Why the 1.6 D2 hatred?
 

Out of curiosity really. I own a v70 d5 but work in a Ford dealerships in the service department and I see tons of these engines on a daily basis.

What makes them such an issue to Volvo owners or is there issues caused due to installation? Every so often a turbo can fail if poor quality oil is used due to crystalisation and the odd injector can go at higher miles, but what diesel doesn't have injector faults?

It's been said previously that sheer weight of numbers can make it seem more unreliable, but in the Ford range it was in 11 or 12 Ford cars and vans sold in 10s of thousands, there will be more faults.

I'm not defending it in anyway, just trying to gauge opinion

working in a Volvo specialists, I can't say they are unreliable, not the newer versions anyway they seem as robust as long as they are looked after just like most engines?

we've got customers with well over 200k on the 1.6's

Did any of the earlier volvos have the wet DPF which Ford used up to 2010?

the early ones had the additive system the newer the dry system like in the 5 pot engines, at least I think its the same kind of system....

the ones badged a as a D2 I believe all use a dry DPF system?

Honestly we have both dry and wet dpf 1.6's that have surpassed 200k

There are a couple of issues I think, none of which are related to the robustness on the engine itself:

- it’s the most economical engine of the range so often bought by customers looking to minimise their motoring spend, hence these people are more likely to spend less on maintenance. Whilst the engine is not fragile, missed oil changes or lower spec oil can caused problems later in its life.

- again whilst it is not an inherently unreliable engine, it’s not a match for Volvo’s own lumps so relatively may look less reliable

Honestly, having recently bought a 2014 D2 for the wife and taking it for 1500km drive, i'm pretty impressed by this engine. Coming from an brilliant 2004 S60 D5 (163hp) that was replaced by a 2011 XC60 D5 (205 hp), which is my daily car, was expecting the V40 D2 to be sluggish, boring and uninteresting to drive. I had a lot of fun with this little car and was surprised to notice the "mental speed gap" - being accustomed to the XC's acceleration, you think you know your speed without checking the dials but it was about 20km+ on the V40. It's sad that my wife won't ever enjoy this car to it's fullest as she's a very boring, old granny type of scared driver.

As far as reliability so far, let me put it this way: the D2 i bought has nearly 60k KM on the clock and the previous (only) owner, which bought it brand new, was a mom who used it every day of the week to drive her children from/to school in horrific bumper to bumper "doubt you can switch to 2nd gear" traffic. Given this model's "out of the factory" issues, i was expecting a lot of things that needed to be changed on a close up head to toes car examination but to my surprise, the injectors were all in factory parameters, no worn out bushings or engine mounts and no leaks. The clutch had some wear (flywheel intact) but my mechanic said it's mostly due to driving conditions and not a bad D2 batch (he's had several D2's both V40 and S60 with premature clutch failures in the past). Changed the clutch anyway for my own peace of mind giving it a fresh start for the wife to wear down.

The 1.6 engine is one of the most popular diesel engines ever made, in millions of cars including minis, peugeots, citroens and Fords as well as Volvos, the earlier 16v engine didn't react well to poor servicing, clogging oil ways if not changed or using cheap oil.
So it got a bad name, and ill informed comments about unreliability started to appear on forums. Usually by people who never owned one, and the later 8v engine has shown none of these problems.
The motoring press, who drive many cars a week, have always liked them.

"And the last reason I’m liking the Volvo is the engine. The D2 model has a 1.6-litre 113bhp four-cylinder diesel (the D3 and D4 versions get 2.0-litre five-cylinder diesels). That’s not the kind of engine you’d normally get excited about, but it’s so much stronger than the figures suggest. It’s brisk, quiet, refined, and best of all I’m getting 50mpg. Fifty! I’ve never got 50mpg out of any car – ever – before. Admittedly Volvo reckons the car can achieve 78mpg (combined), so I’m still lousy compared to the claimed figure – but I don’t care. Every other driver on earth is in the same boat." Autocar