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.