[skyship007]

Originally Posted by debcab06

Looking at the forum topics it would appear that the later 5 cylinder diesel engine in 163bhp form is no where near as reliable as the old 140bhp unit fitted prior to year 2000.

DISCUSS ::

I don't think any of the diesels that Volvo have fitted to their cars are inherintly unreliable. Alas the owners fail to comprehend that it's a good idea to ignore the approved Volvo lubrication related service once a car is out of warranty and change the oil at least twice as often as the Volvo max recommended interval.

The type of DPF system fitted to most post 2004 diesel Volvo's was designed before bio diesel was added to all EU fuel and although bio diesel keeps the fuel system clean and has good lubricity, it accumulates in the oil because its flaspoint is about 80c, rather than around 50c for normal diesel. The engine oil does not really get much hotter than 80c, hence the fact that I've seen many UOA results from DPF afflicted engines that show over 10% diesel fuel in the oil by the end of the rather long max recommended oil change interval (OCI).

2% is the max limit for normal long term wear rates, 5% is the limit for no significant wear during a single incident, so 10% is real bad.
Most folks can smell diesel in the oil from a hot dipstick when it gets to 5%.

It's easy to avoid the bad effects of DPF syndrome by just changing the oil twice as often as the max recommended limit (No need to change the oil filter until the max limit) AND using a slightly thicker major brand full synthetic, like my favourite 2 engine oil, Shell Helix 0 or 5w40 and the more expensive.Liqui Moly Synthoil 0 or 5w40.