’t afford to be doing jobs twice. That said part failure does happen. You can then only assume the fault was present before.

A pressure test of the system will confirm. It’s not difficult to do. If there is an internal leak it will only be small going by your description. I would pressure the car up and leave it for as long as possible. I would aLso mark the level on the header tank before the test. It would be worth testing the engine both hot and cold. You can also test for combustion gas in the header tank but in my experience these are not always accurate but helps build a picture also.

Obviously I’m assuming your garage would be doing this for you, no one likes a clever sod or a customer telling them how to do there job but that’s what I would do.

Thanks for the replies and advice.

Car is with the garage and they'll be looking at it Wednesday.

Will update the thread then. Fingers crossed it's nothing major.

Assuming it's something trivial and not HG related; Are the two short overheating incidents I've had likely to have caused any damage?

Unlikely because you topped it up. Its not like there was zero coolant in the car.

Thanks Kev :)

There is only one way to buy OEM and that’s in a box with “Volvo” written on it through the dealer network. The majority of water pump failures on D5 are when the original pump has been changed for a cheap pattern part that has failed.

My advice would be you need to take it back and get them to sort it - the clue is in the steam coming from the left side, I bet the new water pump leaking.

Find out what make the water pump is.

You really want a genuine one on it. They aren’t much more expensive than the aftermarket ones, but they last and are well worth the extra investment.

Get one from the dealer and ask them to fit it.

UPDATE:

Got the car back today.

Garage suspect an airlock, no issue with Head Gasket and they couldn't find any leaks.

I've taken it for a good 40 minute drive tonight. No repeat of the last events but not quite perfect.

When I slowed down quickly the engine temp gauge went up for a brief period before going back to centre (is this down to the sudden loss of airflow over the engine?).

As I was coming to the end of my drive going up a hill, i got "Heavy Load, shift down" then High Engine Temp, reduce speed. Both quickly went.

On returning home, coolant had dropped, just below min, nothing like before. Could still be some air in the system? There was no steam and the car didn't seem to be excessively hot.

monitor and report.. but what kind or garage dose not run a car up to temperature and purge any air locks before giving it back to the customer .i would look up a good volvo independent for any future work/ servicing. lots of forum members do there own work to ensure its done right as there are so many duff garages about.

I will monitor. The heavy load is a bit weird. It also did it on a down hill in 6th, car was hardly struggling. If someone knows a way to turn it off, I'm all ears.

Will coolant cap off, engine up to temp work on these if i want to bleed any left over air pockets myself? I've done this on our Ford after I did the cambelt and it worked a treat.

It would have more than bled itself by now, 100% way is to vacuum fill the system. Monitor it carefully but you shouldn’t be seeing the level drop. The engine doesn’t have to be overheating to be using coolant

You need to keep your eye on it really. I don't know why the "garage" didn't solve the airlock... seems like a wasted visit to me, as they didn't fix it.

Hallmark Volvo in Stockport know these cars like the back of their hand (independent Volvo Specialist). You're based in Manchester, bring it to them and get their opinion.

Thanks Kev. I think you read the wrong profile though, I'm based in the West Midlands, south of Birmingham. There are a few specialists around me and one with excellent reviews so will consider that once my own garage have reviewed again.

Appreciate all the advice and replies and will update in due course.

The shift down/heavy load is a red herring, it's directly connected to the overheating. I bottomed that out today on a 1 hour drive.

Once the temperature begins to rise, if you back off and drive normally, it drives fine and doesn't appear to dump coolant.

One observation. I reset the trip today and drove for about 55 minutes on mainly rural roads and fairly leisurely with the odd overtake and a 5 minute 70 -80 mph dual carriageway section. In that time average mpg was 38. I thought that was quite low. Could there be a connection or am I being over optimistic on mpg expectation for the D5?

I must have read the wrong profile, my mistake.

That mpg does seem a bit low on a euro 5 engine. Although, I would take book mpg figures with a pinch of salt. They aren't realistic. D5's aren't particularly economical anyway, especially if its a 5 cylinder D5 and not VEA.

A couple of suggestions from me based on the symptoms:

1. The water pump impeller is detached from its spindle, so happily going along for the ride at steady load and circulating coolant ok but not keeping up under heavier load or higher rpm.

2. Electric cooling fan is unplugged / inoperable / not triggering allowing overheating?

As with previous posters, I’d suspect the water pump.

Fuel economy sounds about right to me if it’s an auto?

Cheers
Stu

Thanks for your thoughts.

Nope, it's manual so I think that is on the low side. Connection to the overheating issue?

As soon as the temp started to raise on the dual carriageway, I backed off and it returned to normal with no obvious coolant loss on the journey.
I didn't fancy another steaming engine half an hour from home, so didn't wait to find out if it was going to dump a load of coolant either.

I only wish I'd driven the car a decent amount before I had the cambelt done; would have been so helpful to know for certain if the fault was there pre cambelt + water pump or only post cambelt. That would have almost made certain the fault was with the water pump.

Hiya chaps,
It's not the EGR cooler on the blink is it? A leak should leave a crusty residue.

if a non genuine water pump has been used it may be faulty. iv seen cheap water pumps with melted or detached impellers is it possible that your car was doing a regen as the temperatures do rise significantly also check rad for any small leaks which only show when hot / pressurised pin holes can also occur on egr coolers

Thanks Simmy.

I'm 99% sure the car is losing coolant then starts to over heat. Pretty close together and at higher speeds. At 70 - 80mph, within about 2 minutes at those speeds, over heating then low coolant warning.

If an impeller was detached or melted, would that cause a leak? Or would it have to be a faulty/damaged gasket for it to leak?

If this is the case, it needs to be pressure tested. Both hot and cold. It needs to be pressured to just over a 1 bar and left for as long as possible. This will confirm any coolant leaks either internal or external. External is easier to fix, gasket, hoses ect internal your looking at either a head gasket, cracked liner or EGR cooler.

If the water pump is of poor quality and not circulating coolant correctly the car will overheat Quickly but it would not cause leakage unless the gasket was damaged but all would be evident in a pressure test.

Thanks Graham.

My own opinion is the water pump gasket being faulty or damaged. There is no way that car could have been driven 2 hours at motorway speeds by the driver who delivered it to me.

HG, EGR & Cracked liner would surely present other symptoms. She sounds as sweet as a nut, no white smoke, no rough idle etc. It's purely the overheating and coolant loss.

It's back at my independent next week. If they still can't find the issue, it's off to a Volvo specialist.

Will keep you all posted and thank you for the excellent advice.

i know it may be a daft question but do you have the correct 50/50 coolant mix as a weak mixture can cause over heating as it expand quicker and forces the liquid out of any points of escape cap overflow ect.

If you don’t mind me asking, what indi are you using? I know to GRN and Pye. GRN are or were good when I used them.

TT

Not daft at all. Worth checking everything!

Yes, correct mix. There was onc occasion where I just used water to top up, but it wasn't a lot (I'd run out of Coolant). The rest has been ready mixed 50/50.

Can someone just confirm the correct coolant for the D5?

Thanks

Sorry, when I said Independent, I just meant my local garage! Non Volvo specialist but they've looked after all our cars for years.

I'm open to any recommendations re Volvo specialist so that's good to know. I'm Worcester area.

Anybody know of any in the Worcester/Evesham areas?

i always use the genuine volvo stuff its only slightly more expensive than others and can be bought on line from volvo ebay shops or go in to the dealer ask for discount as they wont offer it voluntarily.

Thanks Simmy.

Just a quick update to say the Timing, Auxiliary belt and Water pump parts used were Dayco.

Dayco are a decent brand for belts… they may even be the original supplier to Volvo (not sure, but its possible).

I’d prefer a “genuine” Volvo pump made by Aisin though. They’re literally bulletproof.

I'd heard that too re Dayco making Volvo parts.
Next time for critical parts, I'll always specify genuine.

Will update later in the week.

If nothing else, this car has brought some good reading to the forum and a good mystery :D

Dayco are the OEM supplier for the Volvo genuine auxiliary belt and tensioner. They are a known brand. I don’t suspect you have a parts issue.

In a way you already have, just the pump isn't Aisin. As Graham implies above, something else is going on. Its not like the parts were cheap replacements.

Just an update:

The garage found the new Dayco water pump to be faulty. The pulley would turn but the impeller wasn't moving! I saw it for my myself. They've fitted a new water pump at no cost to me. The low coolant was down to it boiling and evaporating.

I've just come back from a long test drive and I'm pleased to say all is as it should be and no overheating.

Average MPG has now gone up, back to a what I would consider a normal figure (45mpg).

Thanks for all the input!

sounds a decent bunch you are using

GRN up in smethwick , (google GRN Motors)
, if it says "volvo" on teh boot, take it there, those lads ,, Yes

,,im a FUSSY so&so when it comes to who touches my car, i have Zero issues using GRN,
and zero issues recommending them
yeah a drive up from worcester/malvern area but,,, worth it